Builders final invoice - much more than anticipated!

[rosybell]

So, feeling quite stressed after receiving the final bill from our builders. It was a lot more than anticipated – we had a quote which we agreed with but I think what has has surprised us is the amount of extras – all charged at an hourly rate. Not sure if this is usual or not. I feel like we have been quite naive and stupid really, so annoyed at ourselves for not being more assertive. The hourly rate for ‘extras’ was on our original quote. However as the build progressed we did not receive any updates at all, nor was there any consultation – eg ‘do you want us to do this – it will be extra’ etc.

We asked many times for updates on price/how much certain things would cost. A big one was a steel beam that was not on the original quote. So despite asking (many times) how much extra it would be we did not receive an answer. The build is now complete and it has taken our builder two weeks to provide us with the final invoice. We have paid him a fairly low deposit and half of the original quote.

I am not sure if we are able to dispute any of it. There were some mistakes made – eg scratches to the new kitchen during installation. These were replaced but we are being charged for the time taken to replace them.

I guess what I am asking is – is this a usual way for builders to invoice./charge? We are shocked at how much more the bill is compared to our original quote and feel that they needed to be more upfront with us about ongoing costs. There are also issues such as cracked tiles in our bathroom/broken shower etc that are going to cost us to rectify, which we had thought we would let slide but now I am wondering if we need to bring these up in light of extra costs.

Just to quickly add - there are some things we told the builders we would do ourselves - eg hanging doors. But when we came home from work they had been done and we are now being charged. I guess it just feels we were not listened to and now are paying the price.

Well I think you need to be more assertive to start with. If you didn't ask for doors to be fitted and they were then I wouldn't be paying that. As for the cracked tiles then yes I would be brining that up. As for replacing paying for repairs of broken item, I guess it depends on why they were broken and how that situation was dealt with. If they broken them then I wouldn't expect to pay for them to put it right.

I do think their is often a variance in final cost, especially on larger projects, they usually suggest having 10% extra in mind. So I guess it depends how much over that it is.

You should only pay for things you agreed to.
You told him You would hang the doors. He did it so you don't pay for it.
You definitely shouldn't pay twice for reinstalling the damaged kitchen units.
My builder had to redo 2 bits of brickwork because they werent right. I made it clear at the time that I didn't expect be billed extra for his mistake.
We did have an extras bill of 4.5 k but these were all things the we agreed at the time were in addition to the original quote

I work for a construction company. All extras have to be agreed and quoted for before they are carried out. We do monthly valuations.

You absolutely should not be charged for remedial work. A quote is a quote. If a builder makes an error then they put it right at their own cost and in their own time otherwise there is a contra-charge.

With regards to the steel beam. Was it necessary to comply with building regs etc and would you have had to have had it done/accepted the extra cost if given it at the time?

Yes - the steel beam was necessary and we knew it would be expensive. It is just the financial communication has been very lacking so we were left not knowing for much of the time. We did ask a number of times face to face/via text/phone. Even with his final bill, he has not provided the complete breakdown yet despite the works being finished 2 weeks ago.

You hold some cards here. Tell them you need a properly itemised bill, then break it down to make sure you haven't been overcharged. Don't pay a penny until the job is finished perfectly. It's my experience that builders will walk away from a few hundred pounds if some final fix is not what they can be arsed to do.

Make sure your snags are sorted before you pay anyway

Did they damage the worktop they replaced?

Yes, the scratches were made by them to the cabinets when they installed the worktop. When we showed them the next day they replaced them straight away but this was a days work - driving to the supplier/removing scratched cabinet doors and replacing them. There was also dust in the adhesive of our work top (again due to error on the kitchen fitters assistant) meaning the seamless look is not as seamless as we would like. Again they were due top fix this but it hasn't been done.

Thanks for everyone's replies. When we have the itemised breakdown we should have a better idea how to proceed..

One more question - if the quote says 'labour and materials' and part of the work is is a new toilet - would that include the toilet/sink or not (i.e. what does materials mean in that context?)

Replacing things they’ve done wrong/damaged is on their own clock.

Doing things outside their remit is theirs to suck up as well. I would assume “materials” would cover the toilet but it’s a greyer area; they could argue they meant fixings, etc? But I’d expect it to be explicit if you were expected to provide stuff yourself.

It is really difficult in these situations as they can be quite pushy about things.

Firstly, if there is work to be completed still, do not pay. Once they have the money there is no incentive for them to sort it out.

Do not pay for time they have spent rectifying their own mistakes. That is on them.

For things like the steel beam, do you know how long it took them to install it? Also ask for their invoice from the supplier, don't just take their word for it.

If you expressly told them not to hang the doors then don't pay them for that. If you want to bargain with them then you could offer to pay what you deem a reasonable cost if you want.

Make sure you get all the communications together. For them to force you to pay they would have to go to small claims court. And if you can show that you have asked for quotes for works etc then it will hold you in good stead.

Materials is anything that isn't labour and can include hire of plant.

Ok- so we now have the breakdown of the invoice and it is much worse than we thought.
£20000 for extras! We are shocked that our builder did not think it appropriate to keep us updated on finances as he worked, and we are left with a bill we simply cant afford.

Some are expected - eg skips/new doors etc. But some is for works carried out without our knowledge and consent. For example - floor leveling compound- £1000. This was put down with no discussion whilst we were at work.

No idea where we stand legally, any advice gratefully received.

20k?! I feel sick for you! Surely this isn't legal?

This is where employing a project manager is really worth it.

We as a company would not pay any sub contractors for any work they carried out without our explicit agreement/instruction & we would not expect to be paid for any extras a client had not explicitly agreed to.

totally unacceptable and you are going to have to front up here.
no one has £20k lying around!
Make it clear that this is in dispute and that you will bring solicitors in if needed.
I take it at no point did you agree to endless extras with no prior agreement!

For context, we had worked put our extras would come to around 12k. We have 15k, and thought we would have a buffer. We are frustrated with ourselves for not pushing more for financial updates but also feel taken advantage of.

Totally agree that at the time we should have asked for costs, but the way they worked there was no real conversations like that. Much stuff was simply done without asking.

Invoice updates were always hard to get hold of - for example we asked for our final invoice 2 weeks ago and have only just received the breakdown.

What was your original quote? (To put the 'extras' into context.)

Great that you have the itemized bill- keep pushing if you need fine-grained info.

You will end up needing to suck some of this up - the skill will be reducing it as much as possible by knocking off all the stuff that's totally off - e.g. labour for fixing kitchen, doors. You'll also have a list of things with which to negotiate- tiles,dust in filler - insist they come and redo before any payments. They will stall and you can try to get money off bill instead (as it "will host you £x to get it done by another contractor"). Then there's the stuff they've done and prob needed doing but they didnt tell you - they'll have a margin that you can push against- e.g £1000 down to £600. You obv need to pay for the beam and labour.

The builder will still want to come away with more than the quoted amount to feel like he's 'won' (and possibly broken even). Your 'won't will be limiting this.

Good luck! It's crap, but you are in a brilliant position that you've only paid a small % of the cost. Well done on that. Lots of people get caught at the end of the build, having paid upfront or during build.

're floor levelling.
We recently had 50m 2 floor done .
Involved removing old floor tiles 30m2 which had been laid with really resistant compound over a plastic mesh which meant they couldn't use planned machine to remove. Was All done by hand with a Kango. Took 2 men nearly a week.
Floor was really lumpy and uneven. Builder had quoted based on tiler needing 8 bags of levelling compound and it took 15 !
Additional cost £550

Did you builder use unicorn tears to level the floor?

Quite simply, I'd go back and ask them why they went and did things that werent originally quoted for and werent even discussed with you prior to being done. I'd be telling them you wont be paying for things that were redone due to their mistakes and that you are seeking legal advice and will get back to them as you never agreed to alot of this stuff, it wasnt in the original quote and were never made aware of what the extra costs would be.

Really it sounds like they are trying to rip the piss to be honest. You could always consider going back and saying we did not agree to this amount ans had estimated extras to be around 12-15k. We are not willing to pay 20k for extras we werent informed of and didnt agree too.

In my experience there are usually some extras in a build - some are little surprises that crop up and need fixing, others are all the little things that clients tend to ask builders to do ‘while you’re there’. We had £3.5k of extras against a £15k quote for a knock through, and £14k against and £80k build cost for an extension. These were all legitimate extras that either needed to happen or that we asked for along the way. So based on that 15-20% seems typical. How much was the original quote? Flooring and floor prep can be very costly

Your tradesperson should always be talking to you about any extra costs that are occurring, due to the fact that any extra costs that aren't agreed will fall back on them.
I would recommend that you ring round a few other tradespeople and ask them for a rough quote, if possible, for different parts of work that have been done. Then, collate all the information and work out an average quote. Compare this to what you have been given as a final bill, this should give you a better idea of what your costs would be. As you don't seem to have been consulted for the extra work, I would say knocking 25% off your final amount would be sensible.

I agree with what most people have said above but I think you should push quite hard against paying for things you weren't told about. Also don't assume that the builder is expecting to receive the full amount. They may have increased it because they're expecting you to negotiate them down.