Builder asking for money for his labourer

[Lalass60]

A builder gave me a price of £35 per hour to do some work on my house. I agreed verbally, nothing in writing from the builder. The builder started the work and brought along his labourer. When the work was finished he sent me his invoice which had an extra £1900 added to it for his labourer. I am disputing this with the builder as having to pay his labourer was never mentioned when he quoted me for the work or at any time whilst the work was being done. I’ve paid the builder his money but refuse to pay for his labourer. He’s now threatening me with court action. Should I have to pay??

How can he sue you for the £1900 if you didn't have a written contract?

His fault for not giving a quote, do you have building control sign off etfc? If so I'd ignore him. I had a builder who asked for extra money after, told him where to go a couple of times and he left it. I was in the right and think you are being perfectly reasonable too.

The other posters are correct and your builder is being ambitious to say the least. Offer to pay what you owe him but not for the labourer.

The only exception would be if you felt they’d done a very good job at a lower price than you’d have been willing to pay. In this case, you could offer an additional amount as goodwill. Get a receipt in writing which states ‘In full and final payment.’ But this is up to you.

I find that since covid, builders, landscapers etc are asking for money upfront, wanting cash to pay for materials etc. While it’s usual and acceptable to pay for expensive materials a few days before work starts, as long as they’re in your name so that you own them if things go wrong, labour should be paid in arrears according to work completed. That way, you’ve got maximum protection, as I understand it.

Perhaps his thinking is that every hour they were working on site counts as 2 man-hours. How many hours were you expecting the work to take, compared with how many you were charged for?

What does the actual invoice say, its it a business or personal invoice. As if business
He's liable for his employer if personal your not liable as you never employed the other bloke. Is he vat registered?

Hi, so my mum is converting our home into individual flats. She is 65yrs old and she had a few builders come along to price up the works. One builder that she is really drawn to, has offered not to accept payment and pay himself from the rent once the flats are occupied when he finishes building the works. Am I the only one that thinks this is highly suspicious even with a contract in place? Who works for free in this day and age.

You need to start a separate thread for advice on this so people will see it

So am hourly rate was verbally agreed. But for how long? Did you have an estimate of a quote for the total time or money?

Two people will be quicker than one

Well I can see his viewpoint, OP. I would interpret £35/hr as £35/man hr, so that rate would apply to each person present.

If you take that approach does the extra come to £1900?

However I am surprised that you have no contract

This thread is 6 months old.

Do you have free legal advice on your house insurance?

aside from that, you agreed to pay the builder £35 per hour, nothing else. How many hours did he work?