Final invoice for extension bit of a shock!

[muchchocolate]

Hi,

Never posted in this section before but have often read helpful advice here so just looking for some now please.

We have recently had a small single storey extension completed. Over all the work has been very good and completed to schedule.

Our only real issue has come with the final invoice - about 2k over what we'd expected and we'd made it very clear at the start before we signed the contract that we wanted anything over budget to be run by us so we wouldn't get any nasty surprises at the end.

The director of the company got stranded on holiday due to the volcanic ash and he admits that costs maybe weren't communicated as well as they should have been and in the interests of finishing quickly decisions were made without our say so.

They have offered to take £200 off the final bill as a goodwill gesture but we're not sure whether we should push it and insist we want more taken off or if its just going to set us up for extra stress (I have a 2y/o ds and am 33 weeks preg) if we fight it and then we'll end up paying for it anyway.

When we were given the quote by them we managed to haggle it down a bit but it feels like now its back up to what they quoted us originally.

We were getting a new kitchen fitted and although the cost of the kitchen was included in the budget, they hadn't included the cost of fitting which also added an extra 1k to budget, although they did let us know this but not until it was all well under way.

Any advice/thoughts/experience? Do we just stump up or do we try to get more money off the total?

Sorry for the long ramble, any advice gratefully received...

hi hope i can give you some help here, basicaaly it depends on what is listed in your contract. read it carefully. if it doesnt say its included in the price then its not. also if they have done work thats not in the contract then they have to have written authorisation from you to do the work with a seperate price. if they have done work thats not in the contract then you dont have to pay for it. However they could argue at court that you verbally asked for the work to be done. please bear in mind that if they ahve used any materials that they have not charged you for then they have the right to ask for them back. ie they could ask for the nails back that they used! alot of builders all use the same trick to get more money out of you. Now you could go to a solicitor and ask them to write tto the builder at a cost of about £75 pointing all this out but things could escualte quickly so really it depends on your finaces and how much stress you want and some builders can become very aggressive. i suggest if possible you speak to them on the phone as you can always put that down on them! try to negoiate further with them to reduce the bill pointing out things that they have done without written consent and that you do not have the extra money they are asking for and that whilst you would like to resolve the issue this is all the money you have ( what ever sum you think fair and resonable or can afford) and say if they will not accept that offer then they will have to contact your solicitor ( have an address of a comapany at the ready just in case as this always throghs them if they suspect you are bluffing). hope this helps best of luck. ps i had exaact same problem myself and they ran a mile when i told them to contact solicitor never bothered us again.

hi kittycat,

thanks very much for the advice. sadly i think at the moment we really don't want too much stress or to start any huge legal battles.

i think we may just need to chalk it down to experience and accept the £200 off the final bill and pay the rest. i'll just make sure that everyone I know knows to steer clear of them!

thanks

Have they given you a breakdown as to what was included in the extra 2k? Seems odd that the original price included the cost of the kitchen units but not the fitting - I would have expected it to be the other way around (I ordered the kitchen units myself and got the builder to fit them).

What bumped the costs up for us was things like the original quote only covering basic white light and power switches and a single pendant light fitting and us going for chrome fittings and recessed lighting.

what is the extra 2K for?

Do you expect the builders to fit the kitchen for free? Surely not. If you have a quote I usually add on (in my head) another 10-20% as a contingency as things crop up.

If you can list what the 2k is for, I might be able to help you negotiate better. I would suggest you offer 1k extra and in future make sure you get everything written down.