I usually DIY but currently have a man in. I thought it would be easier and less stressful, Never again.
Anyway we were quoted £600 for a job which he estimated would take 2-3 days. Tomorrow will be day 6 and I would be extremely surprised if it was finished.
So i'm looking forward to the awkward moment when payment is discussed, he might honour the original price but I doubt it.
What would you do under the circumstances?
Was the £600 an estimate or a quotation?
If it was a quotation, which you accepted, then that's all you should pay.
In fact, if the job takes an excessive time, I should be looking for a bit of compensation from him :-)
I come across this regularly in my line of work. It all depends on the individual circumstances. If it is my fault, then they stay at the fixed price. If the customer changes their mind,or wants extra doing, then they pay more.
If there are unforeseen problems, the customer is informed immediately, and told that I will have to charge more.
Generally, people are happy to pay the extra if they are shown/told what is wrong, and it could not be expected.
If he is doing a good job, and you know he has been working hard, then do the decent thing and pay him extra, if however he is drinking tea and talking more than working, then maybe stick at the quote.
Alan.
A.Lee explained on 14/10/2011 :
Precisely!
If he cannot adequately explain why his estimate was so wrong, then pay the original amount and suggest you will be happily see him in court for the remainder.
R D S formulated the question :
We once engaged a couple of young lads (students), to dispose of a rather large pile of soil - they seemed honest and were going door to door for any work. They offered to do it for £150, which I knew it could not be done for. They hired a skip and grafted hard for two days digging and barrowing it. They put their hands out at the end and I just paid them the full value of the work(?).
+1. Have they given you reasonable feedback about why they are delayed? But have you asked?
There are no changes but part of the job has proved to be a bit of a pain in the arse.
He is doing a good job but progress is slow, he doesn't seem to be the sort who would ever bust a sweat.
I was planning to chuck an extra hundred quid at it out of respect for the amount of time he has put in.
In article , R D S scribeth thus
Discuss it now before it goes any further. If I were you and find out why its taken longer. Is it down to him not going at it fast enough or have other unforeseen things come to light in which case he should be talking to you right now to tell you that it is taking longer and costing more....
we had a similar problem with getting large tree removed. Our usual tree surgeon gave us a price but this was undercut by a local man (just starting up) to whom we were recommended. He found the job took far longer than he had estimated and asked us to pay extra which would have been more than the other quote. We paid a bit more, but not as much as he wanted. We subsequently found that he'sd left a lot of the roots in the ground - they were part of the quote.
Overrunning by twice the number of days seems rather odd if there are no extras.
Their estimate or yours?
Chris
That depends what the guy asks for.
Tell me about it. Every time I get home from work I am underwhelmed by progress. He was hoping to finish today, which looked a little optimistic and then didn't turn up so we are on our second weekend with no washer/sink (we started ripping the olk kitchen out last Saturday. I'm not chuffed and will spend tomorrow wondering whether to crack on with it myself.
How did you meet this bloke? Recommendation, advert etc?
The was a poster up in the DIY shop that I use. A couple of acquaintances know of him and the consensus is that he is capable of a good job, which i'm sure he is but I want my house back in order! I have a front room which has had a new kitchen piled up in it all week, a living room with the entire contents of my kitchen in it and an unusable kitchen.
Unless he was taken into hospital, he's just lost any moral right to additional payments. It does sound like he didn't know what he was doing; to get the job time wrong by so long. If he's not making any or very slow progress then that's another sign that the work sounds dodgy. Personally, under those circumstances I'd wait for him to suggest a final price for the job. If it's more than you originally agreed, tell him no. I'd also make very, very sure that what has been done was up to scratch before handing over any money.
I wouldn't do that. You're giving him reasons to take longer and charge more, by interfering with what he's already done.
It also could be someone who has lost faith in this particular job due to underquoting. I have seen it before and done it once or twice.
Indeed, if the work is up to sctratch your suggestion of a final price/agreement to finish the job is superb.
That £200 extra that the OP was thinking of offering might make the bloke break into a sweat and finish off:-)
If you had a _quote_ for 600, then 600 it is. Asking for more would be taking the michael.
NT
Legally if it was a firm quotation then that is it ... likewise if there was nothing untoward, or nothing changed ... then again that price is it.
If there were things that came to light that could not in all practicality have been foreseen, then morally you would be expected to pay a reasonable & fair amount extra.
For example ... if you asked a guy to put in standard footings, and when he starts digging you find an old mine working ... that needs massive infill, or extra work ... then it is reasonable and fair that you would pay extra for that.
but any revised charges would be agreed between the 2 parties before continuing, unless they both wanted trouble later.
NT
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