Hello
Asked a local company to lay a new patio. It seemed a big job as they had to bring in machinery etc to dig the existing concrete and level out to lay slabs in two areas and remove the old shed.
Initially I was quoted £3000 for the work. Then a further £300 was added, which I paid as there was extra work and materials needed.
Now the patio needs a supporting wall apparently as it's at the top of a slope and needs a step built down, and some more gravel/stones needed to frame some areas. The guy is saying this is an additional £1200.
I'm disappointed as I always keep a few hundred pounds spare knowing that jobs do grow arms and legs once they start but I feel that 50% more than the original quote is excessive. I feel I have no choice if I want the work completed but had i known it could blow my budget to begin with, id have declined.
I'd welcome thoughts or advice on this?
Are you a tradesperson and able to answer this question?
You are correct, this is a bad business practice after being 50% more expensive than the original quote. The surveyor should have taken these into account in the first place.
The walls and steps are a choice, remember that.
Always try to get a contracted price after the quote.
The prices all seem reasonable. But just poorly quoted, if they have experience in the industry they would have fully known at the beginning that steps etc would have been needed. We always work on a fixed price basis, and on that system the customer knows what they are paying from the start. With a clearly detailed quote, anything we miss off is a cost that we absorb. Therefor it's our job to make sure you know what you are getting.
If you were given a quote for job the contractor should have allowed the wall in the quote when he priced job
Any additional costs should only happen if customer asks for extra work to be done, or if there is unexpected work that can happen during the dig out where you don't know what's underground toll you Dig it out
Hope this helps
should really have gotten a written quote detailing what you were getting prior to the job starting, so in reality partially your own fault for not doing your due diligence & comparing like for like quotes, while some unexpected things can pop up during any job this usually only occurs when you are uncovering something it would have been pretty obvious that a support wall & steps would be required at the quoting stage for this job, as this is only one side of a story we do not know what has actually been agreed or decided by you and your contractor prior to the job starting.
