Invoice for more than quotation

gardendiyer · 8 Jul 2012

I recently had some turf laid in my garden. The quote I chose to go with was one of the cheaper. It clearly stated that it was a quotation, to:

"Firstly to spray off weeds over new lawn area with Roundup
then approx 2 weeks later once the Roundup has killed the
weeds to the roots the area to be prepared for turfing by dressing
area with approx 2 tonnes of top soil consolidated and raked
to a smooth surface. Then to supply and lay approx 65sqm of
good quality seeded turf to areas identified at last site meeting."

I then received an invoice which was £100 higher than the quote, as he had used 4 tonnes of topsoil rather than 2. I have paid the original amount, as I believe it to be a fixed price quotation. He did not ask if it was OK to spend extra money on extra topsoil, and I would have asked that he complete the job within the 2 tonnes. He says he will take legal action if I do not pay.

Can anyone help? Am I being unreasonable??

Thanks,
Victoria

expertwitness · 8 Jul 2012

A quote is a fixed price. Any amendments HAVE to be agreed beforehand.
If it was an Estimate then it could have been varied, with or without your full approval, but preferably with.
So if it is a quote and he has used more materials without permission let him take you to court, go and present a bill for your time taken and expenses also.

gardendiyer · 8 Jul 2012

He says that more work was required than originally expected, therefore it is reasonable. However, I do feel it was within the original task - he just estimated the amount incorrectly. I'm nervous of being landed with costs, but really object to paying money I shouldn't have to. I have asked to see receipts, which he has not yet provided.

cajar · 8 Jul 2012

He's trying it on. Stand your ground, you are being perfectly reasonable.

Whitespirit66 · 8 Jul 2012

He quoted, you accepted. That forms a contract between the two of you. He broke the contract, so doesn't have a leg to stand on. He had to order extra materials, why didn't he ask you before ordering?

Tell him to take you to court. I'm certain he won't. Give your local trading standards a ring, and tell him your are in contact with them.

gasbanni · 8 Jul 2012

Are you really happy with the job, were they neat, polite cleaned up and generally competent with what they did ?

If the answer is yes then personally if I was happy with them and the job I'd pay it its not a lot, you could always say" you could have warned me !"

Its not like they're robbing you and charging 100's more I don't think they're
trying it on not for £100 !!!!! and if they did need extra soil...............

cajar · 9 Jul 2012

99% of the time any extra charges added on at the end are fake and go straight into their back pocket if you are mug enough to pay. If they were honest he would have phoned you at the time and given you the opportunity to come down and see 4 tonnes of soil being used if you so wished or the chance to insist on 2 tonnes. Why was it not mentioned till after it was all buried? Load of tripe that's why.

You could easily say his quote covers up to 4 tonnes of top soil any way "approx 2 tonnes of top soil"[/i]

Stingray13 · 9 Jul 2012

cajar said:
You could easily say his quote covers up to 4 tonnes of top soil any way "approx 2 tonnes of top soil"[/i]

No you couldn't that like me saying the bank can i have a loan how much approximatly £2k they agree in priniple then i walk in and say no i want 4k 2.2 maybe even 2.5 they might but double the amount no.

See i agree he should of told you but you would of been annoyed if he only used 2 tons and it didn't do the job correctly?

JohnD · 9 Jul 2012

Do we know that he actually used 4 tons?

Do we know why he measured the area and depth required, and his calculation was out by 100%?

I am not a gardening contractor but I have some idea of how to do estimating, and I bet his original price was based on "calculation plus a bit extra to be on the safe side"

gardendiyer · 9 Jul 2012

I was in pretty much the whole time he was working as I have two small kids. He mentioned he was going to have to get an extra tonne, but didn't mention it would cost me. When the job was finished and he was leaving he said there would be an extra charge for extra materials. I didn't challenge this at the time, as I wanted to check the contract - i.e. that it was a quotation, not an estimate. It was clearly stated to be a quotation. He has still not sent me the receipts which I have requested, so I have no way of knowing if he used 2 tonnes or 4.

If I felt there had been unforeseen problems which had led to the extra materials then I would pay (I have a good relationship with other tradesmen I use!) but if he just worked it out wrong that doesn't feel fair.

I will contact trading standards, and see what they say. Thanks for all the thoughts on here - I am not trying to short change him, but money is tight and I feel like he's taking advantage

Inky Pete · 9 Jul 2012

How much topsoil did the other quotes you received specify?

gardendiyer · 9 Jul 2012

Similar to his original quote - 1 or 2 tonnes. If anything the levels are rather high, but I don't think he wanted to have to dig any of the old soil to get the overall levels, so he just put more on top.

Simon543 · 9 Jul 2012

gardendiyer: There is no way he's winning this court case. The fact that he didn't produce the receipts indicates he has no clue about the legal system, or he's just bluffing. Even if it was an ESTIMATE and he didn't produce receipts, he may still find it difficult to win such a case. I know this from a (somewhat costly) conversation I had with a solicitor a few years back. If tradesmen go over estimates and you feel the charges are unreasonable you've every right to see how they arrive at their adjusted charges. Even *that* doesn't give them carte blanche to charge 20 times what it cost them!

I wouldn't pay him *anything* unless he agrees on the amount. This is because prior to the court case you may incur costs, e.g. recorded delivery letters, trips in the car or whatever. He needs to take that off the final price if he's going to now involve you in extra work over this contract dispute. You want to stop him dropping the case at the last minute and leaving you with extra costs.

As others have mentioned, please include all your costs if he's stupid enough to take you to court, including child care costs, number of miles travelled to the court (I think it's 40p/mile?), parking charges and so on. Don't forget any recorded-delivery letters you have to send etc...

regards,
Simon.

gardendiyer · 9 Jul 2012

Thanks for all this advice. I think I will write confirming that I will not pay the extra, and mention i the extra costs I have incurred if he does decide he wants to take me to court. I know it's ridiculous to get into this over £100 but I guess a lot of people would just pay up for a wuiet life - and that's not really me!

phatboy · 9 Jul 2012

£100 for 2 tonnes of topsoil and labour to spread it seems high to me, topsoil is around £15 a tonne here, and it would take less than an hour to spread that out, assuming it was tipped in the vicinity of the new lawn

Invoice for more than quotation

expertwitness

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