Contractor underbid job - what is the protocol to try to recover some $?

@inkvisitor Did you buy the material or did he? Did you see his invoice for the materials? Or is he just quoting this to you now?

Is the job finished? Have you paid the total amount already?

I actually just built a fence for a neighbor. I am incredibly anal and every line is perfectly level on my work. My experience is that almost everyone that builds fences does a shitty job and will fuck you in any way that they can.

I had a few jobs with my brother in law that were cleaning up the mess other fence builders made.

Hold him to his quote and the terms and conditions of your contract. If you made no changes to the scope of work, he is just trying to take advantage of your nice attitude. He probably had some one give him marked up receipts for the material. Don’t fall for it….he is just playing you.
See ya….Gary/wtf

Did you make changes? Were there unforseen problems? I would make him account for why the materials were over, and verify the costs with the lumber yard.

If he has truly done this type of job “tons of times” he should have been well within his estimate. In low balling the job, you went with him instead of another contractor and now he is charging you what he wanted to in the first place, but knew you wouldn’t hire him. My brother is a contractor and his estimate is the price you pay. Even if something comes up that he has to eat the cost himself, you pay the estimate price. That is why he has been in business 35 years and doesn’t advertise. I would do as the others have said and call about the actual prices of the materials. Maybe he made a mistake and had to buy extra, but that should not reflect on what you pay.

Thanks all for the replies so far. I paid for the materials after he called them in. I saw the original line item order when I paid and noticed that important things like nails were left off. It had the number of pieces of wood on the order but I didn’t calculate the linear feet it would cover – I just figured he ordered the right amount (but should have known better when I saw the nails missing, though I thought maybe he had some extra from another job or something..).

Anyhow, he ordered what he said he needed to complete the job, and I figured it might be a hundred or two more than his original material quote (I had paid ~800 initially). When I got there it was $400 worth of stuff, but nothing out of the ordinary, just more of what was ordered before.

I will get both invoices and calculate that it measures up with the correct linear feet needed for my job, but excluding him buying extra wood for himself on my behalf, the materials ordered both times were what was needed. The issue is the amount he said it would be before all was said and done versus what I ended up paying after both orders.

I have not paid for the labor yet, just the 1200 worth of materials. The fence was started Saturday with what he had – basically ⅔ of the posts were set and that’s it. The rest is supposed to be completed tomorrow.

So if the materials ordered match my linear feet, then $1200 is what was needed for the fence. He was just way off when we were coming up with numbers beforehand.

Anyhow, when all is said and done, I see now why I have always and will continue to do things on my own.

Couple of questions – was there a contract for the stated price, or was this all verbal? Also, don’t pay the entire labor costs just yet (per what the contractor has changed it to be) – if anything, pay only what he originally quoted you for the TOTAL price (not to exceed $2000).

I’m sorry to say it, but the time for the conversation regarding the overage on materials was before ordering the second round. (“Hey, you forgot nails, was that not in your estimate? Seriously?”) I completely understand the whole thing has been a nightmare (I saw your other post) and can sympathize. You have misgivings about the whole thing, but materials costs aren’t really something he’s in control of. He gave you an estimate (a guess) of those costs and he’s obviously more handyman than fencing company. You also expressed you have some wiggle room over/under and he’s probably at this point ignorant of your stress.

If you want to go to him tomorrow and let him know you’d only budgeted X for the job and with materials you’re going to be over, then see if he’ll do the whole job for a set amount (maybe $100—$200 over the initial estimate?), that might be a way to either a) get the job done for the price you want or b) get out of this deal altogether for a partial cost (setting the posts) and have someone come in to finish the job at a reasonable (and reliable) rate.

I have no idea how big your fence is but if he’s not even done setting the posts, I’d be surprised if he was done tomorrow, maybe use that to your advantage as well.

I hope it goes well and I’m very sorry you have to go through this whole ordeal.

Update – got a reasonable discount on the labor charge so I’m letting him finish the job (I had originally called to cancel future labor and we fully intended on finishing it ourselves with a little help). I think he also was thinking that being a woman, it would be impossible to get the job completed and right…ugh.

@inkvisitor Good for you on getting the discount! (ugh! for the sexism)

Contractor Underbids grossly! I need some help My contractor bid a garage conversion for 20K. I gave him 10 up front. He had a lot of men on the site, and though he gave me a bill every week, I was to pay him in full at completion, so honestly I was not paying much attention. We ran into NO adverse conditions like rot or water damage at all. He completed the project in five weeks. final bill was 70K!!!
I flipped! We decided on 48. I signed nothing. Ive been paying him 1k a month. I was asking my husband for some advice on the remaining 12 I owe and he COMPLETELY LOST IT. He had not really had his hands in this deal. He has all but forbidden me to give him another nickel and wants to call a lawyer. Does anyone know my LEGAL RIGHTS here?

I’m not a lawyer, but I would say since you were paying him monthly, you agreed to the price and still owe it.

@reenieimages Welcome to Fluther! Since this question is so old, not many people will see your post. You’d be better off asking a whole new question about your situation. You’ll get more answers that way. Good luck!

@reenieimages Did you have the 20K in writing?
We just had our roof done-everything was in writing. ½ up front is pretty risky. Had you asked the question “should I give a contractor ½ up front?” I’d have said NO WAY!