We have some building work underway on the house which is being done by specialist carpenters as its a timber frame property.
We agreed a scope of work which was to rebuild a gable end wall which was in dire need of doing, and took them up on a fixed price which we had money in the bank for so knew we could afford. We kept 15% on top of that in case of further issues. We tried to keep more but you know, cost of living etc etc.
A good chunk of the work is done, but they've determined that the gable rafters also need replacing (in their current state, on of them is essentially a member in two parts which is undersized to start with and dodgily connected together), which in their mind is part of the roof structure rather than the wall so wasn't include in the original quote. This is one thing.
However when this was discovered about 3 weeks ago, he said the wood would be about 600 and then it would need a crane to get it in, but that would cost in the hundreds rather than thousands. We said OK, that doesn't sound too awful, send us a quote please for the job lot for us to consider. Meanwhile he put the wood on order.
Finally after us pressing we get an estimate last Friday for an amount that is 50% of the original quote - not a small sum of money. The email stresses that this should be on the high side and the job should very likely come in less than this.
This estimate is a lot, and not really affordable. We'd have to look at liquidating some things and doing a payment plan, which is all not very appetising especially given its basically a time and materials basis and we're in the lap of the gods as to the overall price. We communicated this and said we need some more certainty before we can continue, and that's more than and if than when. However they are adamant the work is essential and the roof isn't safe without doing it.
We asked if they can give a fixed price but they said that would have to be higher than the estimate, is that not very odd if they are describing the estimate as extremely high end?
We've had a really high level of trust until this point, the work done is great and they worked on the house previously and have lots of good references. But I think they are mismanaging this and it's putting us in a very awkward position.
They can't conclude the original scope until finishing the roof (in his mind) so we can't even look at getting someone else in really.
As of today he's on hold while we work this out and possibly losing working time.
Just looking for any general input on how to proceed. We knew it wasn't a risk free job, but at the same time by replacing the entire wall we really thought we wouldn't end up on the hook for anything like this.
We agreed a scope of work which was to rebuild a gable end wall which was in dire need of doing, and took them up on a fixed price which we had money in the bank for so knew we could afford. We kept 15% on top of that in case of further issues. We tried to keep more but you know, cost of living etc etc.
A good chunk of the work is done, but they've determined that the gable rafters also need replacing (in their current state, on of them is essentially a member in two parts which is undersized to start with and dodgily connected together), which in their mind is part of the roof structure rather than the wall so wasn't include in the original quote. This is one thing.
However when this was discovered about 3 weeks ago, he said the wood would be about 600 and then it would need a crane to get it in, but that would cost in the hundreds rather than thousands. We said OK, that doesn't sound too awful, send us a quote please for the job lot for us to consider. Meanwhile he put the wood on order.
Finally after us pressing we get an estimate last Friday for an amount that is 50% of the original quote - not a small sum of money. The email stresses that this should be on the high side and the job should very likely come in less than this.
This estimate is a lot, and not really affordable. We'd have to look at liquidating some things and doing a payment plan, which is all not very appetising especially given its basically a time and materials basis and we're in the lap of the gods as to the overall price. We communicated this and said we need some more certainty before we can continue, and that's more than and if than when. However they are adamant the work is essential and the roof isn't safe without doing it.
We asked if they can give a fixed price but they said that would have to be higher than the estimate, is that not very odd if they are describing the estimate as extremely high end?
We've had a really high level of trust until this point, the work done is great and they worked on the house previously and have lots of good references. But I think they are mismanaging this and it's putting us in a very awkward position.
They can't conclude the original scope until finishing the roof (in his mind) so we can't even look at getting someone else in really.
As of today he's on hold while we work this out and possibly losing working time.
Just looking for any general input on how to proceed. We knew it wasn't a risk free job, but at the same time by replacing the entire wall we really thought we wouldn't end up on the hook for anything like this.