Consumer Law, Warranties estimate

[russell1806]

i received a estimate for a new roof for 4500 dollars, i hired that contractor who replace my roof. When i got the bill he had charged me 7500 dollars, am i responsible for the difference of 3000 dollars.

 

[jharris352]

Did the estimate have any warnings about overruns and how they would be handled? What is his excuse for being 2x+ over his estimate? Did he give you any warning before running over his estimate?

Generally he is stuck to the estimate unless he made some arrangements with you during the process to increase the price. Give me more details.

 

[russell1806]

contractor said it would be more money if he had to put decking down. Contractor came out and looked at decking and said decking was fine. at no point during roofing did he inform me that the estimate had changed in price

 

[russell1806]

in estimate it said any decking or rafter replacement if needed would be extraon a time and material basis

 

[jharris352]

Did he get further permission to replace the decking and/or rafters or did he just do it?

 

[russell1806]

he just did it.with out informing me

 

[jharris352]

Well, you have competing interests here. He wasn't very smart to go over the estimate by that far without saying something, but you have received value that you must pay for. It's the concept of quantum meruit. I would go to him and negotiate. Complain that he is WAY over his estimate without saying a word about it. Find out what he did, and make him an offer in writing with a check attached for what you think is fair. See what he says.

 

[FlaRiptide]

jHarris,

Out of curiousity, could the owner legally tell the contractor to simply remove all and leave the roof as it was prior to his work? Since the contract was not completed as anticipated, I would suspect this might be another option if the owner desired this.

Though I understand the concept of quantum meruit it seems harsh for the owner to be responsible for paying more than what he intended.

 

[jharris352]

No he can't have the man remove it. He did the work and it would be more work to put it back the way he had it and there would be liabilities to that.

Like I said there is a happy medium. He is pretty significantly over the estimate and I would argue that point. I would try to make sure he didn't do unnecessary work and I would have the work he did inspected.

Compromise is the main word here. The Contractor was foolish for going that far over the estimate without written approval. The homeowner should have been paying attention too.

 

[workin4alivin]

Is there any type of signed contract? What are the terms of the contract?