Hi everyone,
Our contractor is finishing a full-house renovation. We have a written agreement which lists all the works that were to be carried out for the agreed price. Inevitably some unforeseen additional jobs came up during the works. Except where explicitly asked, he has not informed us of what the additional costs would be.
The biggest surprise and additional job was that virtually all the existing plaster had to come down - walls and ceilings, and these were then dry-lined before being plastered. (Originally just three ceilings were supposed to be replaced, with only some re-plastering of wall, and the remaining plaster skimmed.) I asked what the additional cost for this would be and when I was told the price I agreed expecting it would be fair. However, after doing some research (a "How much does it cost?" article on Which?) it would seem the price was greatly inflated (about double the combined costs using the highest prices in Which?'s price ranges).
Therefore I would like to be better informed before the seemingly inevitable discussion about additional costs, and I wanted to appeal to the knowledgable and experienced members of this forum for some guidance and ballpark figures of labour costs (we paid for materials separately.).
I am not sure whether he will charge extra for all of the following, but from various comments it seems he might. I think he should have advised us of any additional costs prior to undertaking the work, but there you go.
Info: Three bedroom 1930s Semi-detached house in outer London; so London labour prices
1. Installing new coving throughout the house (excluding bathroom) - only repair of existing coving was in the agreement, but this was destroyed when the ceilings came down. So I am actually interested in the difference between the labour cost of restoring old, cracked, damaged coving and installing new coving.
2. Installing new skirting boards throughout the house (ex. kitchen and bathroom). This came about also because the walls had to be redone.
3. Relocating washing machine from kitchen to bathroom (in a downstairs extension that was not otherwise part of the renovation) next to the toilet. By the way, the drainage pipe has been connected into the soil pipe - is this ok?
4. Reducing bathroom window opening width by 19cm (bricking-up) and rendering brickwork outside. [The latter is annoying: the company who came to do the windows did the cosmetic rendering work around the windows outside, but for some reason the contractor left the gap there for ages. I am convinced the window company would have rendered it if it was already bricked up, since they were up there rending anyway.]
Your advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
LM
Our contractor is finishing a full-house renovation. We have a written agreement which lists all the works that were to be carried out for the agreed price. Inevitably some unforeseen additional jobs came up during the works. Except where explicitly asked, he has not informed us of what the additional costs would be.
The biggest surprise and additional job was that virtually all the existing plaster had to come down - walls and ceilings, and these were then dry-lined before being plastered. (Originally just three ceilings were supposed to be replaced, with only some re-plastering of wall, and the remaining plaster skimmed.) I asked what the additional cost for this would be and when I was told the price I agreed expecting it would be fair. However, after doing some research (a "How much does it cost?" article on Which?) it would seem the price was greatly inflated (about double the combined costs using the highest prices in Which?'s price ranges).
Therefore I would like to be better informed before the seemingly inevitable discussion about additional costs, and I wanted to appeal to the knowledgable and experienced members of this forum for some guidance and ballpark figures of labour costs (we paid for materials separately.).
I am not sure whether he will charge extra for all of the following, but from various comments it seems he might. I think he should have advised us of any additional costs prior to undertaking the work, but there you go.
Info: Three bedroom 1930s Semi-detached house in outer London; so London labour prices
1. Installing new coving throughout the house (excluding bathroom) - only repair of existing coving was in the agreement, but this was destroyed when the ceilings came down. So I am actually interested in the difference between the labour cost of restoring old, cracked, damaged coving and installing new coving.
2. Installing new skirting boards throughout the house (ex. kitchen and bathroom). This came about also because the walls had to be redone.
3. Relocating washing machine from kitchen to bathroom (in a downstairs extension that was not otherwise part of the renovation) next to the toilet. By the way, the drainage pipe has been connected into the soil pipe - is this ok?
4. Reducing bathroom window opening width by 19cm (bricking-up) and rendering brickwork outside. [The latter is annoying: the company who came to do the windows did the cosmetic rendering work around the windows outside, but for some reason the contractor left the gap there for ages. I am convinced the window company would have rendered it if it was already bricked up, since they were up there rending anyway.]
Your advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
LM
