OK for painter to raise price mid-job?


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Old 11-24-04, 07:45 AM
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OK for painter to raise price mid-job?

On the fourth day of work, the painter said he hadn't noticed how many cracks there were in the plaster and and he wanted to hire someone to do just that part of the job at an extra cost.

I originally wrote out all the details here, but I agreed to it and that's that. But when is a contractor justified in raising an agreed upon price and when aren't they? I don't want a worse job because someone feels they should be getting more money but I don't want to always wonder if the price is going to be raised.
 

Last edited by Sondra; 11-24-04 at 09:16 AM.
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Old 11-24-04, 08:18 PM
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Did he give you an estimate or did he or she quote you a price? If it was an estimate those can turn out to be higher but they should notify you if the price is going to be higher by a certain dollar amount and then get your approval. On the other hand it seems the painter should have noticed this right away rather than four days later and then hit you up for it. Problems like this are common with plaster and if he is an experienced painter he should be able to handle repairing the cracks with no problem. Unless maybe if it is a spanish plaster or other decorative . Did you notice the cracks and request they be repaired? How did they write the bid/ He should have written a detailed bid covering the need for this from the start.
 
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Old 11-25-04, 09:01 AM
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This depends on the original bid/estimate/contract. If no contract was signed, then its a warning flag from the go. There should have been some sort of 'scope of work', detailing exactly what the painting contractor was supposed to do for XX price.
I originally wrote out all the details here, but I agreed to it and that's that.
Does this mean that you wrote the contract or scope in the first place?
But when is a contractor justified in raising an agreed upon price and when aren't they?
Only when details are uncovered in the course of a job (termite damage, mold, etc.) that was not evident at the time of estimate. At that time, the contractor should write out a "change order', detailing out all the extra work required to finish the job to specs, and have it authorized (sign off) by the customer before anything extra takes place. Cracks should have been evident, or the estimator didn't do a very thorough job.

You make the call. If the cracks are bad, and need to be fixed, stop the painter, and find/hire a plasterer who will charge you a fair price, not the painter's buddy. If they aren't too bad, tell the painter to proceed with the original scope of work, and worry about the cracks later.
 
 

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