Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Late last year, my father and I worked on finding a roofing contractor for an outbuilding on my property. We received several quotes, and we went with the quote that was the lowest. The man gave me a written quote that was very basic, including minimum expected cost and then a maximum expected cost if "all the wood had to be replaced". The quote showed that it would expire in 30 days. This time period came and went, and the weather got too cold to have it done. He had come by my house after the quote had expired and talked about doing the job but nothing was ever signed by either party, and in my mind, no agreements were made.
Well fast forward to last Wednesday and he calls me several times then sends me a text message saying "we will be at your house tomorrow". This was completely unexpected. I talked my father and he felt I should agree to it and have it done. No new quote was issued, nothing was signed. When I talked to the roofer on the phone before he began, he said he didn't know how much it would cost. I have a recording of this call. I asked if it would cost up to 2600 like the original quote to which he said "probably" and said he wouldn't know until it was done "but it should be close to that".
They started Thursday, continued into Friday, and while working, did damage to a light on the outbuilding and power wires running to the building. This has not been acknowledged or repaired. This morning, he calls me and says they are almost done, and said that they had to replace a lot of wood and wants to charge me 700 more dollars than the "maximum" amount that was on the original quote. I asked why (over text message) and he said it was because the original quote was for all plywood. There were a lot of typos in his message and I can't really understood exactly what he was trying to say. He did say they started repairing and by the time they realized how much it was, it was too late to resheet it. I asked why they didn't say anything about the cost sooner and he said "I have it all listed on the bill and I didn't know how many hours we had involved till I contacted you this morning."
This seems ridiculous to me. The original quote was minimum $2,040 and maximum 600 more. Now he wants to charge 700 over this maximum? The original quote was just late last year, so there is no way materials have gone up that much more in price. Do I have to pay this? If I don't, what are the consequences - how do we fight this?
Thank you.
Last edited by the_unstable; 01-30-2016 at 10:21 AM..
I used to co-own a roofing company in Florida. Since you never know what your really getting into and working with until the shingles were off, we would always put in our bid that price includes replacement of 2 4x8 sheets of plywood if the decking is rotted and that additional sheets of plywood would be billed extra at $50 per 4x8 sheet. You could usually tell by walking the roof if you were going to have to replace a lot of decking or not.
Roofers get a bad rap and sometimes rightly so. If for some reason I couldn't replace my own roof and had to hire someone I would pick a small to medium sized company where the owner was personally involved. I would pass on large companies or local one man operations, but that's just me. When receiving a quote always try to get the guy you like best to match it. Even if he says no way, he may come down in price a little . Always beware of the low bid!
How big is the roof? That isn't a horrible price if it's a decent sized roof depending on the slope. I'd make them fix the light or take it off your bill if you fix it. Everything should be returned to the condition it was before they got there whether or not it's on the actual roof itself. We've had to pay for peoples lights, flat tires if we somehow missed a nail during cleanup, smoke alarms, drywall, carpet, bushes, patio pavers, screened patios, garden gnomes, you name it
I used to co-own a roofing company in Florida. Since you never know what your really getting into and working with until the shingles were off, we would always put in our bid that price includes replacement of 2 4x8 sheets of plywood if the decking is rotted and that additional sheets of plywood would be billed extra at $50 per 4x8 sheet. You could usually tell by walking the roof if you were going to have to replace a lot of decking or not.
Roofers get a bad rap and sometimes rightly so. If for some reason I couldn't replace my own roof and had to hire someone I would pick a small to medium sized company where the owner was personally involved. I would pass on large companies or local one man operations, but that's just me. When receiving a quote always try to get the guy you like best to match it. Even if he says no way, he may come down in price a little . Always beware of the low bid!
How big is the roof? That isn't a horrible price if it's a decent sized roof depending on the slope. I'd make them fix the light or take it off your bill if you fix it. Everything should be returned to the condition it was before they got there whether or not it's on the actual roof itself. We've had to pay for peoples lights, flat tires if we somehow missed a nail during cleanup, smoke alarms, drywall, carpet, bushes, patio pavers, screened patios, garden gnomes, you name it
You should know.. A quote is a quote. You get in there and.. There's more than just plywood damage. You get into the support structure of the roof needing work, which you certainly can't see on a walkthrough.. Your quote just went out the window. But.. What should happen there is an immediate hold, and show the customer the problem and explain why there's going to be a significant cost overrun.
But.. There's so many oddball things about the OPs story.. I don't really know where to start. People showing up without agreement to have the work done.. Then agreeing to have the work done based on that? Weird, weird, weird.
^ You can usually get a rough idea if there is going to be rotted joists by looking at the attic, the condition and age of the roof, house and by walking on it. We always knew when we were getting into a job with a lot of rotted wood. Fascia board would also be billed extra if we found rotted stuff that couldn't be seen before tearing the roof off. I'd say an average house needs two sheets of ply replaced, usually at the bottom of a valley, an eave, or around a leaky penetration.
This "contractor" erred when he put in a "minimum and maximum" quote. It shouldn't of gone over the maximum with that wording, at least not with prior homeowner approval. He should of written his contract as a fixed price plus labor and materials for unforeseen roof deck damage. But that "estimate" was only good for 30 days and never signed? Now it's a verbal contract over the phone. Sounds messy. What kind of contractor would start a big project without someone signing something?
If the guy really did replace $700 worth of wood, he should have a detailed list of receipts to show as well as show you the new decking. You could try to stick it to him and hold him to his "maximum" price, or you could simply say I was not planning it being of $2640 I literally only have $2900 (or some number over $2600 but less than what he is asking) and that's it. He'll probably take it and everyone is somewhat happy. Or you could pay what he is asking. Or you could go to court. Negotiating directly with him is going to be the cheapest option. Good luck.
The quote was for new roofing (shingles) not wood underlay. But it would be crazy to install the new roofing over rotted wood.
So yes, that wood and install costs extra.
Materials costs go up and down, and since you had no contract, you were surprised.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
. Always beware of the low bid!
