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I’m in the middle of getting 4 rooms of hickory flooring put in. My wife and I did a lot of shopping before deciding on a contractor. The one we went with was a NARI hardwood flooring contractor of the year a couple years back and had a good reputation from what I could find. They came out and measured all the rooms and gave us an estimate, which came in about $100 under our max budget, so we we signed the estimate where required and paid them half up front.
They started installing last week and the first thing the installer said was “you don’t have enough wood”. Turns out that when the owner of the company came out and measured, they screwed it up by about 80 square feet. I understand mistakes happen, but it wasn’t my mistake.
First they tried to claim they didn’t measure the kitchen because they didn’t think that was included. My wife was here when they measured and helped them move the refrigerator out so they could measure behind it. They measured all the appliance openings. It is also clearly stated in the estimate that it includes the kitchen. After we called them on that one, they said they must have missed including the square feet for the kitchen. They ordered the rest of the wood and are finishing the install today.
The issue at hand now is the difference in the price. Had they done the estimate correctly, it would have been about $600 over our budget. They don’t want to eat any of the additional cost because “they run on a tight profit margin”. I understand that as I run on a tight profit margin as well, and another $600 is not just laying around begging to be spent.
I understand mistakes happen. I am willing to meet them in the middle, they are willing to not charge us for the 5% waste. I haven’t gotten too forceful yet on it as I want them to finish the job first. Unfortunately, I leave for Israel for work on Thursday so my wife will probably have to fight this one without me.
My main question is, how binding is a written estimate? They list the rooms to be done, and the number of square feet of wood required, as well as the cost per square foot for the wood and installation. They didn’t know our budget, so I don’t think it was a case of them quoting a price just under our budget, but I can’t say for sure they didn’t misquote it on purpose.
I don’t want to have to go to small claims court, but I will if I have to. I don’t expect them to eat the entire cost, but I expect them to eat more than what amounts to about 15% of the additional cost.
On the bright side, what is done looks really nice.
Suggestions? Advice? Anyone have a similar experience?
It really seems like a big problem but I would suggest you that they should pay for their own mistakes it was there fault they have pay for it and not you, If would have been in place of you then I wouldn’t pay them until they work with it.