Half-way through, and the price has gone up
The floor came up, something underneath was not what anyone expected, and there is now a variation on the table for £9,400. This is what an independent builder tells you before you agree to it.
Illustrative example, not a real customer’s job. The situation is typical and the numbers are the ranges we work to — but nobody’s quote, photos or address end up on a website.
Two of the four extra items are genuine — nobody could have priced them before the floor came up, and the rates being asked are fair. One should have been in the original quote and is not really a variation at all. One is being fixed the quick way rather than the right way, and that is the item to push back on. Agreed properly, this is about £5,600 of real extra, not £9,400.
What you sent: Photos of the exposed floor, plus the builder’s variation note: “joist ends perished, replace and fit new wall plate”.
That is real, and the photos back it up — the ends are soft where they sit in the wall, almost certainly from the bridged damp-proof course outside. It could not have been seen before the floor came up, so it is a fair variation. Make sure the cause gets fixed at the same time: lower the path outside, or the new timber does exactly what the old timber did.
Typically £700–£4,500 depending on how many joists
The photo of the new opening shows the beam bearing onto brickwork with no visible padstone. That may be exactly what the engineer specified, and it may not. Do not argue about it — ask for the engineer’s detail and a photo of the bearing before it is plastered over. If there is no engineer’s drawing for this opening, that is the thing to resolve today, because building control will want it and so will your buyer’s solicitor one day.
Engineer’s check and detail £400–£900
Making good around new openings is part of forming the openings. The original quote says “plaster and make good to all disturbed areas”, so this is largely inside what you have already paid for. There is a fair conversation about the extra wall that came down, but not about the rest. Ask which square metres are genuinely outside the original scope.
Sockets and the cooker feed have moved from the original layout. That is fine, and it is normal for a kitchen to move around once walls are out — but it needs to end up on a drawing and in the electrician’s certificate at the end, or you will be the one explaining it in five years. Ask for the revised layout in writing now, while it is cheap to change.
Usually no extra cost if agreed now
Joist work plus an engineer’s visit realistically adds one to two weeks, not the four being suggested. Ask for a revised programme in writing with the new finish date on it, so the next delay is measured from something real.
- Ask for the engineer’s detail for the beam bearing, and a photo of it, before anything is covered up.
- Agree the joist repair and the damp-proof course fix together, in writing, with a price.
- Ask which parts of the “making good” fall outside the original quote, and why.
- Get the revised electrical layout and the revised finish date on paper.
- Pay for the agreed extras as they are completed — not up front with the next stage payment.