Contractor wants payment for extras not in contract

[halfcaf]

New Jersey

I started renovating my home about 2 years ago. My contractor had me sign a contract and everything was proceeding as planned. Along the way there was extra work done which was never included in the contract. No price was ever discussed and agreed upon, although I did authorize the work. Now the project is completely finished and all contracted monies have been paid. Along the way (an 18 month period) he would keep telling me that he would let me know how much the "extras" were going to be. Now today almost an entire year after any major work has been done I get in an email an itemized list of all of these extras and what he wants me to pay him. It's a lot more than I would have thought and I'm very upset about it.

The email is asking for payment for things that have been done and I do realize I owe him money. I always thought it was strange that he never really pursued payment - you think he would have wanted the money sooner. The problem is not that I don't want to pay him, its that all along if I knew how expensive certain things were going to be I would have made different choices. The analogy to be made is sitting down in a restaurant and ordering from a menu with no prices, then being surprised by the bill after you've eaten. Maybe I would have done things differently.

Can he do work to completion and then come up with a price he expects me to pay. How could I ever be in a position to negotiate the price, or decide on something else - the work has already been done.

-Thanks

[Hoe1979]

You can try to negotiate the price, but this should have been done before “I did authorize the work”. You don’t have much to stand on. The contractor did the work and now you need to pay him for the work done.

[Cedrus]

Was his email detailed about the extra work? For instance if the bathroom was enlarged over and above the original contract, did he provide receipts for extra lumber, drywall, electrical, plumbing? Parts and subcontractor bills he paid?

Can your furnish us examples?

[halfcaf]

From my meager research it seems to me that the Consumer Fraud Act of NJ would offer me some protection. Here is an article written by a NJ lawyer that seems to state what I mean:

[url]http://www.grazianoandcampi.com/ConsumerFraudActArticle.pdf[/url]

Look at section 3 second to last sentence: "This requirement that the extras be in writing is more imperative for the builder than it is for the homeowner because should the homeowner subsequently refuse to pay for the extras the builder cannot recover their cost in a suit, they are disallowed unless agreed to in writing.

I'm not looking to screw my contractor - he did a good job and I'm happy with it. I'm just very unhappy about getting hit with a final bill that's more than double what I expected based on an old conversation.

[halfcaf]

[url]http://www.huestonmcnulty.com/pdf/fraud.pdf[/url]

See the "Writing Requirement" in the first section

-Thanks.