Way overbudget construction project

[sunshinekari]

How much should it cost to plumb a small house with one bathroom?
We recently built a small house, 850 square feet, on our property. Our contractor built a great little house but was so far over budget it was astounding. We didn't change the scope of the project and there was no big surprises that would add $$$. He consistently bid too low on almost every aspect, the original bid was $150K which seemed really low to us. (We live on the central coast of CA.) When we pressed him he gave us an official bid of $228K which seemed about right but was of course way higher than his original "basic bid" By this time in the project we we about 1/2 done and had not even signed a contract. We did then sign a basic contract and continued to pay towards the $228 total. As with any project like this there were change orders totaling about $10k which we paid Our contractor came to us after nearly everything had been completed with another invoice for $40k when we really owed only about $14k more on the original bid. We gave him around $20K and both agreed, verbally, that he'd finish the work and not ask for more $ Now we have the plumber who was sub contracted by the contractor (we did not hire him) sending us another bill. Our contractors original bid to us for plumbing was only 5K. There was a change order for $4500 just for plumbing making the new total nearly $10K which we paid. Now the plumber my contractor hired is saying there is an additional $6500 in charges for stuff that he did to finish the house. Things included are basic stuff every house would need like hooking up ice machine, dishwasher, fixtures, shower trim etc. (we bought all the hardware, trim fixtures ourselves he is just charging to install). Is this reasonable, a plumbing bid that has tripled from the original with no changes in what we needed? Whose fault is it? I think the contractor may have just "guessed" on what the plumbing job would cost and was way off as he was with the rest of his "cost estimates", not sure he even got bids from sub contractors. Whose responsible and what happens if we don't pay?

[HomeGuru]

Originally Posted by sunshinekari

How much should it cost to plumb a small house with one bathroom?
We recently built a small house, 850 square feet, on our property. Our contractor built a great little house but was so far over budget it was astounding. We didn't change the scope of the project and there was no big surprises that would add $$$. He consistently bid too low on almost every aspect, the original bid was $150K which seemed really low to us. (We live on the central coast of CA.) When we pressed him he gave us an official bid of $228K which seemed about right but was of course way higher than his original "basic bid" By this time in the project we we about 1/2 done and had not even signed a contract. We did then sign a basic contract and continued to pay towards the $228 total. As with any project like this there were change orders totaling about $10k which we paid Our contractor came to us after nearly everything had been completed with another invoice for $40k when we really owed only about $14k more on the original bid. We gave him around $20K and both agreed, verbally, that he'd finish the work and not ask for more $ Now we have the plumber who was sub contracted by the contractor (we did not hire him) sending us another bill. Our contractors original bid to us for plumbing was only 5K. There was a change order for $4500 just for plumbing making the new total nearly $10K which we paid. Now the plumber my contractor hired is saying there is an additional $6500 in charges for stuff that he did to finish the house. Things included are basic stuff every house would need like hooking up ice machine, dishwasher, fixtures, shower trim etc. (we bought all the hardware, trim fixtures ourselves he is just charging to install). Is this reasonable, a plumbing bid that has tripled from the original with no changes in what we needed? Whose fault is it? I think the contractor may have just "guessed" on what the plumbing job would cost and was way off as he was with the rest of his "cost estimates", not sure he even got bids from sub contractors. Whose responsible and what happens if we don't pay?

**A: this is a legal advice website, not a plumbing estimation website.

[justalayman]

wow, an 850 sq ft house. I think the smallest we can build in my area is 1200 or maybe even 1600 sq ft.

He consistently bid too low on almost every aspect, the original bid was $150K which seemed really low to us. (We live on the central coast of CA.) When we pressed him he gave us an official bid of $228K which seemed about right but was of course way higher than his original "basic bid" By this time in the project we we about 1/2 done and had not even signed a contract.

I have some friends that would like to build things for you. No contract to begin? What were you thinking?

So, you now have a contract. You can hold the contractor to the contract. Since they are quite complex, you would be best served by hiring an attorney to review the contract and advise you and answer your questions. There are too many possibilities to address your problems on an internet forum.

as to charging you for the plumbing installation of your materials;

what does your contract say to this?