Home siding contractor - cost of work not specified in contract

[MST]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Connecticut

Just had a full siding job done by general contractor. After contract was written up, I had decided to replace a screen/storm door myself. When foreman arrived on site to survey the home, I asked him if it should be done before he starts, or after, would he have to take the old one down anyway or not... Long story short he said if I get a new door myself he will put it up for me. He didn't mention price, I didn't renegotiate or add this to the contract (yes I should have, have used them before and I got too comfortable with them). I wrongly thought this meant he was just throwing it in as part of the whole job so I didn't ask price. He threw in other things like a window and light fixture replacement, but those ARE in the contract.

Job was completed today, I paid the contract in full, crew and foreman left. Later I got a call from the company owner. He indicated that his team installed a storm door, and it wasn't included in the contract. He is correct, I agree and realize this now. However he indicated he was going to invoice me $300 for the install. After looking around I can not find a price anywhere over $120 on the high end in this area for just a storm replacement with no re-framing needed. big box stores are a lot less.

I understand I should pay him for the install since it was not included. I know where I went wrong, but my question is do I have any hope at this point of getting this price brought more in line? Since there was no price quoted up front, am I out of luck? Any suggestions appreciated for renegotiating this.
.

 

[adjusterjack]

There's no legal issue.

You owe for the work.

There's no magic words to get the price down.

Talk it out with the contractor. It's between you and him.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Connecticut

... After contract was written up, I had decided to replace a screen/storm door myself ... he said if I get a new door myself he will put it up for me. He didn't mention price, I didn't renegotiate or add this to the contract ... He indicated that his team installed a storm door, and it wasn't included in the contract. ... However he indicated he was going to invoice me $300 for the install. After looking around I can not find a price anywhere over $120 on the high end in this area for just a storm replacement with no re-framing needed.

... I know where I went wrong, but my question is do I have any hope at this point of getting this price brought more in line? Since there was no price quoted up front, am I out of luck? Any suggestions appreciated for renegotiating this.

Because no price was quoted or included in the contract, you are in a good position to negotiate with the contractor the cost charged for installation.

You can get estimates from other contractors in the area and present these to your contractor for a compare and contrast, to see if you can get the $300 figure reduced. Of course, this only works if the other contractors would charge less than $300 for the same work.

The contractor does not have to negotiate with you and you, in turn, can refuse to pay the $300. But this hardly seems to be an amount worth suing over - for either you or the contractor. Try to work it out amicably or just pay and learn from it.