Quotation vs Estimate?!

[Mustang71]

The issue I have is that you are calling a lisenced professional for an estimate so that estimate should be pretty accurate. If he says 3 days it shouldn't be 6 plus days it should be 3 maybe 4 especially at the rate of 1700 a day. That's very misleading.

 

[ropensaddle]

The issue I have is that you are calling a lisenced professional for an estimate so that estimate should be pretty accurate. If he says 3 days it shouldn't be 6 plus days it should be 3 maybe 4 especially at the rate of 1700 a day. That's very misleading.

I agree there,however; the op needs to talk with the owner first because he,we or no one has any idea at this point. I would,nt be surprised if this guy is not thinking, "well I underbid that one dern it " There was extra work it appears but the first step is for him to talk to the dude. I for one am not going to lynch the guy until there is banter between the two of them, "ya know"

 

[ATH]

That contract looks to me like it's 1700 a day for a 4 man crew and they estimate it will take 3 days therefore you owe atleast 3 days worth. It says nothing about the job will be complete in 3 days for a total price of... Idk what the verbal agreement was though.

I disagree with the "at least"...what if it only took 2 days. Do you think the contractor would be accepting $3400 or still expect his estimate??? I know - at this point in this circumstance, that is moot, because it is taking longer than 3 days. My point is many contractors want their "estimates" to be flexible up, but not down. That is why a quote is fixed - so everybody knows the money situation at the end of the day.

 

[Mustang71]

It's a bad contract and an estimate from a professional should be pretty close to the actual time unless something unexpected happens. If you estimated 3 days and it took 7 that's a bad estimate. It's just worded so that the contractor always wins.

 

[Missel]

So I just received an invoice for "Day rate of $1700. Remove large cottonwood trees. 10 Total" and for some reason they removed the stump grinding line item from the invoice. So I walked the site and there are still 5 cottonwood trees to come down not to mention the stump grinding in the original quote. The owner was not there today but i talked to one of the workers who said two of the remaining trees would take 2 days EACH! That's more than double the contract says! I need to talk to the owner but would prefer to talk in person but who knows if he'll show back up. On second thought i should make all corespondents via email for record keeping purposes if I need to get all legal on them.

 

[lone wolf]

So I just received an invoice for "Day rate of $1700. Remove large cottonwood trees. 10 Total" and for some reason they removed the stump grinding line item from the invoice. So I walked the site and there are still 5 cottonwood trees to come down not to mention the stump grinding in the original quote. The owner was not there today but i talked to one of the workers who said two of the remaining trees would take 2 days EACH! That's more than double the contract says! I need to talk to the owner but would prefer to talk in person but who knows if he'll show back up. On second thought i should make all corespondents via email for record keeping purposes if I need to get all legal on them.

Sounds like they are going to give you some trouble. You might want to get them to stop before it gets way out of hand.

 

[ropensaddle]

So I just received an invoice for "Day rate of $1700. Remove large cottonwood trees. 10 Total" and for some reason they removed the stump grinding line item from the invoice. So I walked the site and there are still 5 cottonwood trees to come down not to mention the stump grinding in the original quote. The owner was not there today but i talked to one of the workers who said two of the remaining trees would take 2 days EACH! That's more than double the contract says! I need to talk to the owner but would prefer to talk in person but who knows if he'll show back up. On second thought i should make all corespondents via email for record keeping purposes if I need to get all legal on them.

Sure email and take care of yourself. I think I remember this job, you posted it here and everyone said it would be xxxx and you seemed to get a bid for x. It doesn't change anything really, its just I think you had 20 bids or so and found one that under bid it grossly. What needs to be done imo is; you need to sort it out email or verbally with the owner of the business and get on the same page because until you do so, your pre-judging the man. I think many here have underbid and lost money on jobs before as; it's the dirty nature of the job. I don't feel he is fly by night because you checked ratings ,insurance etc. I do think he way under estimated and though that is not your fault, I would be careful not to pre-judge the mans character. Until you contact and see where he stands you have not given him the benefit of doubt. Anyway I hope it goes well for the both of you.

 

[ropensaddle]

Sounds like they are going to give you some trouble. You might want to get them to stop before it gets way out of hand.

I think yes, stop until he at least knows intentions. That will at least get owner to contact but then stopping progress is costing the owner so not sure if that's a good idea either. Contacting owner is important at this stage.

 

[ATH]

1) I removed the company name and my information but at the top it say Quotation. The quotation is the contract, if it said estimate then it would be just that an estimate. I'm trying to determine if i am paying for 3 days of work or 10 trees to come down.
.....

Going back to this...is there more language on the back of that page AND did you sign a copy of the quotation? I don't see what makes this a contract...

Point being: Sounds to me like you hold ALL the chips. If they don't have something signed by you, they probably have no claim. I don't know you state's laws, but in most the statute of frauds says a contract is not enforceable for goods and services over $500 unless it is written and signed. If they want paid per day then tell them to quit at the 5 trees they have done and the most I'd pay them is 50% of the tree removal cost quote then I'd find somebody else to finish the job.

...but I am not in any place to try to offer legal advice.

 

[Bobby Kirbos]

For future reference:

He can estimate all he wants. Get a firm, agreed upon price and sign a contract. That should be the price you pay whether it takes his crew 3 days or 3 weeks to do the job. If you're paying by the day, you better believe they're going to stretch it out an extra day if possible.

Now, to cover his ass, expect that there will be a "time and materials" clause in the contract in the event that they run into something unforeseen, and make sure that the contract is written such that you must be contact before he begins any work under this clause. Tree removal should be pretty straight forward though.


Side bar:
I sat on the board of directors for my local gun club for a number of years. We were doing some renovations to the ranges and knew we had very large rocks that would need to be moved. The job price was quoted at a fixed price PLUS time and materials (at an agreed upon rate) to break up any rocks that could not be moved by their equipment as they were.