Discussions

We had a house built over a year ago. Both we and the builder signed an offer to purchase for a set price for the lot and the house. All fees were paid to the builder as per the offer - we used a lawyer. Now here it is a few years later and the construction company says we owe them thousands of dollars more because the costs of the trades involved were higher than expected. Isn't the price agreed to in the Offer legally binding? Can the builder do that even after we've lived in our house for over a year now?

See what your legal rights are.

One would assume that if you had every detail on paper, every job listed, priced out and both parties signed, that should be what the cost is. If they got extra work done, or had to hire someone else outside the signed quote, then you may have to pay. But, just trying to get more money for a job that was quoted and signed for, I don't think they can do that. Above poster is right, contact a lawyer and show them all your paperwork.

I would contact a lawyer. But I wouldn't pay the company if its been this long. First off, if a particular job (which was most likely sub-contracted). The company would've known even prior to the job commencing, and would give you a written quote as what the overage cost would be. Then it is your option whether you sign off on the addition cost. I wouldn't pay them one cent!

Anyone know a good litigation lawyer.

We agree with Getty. We think we shouldn't have to pay one red cent more than we signed for. The builder actually "over quoted" (for lack of a better word) because they didn't know exactly how much the all the trades would cost and that's what we agreed to. We were never shown quotes from trades and then asked to agree to that, the house was built for a quoted price and that's what we paid. It shouldn't be our fault that the tradespeople and builder can't get their act together. They were paid the price on the Offer to Purchase. As far as we're concerned, too bad for them.