Quote Originally Posted by catnapper View Post
From the contractor's standpoint: did he submit a quote for you to approve? Because he can come back at you and say "hey, I offered a quote, and you are responsible for looking at it and questioning whether my estimate seemed high".

I used to woed for a company that ordered office cubicals and we would submit quotes that listed how many connectors, corner pieces, etc to build the cubicals. If for some reason, we submitted a quote that was short or over on parts, it always fell on the customer because they ultimately approved the layout and quote. Now.... I've NEVER seen a customer actually lay out the plans and count how many widgets and whoozits they needed, but the company said they offered a client the opportunity and it was the client's problem that the product was ordered incorrectly. Not that I agree with that mentality, but its the way they looked at it.
He didn't submit a quote. What he said was "Here are the measurements" and then I ordered the tile according to the measurements and what the tile supplier told me. I made sure he measured twice. When I talked to my installer about it, he said "Measurements are measurements". I don't even know what that's supposed to mean! I said "And incorrect measurements are incorrect measurements". I could tell from his body language and silence today that he knows I'm not going to settle for this. He's usually so chatty that I have to leave the room if I want to get anything done so his silence speaks volumes. I reiterated again today that I cannot take a $500 hit. The tile supplier told me that she would "help" me w/the expense of any over time that the installer charges me so I told her what to expect in the way of costs. I've been saving money seemingly forever to have my kitchen redone and now I'm having an out-of-money-experience!