Do I pay my contractor for bringing in a plumber without consulting me?

June 1, 2015 9:15 AM

I recently had some renovations done to my apartment. The contractor was doing work in the bathroom, and was having an issue with the drain — on occasion it drains very slowly and needs to be cleaned out.

I live in a co-op, which means there is a handy man in the building that does this sort of work, free of charge.

The contractor was unaware of this, and called his own plumber to do the work without consulting me first.

Now that the work is done, he is asking to be reimbursed for the plumbing work ($250) on top of the prior agreed-upon price for the work done.

While I can understand his wish to be reimbursed, I am somewhat irritated that he did not consult me first so I could direct him to the handy man. So I am at loss. I feel I should explain that I should not be on the hook for these charges. On the other hand, I know he went out of his way to fix some other things that needed repair, which he did free of charge (though again, without consulting me first). So, I am somewhat stuck on how to proceed.

Any pointers on how to handle this? Thank you.

posted by helios410 to Home & Garden (9 answers total)

I would refuse to pay, citing that this is beyond the scope of what was discussed and you had contracted him for. If he wanted to bring in a plumber he should have held off on the work until he had your ok.

If keeping a good relationship with him is important to you and he balks over his wrong doing, perhaps consider offering 50 dollars to help him out but next time he calls you first on any work he thinks you need done.
posted by Karaage at 9:25 AM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: odinsdream, thanks for your question...it clarifies this situation for me.

The contractor was hired to do tile regrouting, per the contract. Nothing in the contract specified any sort of plumbing work.
posted by helios410 at 9:45 AM on June 1, 2015

I would try to discuss this with him, just to explain your situation and thought process in a friendly way, before making any pronouncements about paying or not paying. Sometimes people will surprise you by being more considerate of your point of view than you might expect -- but that's much less likely to be the case if you jump to "I'm not paying because XYZ."
posted by J. Wilson at 9:51 AM on June 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

helios410: "While I can understand his wish to be reimbursed, I am somewhat irritated that he did not consult me first so I could direct him to the handy man. So I am at loss. I feel I should explain that I should not be on the hook for these charges. On the other hand, I know he went out of his way to fix some other things that needed repair, which he did free of charge (though again, without consulting me first). So, I am somewhat stuck on how to proceed."

I would tell him almost exactly this. You appreciate his commitment to doing good work, and you recognize that he's done some things at no charge, but this expansion of the scope without consulting you seems excessive. Let him make a suggestion to fix the issue that you can then agree to or negotiate.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:06 AM on June 1, 2015 [3 favorites]

I work for a GC. We take a scope of work seriously. We would not have done what your contractor did without consulting you first. You weren't given an option to understand the situation or the associated costs, nor were you given the opportunity to explore alternative solutions. They spent your money without asking you and that's not fair. We have occasionally had subcontractors do work that was outside the scope/not on the drawings/not in contract, etc. They don't get paid for it because they weren't authorized to do it in the first place.

odinsdream had a great point above so I'm answering based on OP's update.
posted by futureisunwritten at 10:14 AM on June 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

I understand your irritation; he never should have called his own plumber without consulting you first and getting your approval. Technically, that's on him and you have every right to refuse to pay, but let me tell you why I'd pay him, if I were in your shoes:

1. Tile work is very labor intensive and exacting. Your contractor needed access to water and a drain to complete the work you hired him for; it'd have been unrealistic to expect him go back and forth to the kitchen or another room for this, especially if he was in the middle of the job and your drain was clogging up. If he'd waited for your approval or for you to schedule your own maintenance man at a later date, this could've lengthened the amount of time he'd need to spend on your job and make him lose money by spending more time on your project and possibly having to turn down other future bookings.

2. You said he fixed other things free of charge (again without asking you), but nonetheless that was cool of him to do.

3. The work is already completed. The plumber has already been paid. Did he do a good job overall? Are you happy with the results? If I were happy with the results, I'd just suck it up and pay him. $250 isn't an outrageous amount of money. Mentally tell yourself that you got a good deal all things considered because it sounds like you did. Good contractors are hard to find, so if you are happy with his work overall and might need him in the future, pay him now and make sure that he understands he must consult with you and get prior approval for any work above and beyond your initial estimate(s).
posted by LuckySeven~ at 10:56 AM on June 1, 2015 [8 favorites]

I'd ask him to split the $250 cost with you, based on all the above explanations and good answers. He can counter with how the split works, 50:50 or something else, and you can re-counter with whatever seems fair to you based on how you want your future relationship with him to go.
posted by anadem at 11:10 AM on June 1, 2015

This is really simple. Is this contractor a good one? Do you still have work to be done, or is there other work you'd like him to do? Do you value the relationship, and want to keep it healthy? If so, pay. If the guy is good, preserve the relationship. Use this as an opportunity to explain how to scope your work in the future.

If you have no interest in this vendor, and you REALLY want a fight, refuse to pay. At the end of it, you'll be out way more than $250 in time and aggravation.

I had a "landscaper" contracted to do a clean up of my property. They did a really shitty job. I was well within the realm of reasonable behavior to balk at the invoice and withhold payment. However, it was totally worth paying the money to get this jerk out of my hair and never hear from him again.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 11:58 AM on June 1, 2015

I'd pay him, but tell him I was unhappy that he had done that without consulting me. That's very poor communication. The customer should always get a heads-up when the assumed conditions change, even if it IS within the scope of work.

But he may have saved you some money in lost time overall, so he probably thought he was doing a good thing. Just let him know that in the future, you'd like to approve newly identified work.

He has an invoice from the plumber, right?
posted by ctmf at 9:17 PM on June 1, 2015