I'm asking on behalf of my female friend, who is quite a soft-spoken woman with a lot of anxiety and has had some issues with the tradesman, both in terms of workmanship and personality, so has asked me to step in. I myself have very little experience with engaging tradesman for renovations, hence why I'm asking here.
She engaged a licensed tradesman to renovate the bathroom and kitchen of her 3 bedroom house which she purchased at the start of this year. Basically, she was given a quote in writing and a brief contract (which I haven't seen), before the work started, which was expected to finish in May this year. Around early May, she had a look at it (and brought me along too) and we noticed that the drainage of the bathroom floor was poor, as the angle of the tiling wasn't right, leading to stagnation. There were a few hiccups with the alignment of kitchen cabinetry, e.g. one of the corner doors had some obstruction/resistance to opening, so requires a fair bit of power to open.
She addressed the issues with the tradie and he apparently got really angry with her, and asserted that he did a great job. He agreed to repair it but came back like a month later, and again another 3 weeks after that. The kitchen issue was rectified, but the bathroom issue persisted. She asked for the bathroom floor to be re-done. He returned at the start of August to do this, and emailed my friend last Thursday stating that he has completed everything.
Meanwhile, she's away on annual leave in north QLD and was shocked to see the bill. He jacked up the original quote by 80% - added on extra for extra material and labour for claiming to re-do the bathroom twice. My friend told him she will be back home this Wednesday, but in spite of this, he has kept asking her for the money every day since last Thursday, and threatened to charge interest. In panic, my friend asked me to check it out tomorrow and have a chat to the tradie on her behalf. I anticipate a not-so-friendly conversation regarding several issues e.g.:
1. Can he really charge interest, given that he should only be paid once the work is satisfactorily complete
2. Can he really jack up the written quote by 80% when it's his fault for poor workmanship?
3. Can he blame my friend for delay in payment, when this project should have been completed 3 months ago, and he took his time to come back and fix the issues (instead of doing so promptly)
I appreciate your advice!! I am clueless as you can tell!
She shouldn't have to pay more than the original quote given that all he's done is what was asked of him in the first place. He hasn't been given any more work. If the original amount has been paid, and your friend is satisfied with the bathroom (maybe get someone more qualified to come and inspect it). Then she is within her rights to tell him to f-off.