Entitlement to pay

Snapper1

Anybody with a legal background know how the case below may be approached?

Yu Ying has agreed to pay a fixed price of €20000 to Mossy for him to build an extension to her house. Halfway through the building work, Mossy had to get more workers to finish the project on time and Yu Ying agreed to pay an additional €3000 to cover the extra labour costs. Now the extension has been completed and Yu Ying has paid €20000. She is refusing to pay the balance, as this was a fixed price contract. Mossy wants you to advise him on his chances of recovering the extra payment.

RainyDay

Has either party got anything in writing about the original contract, the schedule or the agreement to cover extra labour costs?

kluivert

Did Mossy provide a quotation at the start of the Build. Was it in writing. Was there an explaination that it was a quotation and that there maybe a variance of 15% either way.

How long did the job last. Months? Was a Bill of Materials Invoice issued every month for payment.

Was the original contract realistic. E.g Time scale, cost of labour and materials. What could builder xyz have done the job for.

A contract does not have to be in writing. This can be taken to a small claims court and settled there. Due to the nature of the work, building never runs to budget. Good chance of settlement for the balance.

RainyDay

kluivert wrote:

This can be taken to a small claims court and settled there.

The builder can't take the householder to small claims court. Consumers can sue businesses, but not vice versa.

kluivert

Sorry Raineyday.....

Can it go to the Local District Court.

RainyDay

kluivert wrote:

Sorry Raineyday.....

Can it go to the Local District Court.

I guess so, but you'd really need to involve the (expensive) legal eagles for District Court.