Landscaper submits final invoice 35% over estimate without notice

[Chris Smith]

Hello,

We had some landscaping work done. We signed an estimate that was part contract labor and part fixed fee. Total project 3.68 days, 1.68 days for the contract labor. The main terms roughly say "Contract Labor items estimated 1.68 days (13 hours) @ $xx day/rate. ..... the total listed above is only an estimated total, and can sometimes change. No where in the contract does it say that the cost will change without notice.

We get the final invoice and it is $3000 (35%) over the estimate price with a note saying the job took longer due to roots on the property. Based on the finalize invoice that is about 10 hours over bringing the total contract labor hours to ~23 hours. We disputed the overage because they did not notify us before hand.

He provided a slight discount bringing the overage down to $2000 (~20%) over the estimate, but basically says we are on the hook for the overage and that he had no duty to submit a change order since the scope didn't change (although the discovery of excess roots seems like a scope change). The whole project took 3 days so less than the total estimate, but labor items were almost double. This feels like a bait and switch.