Contractor Hidden Fees

[Mike Welch]

I'm in the midst of renovating a house to serve as a long term rental. I hired a contractor to put in a tile flooring with the look and feel of wood. The contractor gave me a bid that included 'Floor Prep' as a line item.

Now, the job is 90% complete, the contractor called me (I'm out of state) and told me that he had to level out the concrete floor in the living room in order to complete the install. He's telling me this will cost another $375 because it was more than he had planned for. In fairness, the area was carpeted before and he could not see what was under the carpet until it was removed.

The contractor did not inform me before beginning down this path. Now that he is almost complete with the project, he is presenting me with another unplanned expense.

How do you deal with contractors that introduce new fees during the project? Should I insist he complete this under his original 'order and sales agreement' (note: this is how he presented his bid, not as an 'estimate'). Should I simply pay the extra money and be done with it?

[David Niles]

Mike, as a contractor myself for 20+ years with the past 6 doing rehabs I have had plenty of these situations come up both on my own work and investors. As you stated there was carpet present so it wasnt quite as evident as it should have been of the unevenness of the floor and carpet is pretty much one of the few types of covering you can put over it and get away with. Floating floors, tiles etc dont necessarily need the floor level but need to be floated even so there are no real sags or humps. While it wasnt in the contract to do, you would have been even more unhappy had he laid it down without leveling/floating.
He should have brought it to your attention as soon as he tore up the carpet and found the issue, BEFORE installation and then work on a compromise/price together. If the job is done and you are happy with the results, I would discuss this with him and compromise on a price.
I know alot of contractors do shady things giving us all a bad rap, but there are alot of good ones out there too just trying to do a good job and still make a couple bucks to pay bills.