My wife and I decided to finish the unfinished bathroom in our basement prior to our baby arriving here in March. This room was completely blank. No ceiling, no floors, no drywall up, so no mysteries hiding.
My good friend (I was in his wedding) is self-employed fixing homes. Being that I am also self-employed, I wanted to support his business.
He provided an estimate of $6,250 -- $3,750 for labor and $2,500 for materials. This estimate was literally written on a napkin when we grabbed a few beers one night.
He wrapped up last week. Took him and his partner 3+ weeks.
Anyway, he just sent me an invoice, and our materials totaled $4,758 (almost double his materials estimate). Now, we did buy a nice vanity, but everything else was pretty standard. I honestly have no idea how he was so far off.
He also added $500 for plumbing labor. This was a change order I authorized. So my total authorized budget (estimate plus this) was $6,750.
What irks me is I was CONSTANTLY on him about the material budget. He knows my general financial outlook. He always said we were "in the ballpark."
So my total is about $9,000. He said he was "shocked" when he put the invoice together and agreed to deduct $250 off materials, so my total out of pocket is $8,750.
I called a contractor client of mine, and he said $8,750 for a basement bathroom, especially one with concrete dig-up, is a steal -- he said he would have charged at least $15k. He's been to my house several times so he knows exactly what area of my house this is; so, this guesstimate isn't out of left field.
So what would you do? If this were any old contractor, I'd pay him $6,750 and tell him to pound salt. But this is a good friend. This took him three weeks and he worked hard, and the bathroom looks amazing for a basement bathroom. I don't want to stiff him, but man, this is rough.
I'm meeting him for beers later and wanted to know how hard I should fight this.