Legal Question in Construction Law in Illinois

I hired a contractor to install a new floors and paint the baseboards. He gave me a price quote for the job itemizing everything that needed to be done. I was purchasing the tiles, but asked him to pick out the trim for the stairs as well as thresholds and paint and I would reimburse him for those items. At the end of the job he submitted a stack of receipts for materials adding up to @ $400..including things such as paint brushes, scrapers, face masks, caulk, glue, buckets, mops, brushes, etc. When I'd ask him to recaulk some spots he'd really messed up on, he gave me the receipts for the extra caulk he needed to get the job done right. No where in his price quote did he mention that materials would be extra. He also kept all of these things that he purchased that he will use for other jobs. Additionally he quoted me a price for 200ft of 1/4round (materials & labor), but actually only bought about 75 ft & reapplied the old 1/4 round in the rest of the house. I was under the impression that most of these things are basic tools a contractor should have and are figured in his cost for doing the job.

Thank you in advance for any advice or information


Asked on 12/15/11, 7:47 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

There are different kinds of contracts for this kind of work: lump sum for all included and the contractor takes a risk that the price will cover everything plus some kind of profit, fixed price for labor (again risk as to the amount of time needed) plus materials, hourly price for labor (with or without a "cap") plus materials or with an allowance for materials, etc., etc. So someone has to look at the "price quote", but normally a contractor would not charge for tools unless there was something unique about the work that would require a special tool, which contractors may have on hand, or might rent for the job, or for excess materials not left on the job for the owner but taken away and used elsewhere. Have an attorney review the "price quote" to see what, if anything, was included, or excluded....

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Answered on 12/16/11, 9:51 am


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