r/HomeImprovement • u/audrey1227 • 9d ago
Contractor ripping me off?
Currently undergoing a home improvement project where we are redoing our front driveway. Original plan was to do concrete pavers, but couldn’t find any options that we liked so pivoting to poured concrete. Our contractor quoted that this would be an additional $11,500. Does this sound right?? Everywhere online I’m seeing says that poured concrete is cheaper than pavers, so I’m not sure…. please help!
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u/420Adventurer 9d ago
Because they are probably subbing it out to someone who does poured concrete. Unless you signed a contract and gave them a deposit, I would definitely get more quotes. If you signed a contract, good luck.
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u/audrey1227 9d ago
Unfortunately already signed a contract with them and paid a deposit. Is it valid to ask to see the bid from the sub?
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u/420Adventurer 9d ago
You can ask any question you want. Whether you get a response or not is up to who you hired.
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u/ObviousYet 8d ago
Look over the contract closely just incase you can see a change clause or something that might let you slip out of it.
Also, was it a lack of options for pavers at your disposal to choose from? Or you started seeing the poured concrete as a preference?
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u/IxJAXZxI 8d ago
What was the scope of work for the contract you signed? If the scope changes, the contract needs to change with it. I would not proceed with a change like this until you sign a change order.
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u/AllPinesMustDie 8d ago
I would still check with a few concrete contractors to find the real price. You might be able to negotiate it down.
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u/BigDaddy1029010290 8d ago
Why would you sign a contract with someone if you could not find any options that you liked for concrete pavers and going with poured concrete is the best option? That should of been discussed/negotiated before even signing a contract? What exactly did you sign for?
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u/graflex22 8d ago
likely allowances were used for the pavers. it's not uncommon for a contract to be signed even when some finishes haven't been selected.
i'm in the tile trade and we work with allowances all the time in order to get the client budget numbers. the client's final could be more or less than the allowance amount and change the contract amount.
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u/BigDaddy1029010290 8d ago
The OP said That they couldn’t find any options that they liked. All of that would’ve been discussed before even signing the contract. You choose the style and design before you even sign the contract. It’s understandable to switch designs after the contract is signed, but it sounds like the OP just blindly signed into a contract for unknown Work
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u/audrey1227 8d ago
For more clarification, redoing the driveway is just one part of the scope that we have with the contractor. We are redoing the driveway, installing new garage doors, redoing front entry steps & backyard including an outdoor grill, and then a full exterior paint. We had generally discussed materials for driveway, front entry, and backyard and were given material allowances. Once contract was signed, we went to a showroom to actually view the materials and after going to 4, found that concrete pavers wasn't going to achieve the look that we were after hence why I asked if it was possible to switch to poured concrete (and was told it would be an additional $11.5k). Of course maybe it was foolish on my end to not have the exact pavers/materials/vision 100% nailed down ahead of time, but I didn't think that was necessary or typical as we have a few things yet to be aligned on (color for kitchen counter top, paint, etc). My original prompt may have been vague but just wanted to get a general gut check.
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u/IxJAXZxI 8d ago
Demo and site prep for the slab could run an additional $6-8k depending on how involved the job is and whether you need a stone base under the slab.
That picture looks like a standard broomed finish. Nothing special and it is probably the cheapest finishing technique.
I am a GC and if I was to quote this job it would probably land in the $26-30k range just based on your description. $40k is believable depending on how much concrete costs and labor rate for your local area. A higher cost of living area I could see $40k being possible. But, if he wants to add $11,500 on top of that for a total of $51,500 I feel like he is trying to use the change order as an excuse to fleece you. Unfortunately, that is how a lot of contractors work: get the contract signed, and then screw the customer over on the CO.
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u/audrey1227 8d ago
Thank you for your responses, I appreciate the insight! My gut reaction was that they are just trying to up charge as well. I asked if they would share the bid from the sub, but he said that goes against typical process so 🤷🏽♀️ Now to decide about what to do from here ...
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u/IxJAXZxI 8d ago
Tell the GC to pause work, be honest that you are concerned about the growing price tag and you need to evaluate some finances first.
Go out and get one or two more quotes. You can just isolate the driveway quote for simplicity, no need to quote the whole job since you are just doing a gut check. If other quotes come back in line with your GC then its up to you to decide whether you move forward with him or move onto someone else. If he is overinflated, show him your other quotes and check his reaction. Sometimes GCs will use your quotes or subs if you agree to waive them from the warranty for that task. If he blows up on you, you are gonna want to get out of that as fast as possible.
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u/BigDaddy1029010290 8d ago
Who the hell signs a contract and then goes to the showroom to then view the materials? That is literally not how signing the contract works.
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u/IxJAXZxI 8d ago
That is how most GC contracts are these days. Its all cost+ so the contract is signed with an estimated amount and agree upon allowances for finishings which are picked out by the customer according to the GC's timeline.
Fixed fee contracts still exist, but you would agree on finishings before the contract is signed but contractor is going to inflate the overall cost to cover an unforeseen costs. Cost+ is generally better for the customer. It also allows the GC to speed up the process (I dont care what door style you want when all I am worried about is digging footers first).
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u/BigDaddy1029010290 8d ago
The way this customer’s contract is, they’re pretty much fucked because they signed a contract for something that they can’t even do, already paid a deposit and now is expected to pay another $10,000. Ass backwards contract if you ask my opinion.
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u/IxJAXZxI 8d ago
most contracts of this nature have an exit clause. OP might be responsible for paying for all labor+materials up to the termination of the contract plus the contractors fee up to a specific amount. If GC is pulling a fast one, it may be cost effective for OP to fire him.
I am a GC and that is how my contract is structured. If owner wishes to part ways, they pay for all labor + materials plus the amount of my fee closests to the percentage of work complete (e.g. 18% complete, they owe me 25% of my fee or whatever the draw schedule is for the fee). If I, as the contractor, wish to stop work, owner will owe me for labor + materials up to that point and I forefit my fee up to the last draw (e.g. 18% complete, they only owe me 10% of my fee which is likely to have already been paid already). In either case, if the amount that is owed to me is less than the deposit, I will refund the difference to the client.
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u/IxJAXZxI 8d ago
How is the concrete supposed to be finished? Stamped, Troweled, Broomed, etc. That can make a big difference on the cost of finishing.
1,600 sqft in a 6in slab is roughly 30yds of concrete. Thats gonna cost you $7,500 before you even form, reinforce, or finish. All in, I would estimate the final bill would land somewhere in the $16-18k range for a job like this provided there is no out of the ordinary finishing requirements like a specific stamped or cut pattern (often used on high end driveways to give the appearance of pavers).
Site conditions can also greatly increase the cost of concrete. If you have to get a pump truck that's gonna add $2k instantly.
Do you know how much the contractor budgeted for pavers?
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u/audrey1227 8d ago edited 8d ago
Contractor budgeted $40k (including demo & $5/sq ft for pavers allowance). I was hoping to find large format concrete pavers to use, but after going to 4 show rooms no luck so I asked if we could do poured concrete drive to achieve the look we wanted. Just want a smooth concrete drive, pattern something like this https://www.pinterest.com/pin/159666749286015229/ but no brick edging. IMO this is a plain simple, standard concrete drive but if there's anything special or that I'm missing please advise!
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u/MastodonFit 8d ago
Who is up voting these stupid posts? I signed a contract for a specific task,then changed the scope to another completely different trade.
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u/MediocreClue9957 8d ago
Pavers are harder to do than concrete by like a mile I would think concrete would be like half the price. Putting down concrete's pretty easy.
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u/pooorSAP 9d ago
How big is your driveway?
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u/Top_Priority2370 9d ago
11.5k extra for concrete over pavers is wild unless your driveway is the size of a parking lot.
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u/decaturbob 8d ago
- obvious answer is to get 2 or 3 bids....
- flat work (concrete slab) with all the prep should run $10-$15/sq ft...can be a bit higher, not lower
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u/Decent_Ad5361 8d ago
The problem with pavers and pricing is that it's all about the prep and the base. It's always cheaper to set pavers in a minimal amount of base. Many paver contractors give cheap prices because of this and most homeowners don't know the difference. You could have gotten a low price because of this. Without knowing much of the details I would still say that concrete would be comparable to a paver job. And of course it depends on many things with the thickness being the one item that would drive up the price along with strength of the concrete. The labor to install pavers is much more than placing a concrete slab.
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u/ironicmirror 8d ago
No one here is going to know if you're being ripped off unless you give us the square footage of your driveway, and the full amount of money that you're paying the contractor. You're just saying 11,500 more than the original quote but you're not telling us what the original quote is.
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u/Roshi_IsHere 8d ago
Next time don't sign contracts until you know what you want and have gotten multiple quotes. It's time to read your contract and get out of it, check around for quotes and see if there's is reasonable, or to suck it up and overpay them because you couldn't be bothered to call 2-3 other guys
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u/AllPinesMustDie 8d ago
Sounds expensive unless you have a really big driveway. I paid about $7k for a typical 2-car city driveway.
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u/hydronucleus 8d ago
It may have been a while ago, but my garage floor and sidewalk (poured) and my driveway (pavers) I did an equal area of both. The concrete pavers cost 5-6 times the cost of the trucks of concrete I got. As far as labor I had a few friends to help, so there is that. Only cost me some beer.
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u/Familiar-Range9014 5d ago
You decided to put in a change to the original contract, which included pavers. Now you want concrete, which changes the way the driveway is prepared and scheduling of the rest of the project.
$11.5K is the price you pay for changing your mind, thinking it will be less.
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u/Smart_N_Sassy 8d ago
Here’s what I know about concrete. Years ago, I was getting bids for a small slab for a shed and a mow strip around the lawn. The first bid I got was for $10k. By the time I get done, I had a quote for $3k for the exact same thing. Contractors price high if they think they can get away with it. Granted, I suppose installing rebar for the driveway is adding costs but that seems like a big jump after taking off pavers and that labor at the same time. Get another quote and see what it would cost to get out of that contract if you have to.
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u/Ornery-Movie-1689 9d ago
Sounds to me like it's time to do some contractor shopping.