What do folks think about that? Contract does not get into much specifics at all re coping. We have always discussed doing brick coping. We have a free form pool. Actual PB (old grizzled fellow who's been excavating for decades) says we should miter the brick, it'll look much better, rather than having gaps as you go around the curves. So we agree on that. Then the boss lady (his stepdaughter) says, "oh, he's great at suggesting the nicest things, but doesn't tell anybody what it costs, it's a lot more work to miter it, need 3x as much brick, and it's 3-4 days of extra labor."
So first she wanted $935 extra to miter it, for extra material and labor. I spoke with her, and explained that the contract did not specify, she made a big deal that they weren't going to nickel and dime us, and said, fine, if there's more material than anticipated, we'll pay for that, but shouldn't have to pay for extra labor. She agreed to that, said she's going to tell her stepdad to miter it, "but not get crazy, not every single brick," which sounds fine to me. So we'll just keep an eye on them as they're doing it, make sure it's looking alright.
But just curious what folks think - is that reasonable to ask for extra money for that? Is it really that much more work and material? I suppose it is, but what really got me was that the contract did not specify at all, so of course they can use whatever excuse to say this, that and the other costs extra.
So first she wanted $935 extra to miter it, for extra material and labor. I spoke with her, and explained that the contract did not specify, she made a big deal that they weren't going to nickel and dime us, and said, fine, if there's more material than anticipated, we'll pay for that, but shouldn't have to pay for extra labor. She agreed to that, said she's going to tell her stepdad to miter it, "but not get crazy, not every single brick," which sounds fine to me. So we'll just keep an eye on them as they're doing it, make sure it's looking alright.
But just curious what folks think - is that reasonable to ask for extra money for that? Is it really that much more work and material? I suppose it is, but what really got me was that the contract did not specify at all, so of course they can use whatever excuse to say this, that and the other costs extra.
