Stick to your guns. If this is a true "package deal" and you are using all "their" people, $5K on a $410K deall is chump change on their bottom line. That is in their shinkage. Politely tell them to EAD.

throw him a loaf of bread and tell him to make him some damned stone sammiches, because he's getting ready to eat it.

If you have a clearly defined scope (an objective, quantitative description, drawings, etc.) for a clearly defined price that is signed, it's pretty straight forward. If no, it can get rather ambiguous.

If this is a volume builder, this isn't the first home they built, nor will it be their last. The tonnage of stone should be known in advance when identifying building cost to build. I would not be surprised if somewhere along the line between the PM, foreman, and procurement folks someone entered made an error on their internal buy sheet or the price of stone increased and the unit wont make specified margin.

Always two sides to every story, however sometimes honest mistakes happen.

If it is prior to start of construction and they honestly miscalculated the amount needed and it hasnt been installed yet, then i think the builder is perfectly within his rights as that price would have been higher had they caught that and without it being installed, you still have the option to say no to that addition if you dont agree with the overall total.

If this is already installed and done and they are now coming back to you, then while they might have made an honest mistake, they should honor it.

FYI and contrary to some above posted opinions, $4,900 is not just a drop in the bucket and is substantial amount for all parties involved. The notion that builders somehow make money hand over fist and can just toss away thousands of dollars on each job is just inaccurate. If a builder operates that way, i guarantee they wont be in business for long. Large builders that have the extensive capital wont keep people employed for long who make those type of assumptions or mistakes as well.

I have made many mistakes in my 18 years of owning a custom home building company and have covered all the necessary costs associated with my issues if it was caught after install. I can tell you each one of them stings as this is how i provide for my family.

AG Custom said:

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Always two sides to every story, however sometimes honest mistakes happen.

If it is prior to start of construction and they honestly miscalculated the amount needed and it hasnt been installed yet, then i think the builder is perfectly within his rights as that price would have been higher had they caught that and without it being installed, you still have the option to say no to that addition if you dont agree with the overall total.

If this is already installed and done and they are now coming back to you, then while they might have made an honest mistake, they should honor it.

FYI and contrary to some above posted opinions, $4,900 is not just a drop in the bucket and is substantial amount for all parties involved. The notion that builders somehow make money hand over fist and can just toss away thousands of dollars on each job is just inaccurate. If a builder operates that way, i guarantee they wont be in business for long. Large builders that have the extensive capital wont keep people employed for long who make those type of assumptions or mistakes as well.

I have made many mistakes in my 18 years of owning a custom home building company and have covered all the necessary costs associated with my issues if it was caught after install. I can tell you each one of them stings as this is how i provide for my family.

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Give me a break with that clich there are 2 sides to the story. Both side of the story have been posted, mine and theirs. And you can clearly see they claim to have made an error yet the contract is binding. This is not a small mom and pop builder as they are building over 300 houses in this area, all prefabbed crap. I will have to do a major renovation once we close.

They've made other errors before where they pulled the permit before we settled on the options. So they had to repull the permit and tried to charge me another $1,100 which I ignored. They paid it.

They have the right to bill me? I think not.

Why ask for people's opinions if you don't want to hear them?

HouAggie said:

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Sounds like an honest mistake. I'd either reconfigure the design or pay the extra $4,600.

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I think we found the builder...

Diggity said:

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Why ask for people's opinions if you don't want to hear them?

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You're right. I shouldn't lash out at a response.

Sounds like you need to bail on this deal. A house you don't like and a builder you neither trust nor appreciate.

Get out while you can.

AG Custom said:

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Always two sides to every story, however sometimes honest mistakes happen.

If it is prior to start of construction and they honestly miscalculated the amount needed and it hasnt been installed yet, then i think the builder is perfectly within his rights as that price would have been higher had they caught that and without it being installed, you still have the option to say no to that addition if you dont agree with the overall total.

If this is already installed and done and they are now coming back to you, then while they might have made an honest mistake, they should honor it.

FYI and contrary to some above posted opinions, $4,900 is not just a drop in the bucket and is substantial amount for all parties involved. The notion that builders somehow make money hand over fist and can just toss away thousands of dollars on each job is just inaccurate. If a builder operates that way, i guarantee they wont be in business for long. Large builders that have the extensive capital wont keep people employed for long who make those type of assumptions or mistakes as well.

I have made many mistakes in my 18 years of owning a custom home building company and have covered all the necessary costs associated with my issues if it was caught after install. I can tell you each one of them stings as this is how i provide for my family.

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Yes it is. You think that builder is paying that much or that is their direct cost for the stone? Every line item option for the buyer has a profit margin for the builder. If it costs five grand for one wall of stone imagine how much it costs on houses that have full front stone or 3-4 side masonry. We'd be over $50K at that point, but we all know its no where near that.

This isn't a custom home. It's a production builder and they are trying pass their mistake on to the customer. Like I said, splitting the cost is reasonable, but the builder is the one that should have offered that deal.

AG Custom said:

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Always two sides to every story, however sometimes honest mistakes happen.

If it is prior to start of construction and they honestly miscalculated the amount needed and it hasnt been installed yet, then i think the builder is perfectly within his rights as that price would have been higher had they caught that and without it being installed, you still have the option to say no to that addition if you dont agree with the overall total.

If this is already installed and done and they are now coming back to you, then while they might have made an honest mistake, they should honor it.

FYI and contrary to some above posted opinions, $4,900 is not just a drop in the bucket and is substantial amount for all parties involved. The notion that builders somehow make money hand over fist and can just toss away thousands of dollars on each job is just inaccurate. If a builder operates that way, i guarantee they wont be in business for long. Large builders that have the extensive capital wont keep people employed for long who make those type of assumptions or mistakes as well.

I have made many mistakes in my 18 years of owning a custom home building company and have covered all the necessary costs associated with my issues if it was caught after install. I can tell you each one of them stings as this is how i provide for my family.

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Absolutely not. If the change has been incorporated into the contract via change order, which it sounds like it has, the builder is basically screwed (legally). They contractually agreed to that work for that price, so they're stuck with it. Otherwise, contractual obligations mean nothing.

AG Custom said:

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Always two sides to every story, however sometimes honest mistakes happen.

If it is prior to start of construction and they honestly miscalculated the amount needed and it hasnt been installed yet, then i think the builder is perfectly within his rights as that price would have been higher had they caught that and without it being installed, you still have the option to say no to that addition if you dont agree with the overall total.

If this is already installed and done and they are now coming back to you, then while they might have made an honest mistake, they should honor it.

FYI and contrary to some above posted opinions, $4,900 is not just a drop in the bucket and is substantial amount for all parties involved. The notion that builders somehow make money hand over fist and can just toss away thousands of dollars on each job is just inaccurate. If a builder operates that way, i guarantee they wont be in business for long. Large builders that have the extensive capital wont keep people employed for long who make those type of assumptions or mistakes as well.

I have made many mistakes in my 18 years of owning a custom home building company and have covered all the necessary costs associated with my issues if it was caught after install. I can tell you each one of them stings as this is how i provide for my family.

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The law is on your side in virtually everything you do. The contract law favors you, the taxing entities favor you, and the state attorney general is in your hip pocket. Cry me a river. Oh wait, too late.

AG Custom said:

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Always two sides to every story, however sometimes honest mistakes happen.

If it is prior to start of construction and they honestly miscalculated the amount needed and it hasnt been installed yet, then i think the builder is perfectly within his rights as that price would have been higher had they caught that and without it being installed, you still have the option to say no to that addition if you dont agree with the overall total.

If this is already installed and done and they are now coming back to you, then while they might have made an honest mistake, they should honor it.

FYI and contrary to some above posted opinions, $4,900 is not just a drop in the bucket and is substantial amount for all parties involved. The notion that builders somehow make money hand over fist and can just toss away thousands of dollars on each job is just inaccurate. If a builder operates that way, i guarantee they wont be in business for long. Large builders that have the extensive capital wont keep people employed for long who make those type of assumptions or mistakes as well.

I have made many mistakes in my 18 years of owning a custom home building company and have covered all the necessary costs associated with my issues if it was caught after install. I can tell you each one of them stings as this is how i provide for my family.

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bwahaha. this whole response is a joke, right? contracts matter on both sides. if builders can write them to favor themselves in 95% of situations with almost zero outage language for buyer, then they need to live by them when they screw up. which it seems like the builder did just that.

contracts matter.

AggieDruggist89 said:

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AG Custom said:

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Always two sides to every story, however sometimes honest mistakes happen.

If it is prior to start of construction and they honestly miscalculated the amount needed and it hasnt been installed yet, then i think the builder is perfectly within his rights as that price would have been higher had they caught that and without it being installed, you still have the option to say no to that addition if you dont agree with the overall total.

If this is already installed and done and they are now coming back to you, then while they might have made an honest mistake, they should honor it.

FYI and contrary to some above posted opinions, $4,900 is not just a drop in the bucket and is substantial amount for all parties involved. The notion that builders somehow make money hand over fist and can just toss away thousands of dollars on each job is just inaccurate. If a builder operates that way, i guarantee they wont be in business for long. Large builders that have the extensive capital wont keep people employed for long who make those type of assumptions or mistakes as well.

I have made many mistakes in my 18 years of owning a custom home building company and have covered all the necessary costs associated with my issues if it was caught after install. I can tell you each one of them stings as this is how i provide for my family.

---

Give me a break with that clich there are 2 sides to the story. Both side of the story have been posted, mine and theirs. And you can clearly see they claim to have made an error yet the contract is binding. This is not a small mom and pop builder as they are building over 300 houses in this area, all prefabbed crap. I will have to do a major renovation once we close.

They've made other errors before where they pulled the permit before we settled on the options. So they had to repull the permit and tried to charge me another $1,100 which I ignored. They paid it.

They have the right to bill me? I think not.

---

Maybe next time you see them lobbying on the capital steps with the governor, comptroller, AG, and legislature slobbering all over them, you'll have a better appreciation for why unfettered, unquestioned development and carte Blanche for builders may not always be the best idea.

The list could go on forever, but the recent flooding in May, 2019, in Kingwood was 100% caused by unscrupulous builders. Clear cut, fill in the Bayou, and slope the land toward the Elm Grove subdivision next door. Next they claim it was an act of God, and have the audacity to sue the people they just flooded.

Builders are snakes, they don't police their own, and they only care about one thing - get paid before it hits the fan. Caveat emptor.

So you bought a 2 car garage house that had an option for stone elevation at X $$$, which you agreed to. Then at some point you say, Oh, I also want a 3 car garage. They say that's 11k. Then they come back and say, that was just the price for the 3rd car garage bay itself, if you want stone on that too, it'll be $4900 additional.

They quoted you the price of a stone elevation on a 2 car garage--you agreed.

You wanted a 3rd car bay for $11k--you agreed, but you never specified to the builder that you also want stone their too, you just assumed. They also never specified you wanted stone their too.

BTW, $11k for 3rd car garage is a good deal.

Now, you want to know if you have to pay it. Sounds to me like they were open and honest in pricing, and you both made assumptions. Builder says let's be clear about what that price includes, $11k does not include stone.

Series of assumptions on both your and their parts.

Pay the $$ and get it the way you want. It's not unreasonable.

Or walk away and lose your deposits over principle. IMHO, that seems ridiculous, but if it makes you feel better.

You're doing business with somebody who is out to try to build you what you wanted honestly. It should be a mutually beneficial transaction. They aren't asking for an unreasonable amount. Nobody in their purchasing dept is laughing at you or calling you a sucker for agreeing to pay for what you really wanted.

Now, as a buyer, I might feel like I shouldn't pay it if I initialed on drawings for the 3rd car garage elevation that included stone on it. That would mean they purposefully planned it with stone, but just screwed up and left it off. If this is the case, I would ask to speak to the manager and state why you feel they should build what they represented at the price you signed for. Otherwise, see above.