ᐅ Additional Costs for Doubling Roof Rafters Due to Unevenness

Hello everyone,

for insulating our roof (between-rafter insulation), one of the offered items was doubling the rafters as a linear meter position. Now, during the work, it turned out that the rafters are not as straight and level as was apparently expected.

I am being charged for an additional 9 hours plus materials (wood wedges and longer screws) to even out the irregularities.

This is a house over 100 years old, where uneven rafters must be expected, and the roof structure was inspected several times beforehand.

Is it legitimate to claim these extra costs?

Matthias

Hello Matthias,

matzmann09 schrieb:

Is it legitimate to claim these additional costs?

The answer to your question should be found in the contract.

Best regards, Bauexperte

The contract (offer) includes the following sentence:
"Any additional necessary work will be discussed with the client before execution."
However, this did not happen; the work was carried out, and I was only informed afterward.

Well... maybe you were not available, but the tradespeople were under time pressure or something similar?

From the way it reads, this additional effort was probably absolutely necessary to ensure the overall result came out right. With old timber framing, surprises can often arise that cannot always be reliably assessed by simple visual inspection. How much money are we talking about here? Have you already spoken with the drywall installer?

Regards, Bauexperte

My wife’s mobile number was known, and she would have been reachable.
I don’t have an exact amount yet, but as mentioned, it concerns a 9-hour report plus materials.
So I estimate it to be around €600 - 700.

I would suggest looking for a compromise. However, I would first point out that it was not agreed upon, and therefore the additional work was not officially approved. In the end, it will probably come down to meeting halfway, since the extra work was carried out.

PS: We had a similar situation with our roof back then. Work was done that was not agreed upon, and we ended up meeting halfway.