It depends on what was stated in your written contract. I handle anything outside the scope of the original language of the contract with a "change order". I decribe the additional work, state how much it will cost, and the customer signs off on it before the work is initiated. Now if you're Katrina, then you're dealing with storm damage/remodeling. Things like that are a can of worms, and the contact needs to reflect that situation. Most damage contacts are structured as "time and materials" since it can be difficult to ascertain what the scope of work will be before the work is done. Sometimes the more work you do, the more damage you uncover. Unless it's a total gut, then you can be more specific. Essentially, it's tough to answer you without knowing what type of contract or agreement you had with your builder. Best, Mongo

Well...this isn't an issue of whether you are being fair, it is an issue of law. There must be a contract which it sounds like you read because you state the deposit is non-refundable, what does it say about start date and completion date? Remember that a judge will uphold the contract and more than likely dismiss anything verbal. It isn't like "judge Judy" and you have to have a point of law to prevail. Having said that you will want to make sure you are willing to leave behind the 2k if you hire another roofing contractor. Hind sight tells you to research any potential contractors you choose to hire(most states have an online search of civil/criminal records for individuals and business's) and follow up with references. My advice to you is to work this out with the Roofer and make the best of it because you want your roof replaced in a timely manner but it won't matter if it is done next week or next month. It probably isn't worth losing 2k to get your roof a month earlier. Hope it isn't leaking!!

Thank you for these responses! We signed a limited first contract with contractor just to get started on some preliminary demo and structural work to the home. Now we need to prepare the big contract for the bulk of the work and all the finish details. It is an appreciated suggestion that we might be able to negotiate this fee. (Duh--why didn't I think of that?) I have many items decided but we're doing an entire house remodel and it's extremely overwhelming to imagine pricing out all the dozens? probably hundreds? of items I have yet to decide on to figure out whether I'm better off just going with the markup or trying to find out more specifically how the labor might bill out for each item. I am beyond overwhelmed. I need simple but don't want to be stupid and pay an outrageous (as opposed to reasonable) markup if I could save some money. It is reassuring to hear some of you say that 15-20% seems typical. marthavila-thank you for responding about the issue of receipts. It seems an interesting dynamic that the onus would be placed on the homeowner here to be honest about the price of something, only to be charged a fee based on that price! I love the idea of negotiating basically a flat fee as a total package for the mark up/installation that feels fair to both me and the contractor, rather than doing 19% on each item. I don't know how that would fly, but I'm glad to see it worked for someone else. :) RE: the hypothetical faucet example above-if it's $50 to install a $250 faucet, I feel it should be $50 to install a $1k faucet. It just doesn't seem right that I should pay for the splurge twice and pay extra for installation on something that is already costing me extra.

kaismom, I almost don't want to answer that question because I feel like we sound like such idiots, but I will. First of all, I am a little shy. We were new to the area and I saw his van working on a neighbors house. All the homes in our neighborhood are down sweeping driveways. I plucked up the courage to go down one when we bought the house and knock on the door to ask about the house and neighborhood, but failed to do it on this occassion. I figured if they were working on a million dollar home they must be decent. I googled and found no negative reviews... in fact no reviews at all. Of course his next customers won't find any reviews either. I checked his license and insurance, but failed to realize just how easy it is in PA to get the license. Basically I could get one tomorrow if I wanted to. Then once we hired him our mistakes continued. I KNEW that he hadn't vented the hood, but whenever I asked about it I was brushed off and told it would happen later. I KNEW that was wrong, but I didn't want to be an ahole and question every single thing he did (I had kicked up a fuss about greenboard in the shower). I did ask many times, but I should have stopped him and made him do it the right way. Of course I tried to do that with various other things with no success at all, so I would have got nowhere, but I should have tried harder. Also one thing I have learned, is that anyone who repeatedly says "I'm a good guy" generally isn't. Genuinely good guys don't need to go on and on about it. Next GC who tells me to trust them because they're a 'good guy' I'm running in the opposite direction as fast as I can! Also never believe someone who repeatedly tells you that all his other clients let him A: use their credit cards for materials, B: make all the design decisions and C: never question any of the process. So yeah, we're trusting idiots. The end. : (