We negotiated a price based on the project and a completion date. My GC’s team has been putting in late nights to meet that completion date. Should I be worried that I could be billed for overtime, or would that had to have been specified in the contract?
Hi Emily, the contractor should not bill you for overtime. If the contractor is behind, that has nothing to do with you and that will be his or her loss. Contractors should include a date of completion in all construction contracts. There are various reasons why a contractor could be running late, such as unexpected setbacks. If a setback is discovered, it is the contractor’s responsibility to inform customers. Now, the only way a contractor should bill a customer is if the owner is requesting employees to work overtime, which may not be covered in the contract. If the contractor chooses to have the employees work late (without a customer’s request), that has nothing to do with the customer. Hope this helps…
This would depend on the terms and conditions in the contract. However, we have not personally billed someone for overtime before.
A contractor cannot bill you for overtime if everything he’s doing is in contract with you. He can only charge an overtime fee if something else comes up that had nothing to do with the agreed project. For example the customer asked for something extra to be done, or an old pipe breaks as he’s fixing something else
Hi Emily,
It depends on your contract but your GC should be upfront if they plan to charge you extra. That would be a Change Order for the premium time.
Read the contract you signed that is what will hold the most in court and should be referred back to regarding any questions.
Hi.
A lump sum contract is contract where you have a fixed price to perform certain tasks, it is not an open account, with this fixed contract the only way you could be charged extra is if there is an extra work and it has been presented to you, including additional cost, in a change order prior to performing it.
No the contractor expected late days and this was or should have been built into your contract that you both agreed upon.
Always request a quote to complete the work. If paying by the hour, agree on per hour payment beforehand.