No quotes for business transactions unless on paper and you have a copy. I think emails count for informal commitments. But, the important part here is understanding how charges occur. You will never get more than the initial quoted figure unless you point out and get an agreement for anything beyond the initial quote.

You have to understand that a good deal of business relies on charges beyond quotes. It's how this is handled that creates happy relationships.

email certainly is a paper trail - its why I often refuse to discuss projects over the phone. We operate on FFP (firm fixed price) so what kills us is feature creep. The good idea fairy is alive and well on most of my projects so I try to limit the phone calls that start with, "wouldn't it be great if..."

Bottom line is you either bill hourly or fixed price. If the original deal was for a certain amount then the number of hours you spent doesn't matter - that's your problem. Often the most important parts of contract work are cost estimates and expectations management.

+1 on the paper trail. That is a definite next time.

Just wanted to let everyone know we got it resolved and worked out so everyone comes away from the job happy. Good to get this stuff resolved :)

Some of my best clients are the ones I gave to my competitors. ;)

Aside from selling parts at Pelican, I do remodeling work on the side. After getting nailed a couple of times (poor pun intended) what I always do now is get everything in writing, pad my estimate by 10-15% so there's room for any one of a number of things that may go wrong, and make it clear that if something changes/evolves/grows, then so does the bill.

If this is someone I want to do future work for after getting a feel for them and their future needs, sometimes I even give them a "good customer" discount, although never more than 10%. They feel like they are getting something above and beyond, and I'm not really losing because I planned on using that 10% for SOMETHING related to the customer/project anyways.

Is his name Simon by any chance?

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