[ben parrish]

I recently finished a job for a customer..friend of a friend. Very nice couple. We originally discussed some cabinets for their convenience store so they can expand their deli operations. Pretty straightforward cabinets with laminate on top and back surfaces..no doors on the fronts. They cabinets were 13x4x3; 2ea.. My original estimate for the cabinets was 4-4500. They ended up wanting a bar sink installed and plumbed, a raised floor and a short knee wall added.
Long story short, I agreed to do the job for cost plus 20%; total came to about $5800.00. I just got an e-mail questioning the charge. He's not mad and says he loves the way it came out, he just wants some clarity for explaining it to his wife and father-in-law how the price went up by almost 40%.

I explained how the job originally was for just cabinets but as things got added and changed, the price increased. I even broke it down to each category in the original bill.

Should I have reminded them all along that each addition raised the final bill? How do those of you that have to bill for your services handle these situations? When you see that the original estimate is going to be exceeded, how/when do you discuss with the customer?
It seems that people should realize that additions/changes = more cost. I don't want them to feel slighted or taken advantage of but I have to get paid for the time I put into a job.

thanks,
Ben