Yeah, it definitely got us in a bit of a panic, but I don't disagree with their concerns about it being an immediate danger. There was a brick chimney that rose well above our two-story house and was severely cracked and fired damaged but still standing. It was only about 10 feet from the sidewalk as we are on the corner lot.

San Antonio fire department probably should've knocked it down, but for some reason they did not. A friend in the neighborhood who is a firefighter in New Braunfels came by to check things out and said there's no way they would've left the site with that standing.

I raise my concerns to the insurance company and they kind of acted like they didn't care. They basically said if I was concerned about it then I can certainly do what I felt like I needed to do, but that it was basically on me. I had a security fence put up because there were lots of kids in the neighborhood gathering around out of curiosity. I know if I was a little boy I would've been chomping at the bit to go explore burned out house in the neighborhood.

Anyway, the city said the fence was not sufficient and gave us 96 hours for it to all come down.

His explanation is garbage IMO.

Any estimate should be very clear on what the limitations of the estimate are, and in the case of his "rough order of magnitude" - that definition should have been very clearly outlined in the terms and conditions so that you were well aware of the fact that his estimate was pretty much a WAG at best.

Concerning the dumpster costs - well, that's part of estimating in general. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you come up short. He guessed wrong on the time and cost of the dumpsters, that's on him. He further went off into foul territory by not communicating with you that there would be additional costs because of the slower turnaround time, etc.

It would be awesome if I knew every single contingency and could foresee every problem when I'm estimating work, but we don't live in that kind of world. My screw ups do not mean that the owner is obligated to pay for them. You have solid ground to deny his extra cost claim because the mistakes, at least with the information we have here, are his mistakes.

schmellba99 said:

---

His explanation is garbage IMO.

Any estimate should be very clear on what the limitations of the estimate are, and in the case of his "rough order of magnitude" - that definition should have been very clearly outlined in the terms and conditions so that you were well aware of the fact that his estimate was pretty much a WAG at best.

Concerning the dumpster costs - well, that's part of estimating in general. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you come up short. He guessed wrong on the time and cost of the dumpsters, that's on him. He further went off into foul territory by not communicating with you that there would be additional costs because of the slower turnaround time, etc.

It would be awesome if I knew every single contingency and could foresee every problem when I'm estimating work, but we don't live in that kind of world. My screw ups do not mean that the owner is obligated to pay for them. You have solid ground to deny his extra cost claim because the mistakes, at least with the information we have here, are his mistakes.

---

A "rough order of magnitude" does have a specific definition in the project management world. He's not wrong - it's -25% to +75%. You normally use that as a feasibility step before creating an estimate. But, a customer shouldn't be expected to know that if it wasn't explained before the contractor asked him to authorize the work without a firmer estimate or bid. Did the OP authorize the work based on a written order of magnitude with terms and conditions? Some kind of agreement? It seems like maybe not.

On the other hand, I can't imagine authorizing work like that if I expect an insurance company to pay for it, without including them in the conversation. Even at $45k it was already 50% off from the amount insurance was prepared to pay.

OP, sorry for the loss of your home.

A friend's house caught fire, lightning strike, and had to be demolished. Less than $10k for removal to grade. Single story ranch <3k sq ft.

The insurance company was horrible and they got taken by a remediation company for roughly $40k. They prey on emotions and the situation.

If nothing else the service conpany needs to eat the 10% overhead and 10% profit on the dumpster rentals. That's a small piece of it ($3k), but a starting point. The arrogance to go that far over your estimatw and still try to claim full margins is insulting.

Next I'd focus on the clean up/haul off portion. It looks like they estimated just 1 day to haul everything off ($31k for demo, $6500 for haul off labor, $6k +20% for dumpster rental gets to that $45k estimate). Instead it took them 5 days "Due to a couple various instances." A 1 day job turning into a 5 day job is a pretty big **** up. Did they communicate with you as that was happening? They mentioned not being able to place the dumpster in the street and not being able to side load it. Whose fault is it they couldn't place it in the street? They also blamed the dumpster guys (or waste disposal guys if it's different) for the delays. Those delays should eat into their $6500 standard daily rate.


Again it's going to all come down to what you signed or agreed to. But this job should have been done for a fixed agreed upon cost. Sounds like they dragged their feet or didn't giive a **** about time and cost overruns because they expected to get paid the overage. Their **** up should eat into their margins, you shouldn't foot the whole bill.

What did you agree to or sign? Negotiate down. Prepare to lawyer up.