Hello, folks,

We are at the very end stages of a large home project (roughly $325k to renovate/expand a kitchen and add an owner’s suite) and our design/build company’s owner is asking me to consider splitting the $14k that he is in the hole on my project.

The overages were a result of everything getting more expensive over the course of the project. (There were a few instances where his estimates were off, so allowances were too low, but he’s not including those in what he’d like to split.) The thing is, the price increases have affected me too—I already paid for overages on plumbing fixtures, for example, among other things.

Is this a normal practice? I like the guy and the company, for the most part, but I also kind of think that this is why we have contracts and it’s on the company to write a contract that protects them from these problems. On the other hand, the price fluctuations and inflation are pretty crazy and I get that he couldn’t foresee them.

When you’ve spent $300k, what’s another $7k, I suppose, except that we aren’t rich and this was a one-time outlay and most of the time a bill of $7k would have a huge impact on us. Mostly, I just don’t know if this is a totally reasonable question that I should absolutely say yes to, or if it’s outrageous, or what. Would appreciate your advice!

Thanks!