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Graham,
There is a little scam that some builders like to employ that sting a lot of people without them even being aware of it.
It goes like this:
Variations to the original build specifications incur a penalty rate to cover the builder for the inconvenience of change. For example, if you were to expand the kitchen size by 1m in length, the additional cost of materials would not cover the cost of the muck around to achieve it. and that is fair enough.
My experience is this;
When we chose our builder, we approached them with a very clear idea of everything we wanted, down to the manufacturer and model of the light fittings and tap ware. He (the owner of the building company) said, oh don't worry about that sort of detail, we'll quote you on the house construction assuming we instal the basic, generic hardware and adjust the final payment figure to reflect the extra cost of the specifics related to construction that you choose. Imagine our surprise to see a 30% (or what ever it was) premium applied to any deviation from the basic 'prison ware' light fittings, tiles, skirting boards, stove, cornice, kitchen cupboards, hot water system, sink, bench tops, etc, etc... because they were 'variations', even though we had specified this equipment in the first place. If we hadn't actually gone through each item and cross checked the value against receipts, we wouldn't have even noticed the gouge.
caveat emptor.
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