Charging for extras on domestic jobs: getting paid for "while you’re here" work

Published 21 July 2026 · VariationFlow

A plain-English guide for builders on charging for extras on domestic work, extensions, lofts, refurbs: why extras go unpaid, what the Consumer Rights Act says when no price was agreed, the 14-day cancellation rule for work agreed in the client’s home, and the habits that stop the final bill becoming a fight.

“While you’re here, could you move that radiator and box the pipes in?” It takes thirty seconds to agree in the kitchen, a day and a half to do, and £900 of labour and materials to swallow when the final bill turns into an argument three months later. Every builder who works in people’s homes knows the pattern: the job grows as it goes, nothing gets written down because the relationship is friendly, and then the finished account is met with “we thought that was included”. Extras are where domestic margins go to die, and almost all of it is avoidable.

Why extras go unpaid on domestic work

• No price was agreed at the time: the work was done on goodwill and priced at the end, when the client’s budget was already spent.
• Nothing was written down: months later it is your recollection against theirs, and they genuinely remember it differently.
• The final bill arrives as one number: the client never saw the total creeping up, so the whole invoice feels like an ambush and the extras are where they push back.
• The work is invisible: pipework boxed in, boards down, walls closed. By the time anyone argues, there is nothing to point at.

What the law says when no price was agreed

Working for a homeowner is a consumer contract, and the Consumer Rights Act 2015 fills the gaps you leave. If you did extra work with the client’s agreement but never fixed a price, you are entitled to a reasonable price (section 51), which sounds comforting until you realise what it means in practice: “reasonable” is decided after the fact, by negotiation or by a judge, with the burden on you to justify it. An agreed price beats a reasonable price every single time. The habit that follows is simple: price the extra before you do it, even roughly, and get the client’s yes in a form you can show someone later.

The 14-day rule most builders have never heard of

There is a second trap. An extra agreed in the client’s home is usually an “off-premises contract” under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, and that gives the client a 14-day right to cancel, which you are required to tell them about in writing. Miss that notice and the cancellation window can stretch to twelve months, and your right to be paid for cancelled work is at risk. If the client wants you to start inside the 14 days, they almost always do, the regulations expect their express request, and without it you may not be entitled to payment for early work even if they later cancel. A one-page notice with a model cancellation form, handed over or emailed when the extra is agreed, closes the whole trap, it protects you, not just them.

The habits that get extras paid

• Agree it, then start it: describe the extra, price it (or agree dayworks-style rates), and get a signature (a phone signature at the kitchen table is fine and takes a minute).
• Photograph before and after, especially anything that will be covered up. The photo of the pipework before it was boxed in is the whole argument, won.
• Keep a running total the client can see: original quote plus agreed extras equals current total. A client who watched the number move never gets final-bill shock, and final-bill shock is where disputes are born.
• Give the cancellation notice with each agreed extra, and record the client’s request to start straight away.
• Invoice extras as they land rather than saving them for the end: small numbers get paid; one big surprise gets contested.

If it still ends in a fight

Domestic payment disputes end up in the county court, usually the small claims track for anything under £10,000, and small claims run on paper, not eloquence. A signed description of the extra, a price the client agreed at the time, photos of the work in progress and a running account you shared as you went is close to unanswerable. A recollection of a conversation in a kitchen is close to worthless. The evidence you capture in the minute after “while you’re here” decides which of those you are holding.

This is exactly what VariationFlow’s domestic projects are built for: capture the extra on site with photos and the client’s signature, send them a clean summary showing the price and the running total, and generate the cancellation notice that keeps your right to payment safe, all from your phone, in about a minute. This guide is general information, not legal advice: for a significant dispute with a client, take advice early.