Can I remove a short wall inside the house now

Forgive me for saying it, Che, but that’s like asking how long is a piece of string. As to ‘can’ generally in building work all things can be done with enough time and money. But as to how much and how long depends on thing like whether it’s a simple partition wall, a structural wall (supporting the roof) or a bracing wall (to stop the place falling over), and then of course how kind and generous the builder is, and whether the work delays his original programme. But generally any kind of change is a reason (or excuse) to charge more money and take more time. Whether you’re in a position to dispute those depends on your building expertise. But depending on the contract wording the builder may be able to refuse to do it unless you pay what he asks.

Chris, charging for a legitimate variation and taking longer to complete the project is not an “excuse”! If you make a change to a design then the builder should (common sense and good business practice) reasonably charge and increase the construction duration. People need to understand that shit ain’t free and if you don’t change anything it shouldn’t cost amy more or take any longer. Your comment is like a mechanic doing an oil change and then you asking the mechanic to replace the gearbox for free.

Hi ‘A Builder’, Sorry to have upset you, mate. I’m sure you’re very good at building work, but perhaps not so good at reading what people have written. You’ll note I put ‘or excuse’ in a bracket, because I totally agree with you that most variations will be a legitimate reason for an increase in price and a time extension. I’m a civil engineer, and I’ve spent my whole career supervising major projects, so I understand very well how building contracts work. But at the same time it’s very easy to think of variations which save the builder both time and money. The honest ones will admit that. The less honest ones will still try to pull the wool over their client’s eyes, and think of a reason to charge more. If you take time to study the entries on this blog, you will read of many cases where it appears some builders (but not you I’m sure) are taking advantage of clients inexperienced in building work. And even cases where clients don’t change anything, but still find themselves being asked to pay more, or the project running over time. From his original question I assumed that ‘Che’ has very little experience of building contracts, so I was trying to respond to his request for advice.