- Sections
- P'ninat Mishpat
part I
Unsigned Estimates for a Contractor
Case: The defendant (=def) wanted to do major renovations in her home and asked the plaintiff (=pl), a contractor, for an estimate. After presenting a detailed price estimate, pl was chosen and began working; def never signed the estimate. During the course of the work, many changes were made to the original plan, without additional estimates being made. There is now a dispute over payment. Def feels that pl overcharged for many of the elements of the job and that she should not be bound by charges to which she never agreed. She feels this is true not only regarding the changes but even regarding some of the originally stated prices. She explains that this is why she did not sign the estimate. Pl says that not only is def bound by his price estimates, but since he can prove that the prices for the new elements of the job are his standard prices, she is bound by them since she did not ask for a new estimate. Additionally, some of the new elements were just additional units of work included in the original estimate.
Ruling: Most monetary agreements require a kinyan (act of finalization). However, in regard to work obligations, the beginning of the work serves as the kinyan. In the case of work that is paid by the job, beginning the job obligates the worker to finish the job and obligates the employer to continue the employment until work’s end according to the conditions that were set (see Nimukei Yosef, Rif’s pages to Bava Metzia 46b and K’tzot Hachoshen 332:6). The fact that pl presented a work estimate and started to work should ostensibly mean that he is entitled to the stated amount.
On the other hand, def claims that the fact that she did not sign the estimate is an indication that she never intended to agree to those prices. The Shulchan Aruch and Rama (Choshen Mishpat 81:7) discuss the idea of shtika k’hoda’ah (silence can sometimes be understood as agreement). One application is that when a third party sets a price for a teacher to teach a child in the presence of the father who stands by quietly, the father is responsible (ibid. 336:1).
This concept certainly applies in our case. Def asked for an estimate and then without arguing over it, asked pl to begin working. This is equivalent to explicitly agreeing to the price. If she did not agree to the price, she should have told him before he began working. We should add that there is no common practice to wait for a signed estimate before beginning work. Therefore, the fact that def did not sign the estimate is not a sign of anything out of the ordinary. Even if we accept def’s claim that she had in mind to not bind herself to the price, "matters known only to the heart are of no consequence."
Ruling: Most monetary agreements require a kinyan (act of finalization). However, in regard to work obligations, the beginning of the work serves as the kinyan. In the case of work that is paid by the job, beginning the job obligates the worker to finish the job and obligates the employer to continue the employment until work’s end according to the conditions that were set (see Nimukei Yosef, Rif’s pages to Bava Metzia 46b and K’tzot Hachoshen 332:6). The fact that pl presented a work estimate and started to work should ostensibly mean that he is entitled to the stated amount.
On the other hand, def claims that the fact that she did not sign the estimate is an indication that she never intended to agree to those prices. The Shulchan Aruch and Rama (Choshen Mishpat 81:7) discuss the idea of shtika k’hoda’ah (silence can sometimes be understood as agreement). One application is that when a third party sets a price for a teacher to teach a child in the presence of the father who stands by quietly, the father is responsible (ibid. 336:1).
This concept certainly applies in our case. Def asked for an estimate and then without arguing over it, asked pl to begin working. This is equivalent to explicitly agreeing to the price. If she did not agree to the price, she should have told him before he began working. We should add that there is no common practice to wait for a signed estimate before beginning work. Therefore, the fact that def did not sign the estimate is not a sign of anything out of the ordinary. Even if we accept def’s claim that she had in mind to not bind herself to the price, "matters known only to the heart are of no consequence."

P'ninat Mishpat (682)
Various Rabbis
227 - Aborted Rental
228 - Unsigned Estimates for a Contractor
229 - Unsigned Estimates for a Contractor
Load More

A Student Who Broke a Camera
Various Rabbis | Tevet 5768

Buying a Driving School Car
Various Rabbis | 6 Av 5767

Authority of the Beit Din to Hear Arguably Late Appeal
Various Rabbis | Elul 8 5779

Did the Realtor Help? - part II
Based on ruling 82097 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | 4 Kislev 5783

Various Rabbis
Various Rabbis including those of of Yeshivat Bet El, such as Rabbi Chaim Katz, Rabbi Binyamin Bamberger and Rabbi Yitzchak Greenblat and others.

Buying Looted Seforim from the Slovakians
Iyar 21 5775

A Husband’s Obligation in His Wife’s Loan
5775

Proper Foundations of the Home
Ein Aya Shabbat Chapter B Paragraph 192
Tevet 12 5777

Altercation with a Photographer – part I
Tammuz 9 5777
Days on Which Tachanun Is Not Recited
Chapter Twenty One-Part Three
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | 5775
The Minor Fasts and Their Laws
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | tamoz 5761

The Month of Nissan - A Unique Possession
Rabbi Chaim Avihau Schwartz | nissan 5762

The Four “Exiles”
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Tevet 13 5781

Stock in a non-kosher food compony, or sells chametz on Pesach?
Rabbi Stewart Weiss | Adar 5783

Truth is Inside-Out But Justice: Outside-In
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Adar 5783
