Broderick v. Overhead Door Co. of Fort Lauderdale, Inc.

117 So. 2d 240
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 30, 1959
Docket1010
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 117 So. 2d 240 (Broderick v. Overhead Door Co. of Fort Lauderdale, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Broderick v. Overhead Door Co. of Fort Lauderdale, Inc., 117 So. 2d 240 (Fla. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

117 So.2d 240 (1959)

James H. BRODERICK and Anna L. Broderick, His Wife, Appellants,
v.
OVERHEAD DOOR COMPANY OF FORT LAUDERDALE, INC., James Moorhead, Builder, et al., Giffen Industries, Inc., Appellees.

No. 1010.

District Court of Appeal of Florida. Second District.

December 30, 1959.

*242 Dale, Scott & Stevens, Fort Lauderdale, for appellants.

Koppen & Watkins, Miami, for appellee, Overhead Door Company of Fort Lauderdale, Inc.; Walter Crane and Cecil T. Farrington, Fort Lauderdale, for appellee, James Moorhead, Builder; and Waldo G. Rothenberg, South Miami, for appellee, Giffen Industries, Inc.

KANNER, Judge.

The owners of the property here involved, Broderick and wife, are appealing from the final decree of the chancellor wherein were awarded sums of money to the general contractor-builder and to certain subcontractors under mechanics' liens.

The contract, under which the builder, Moorhead, agreed to erect for the owners a warehouse involving in part the remodeling and enlargement of a building already upon the owners' property, called for payment to the builder of $23,900, with ten per cent to be withheld for final payment. The contract provided that the entire sum be placed in escrow and disbursed to the builder in progress payments as requisitions were provided by him through the presentation of "paid" bills, and that there would be no alterations of, no additions to, no deviations nor omissions from the specifications save upon the owners' written authorization.

Construction was completed by November 25, 1955. During the course of construction, plans by the owners to use the building as a warehouse were changed by them; and the structure actually was erected for use as an automobile paint shop. The entire escrow sum of $23,900 was paid to the builder prior to the filing of any claim of lien, although the builder furnished no statement under oath as to unpaid lienors until later.

The first claim of lien against the owners was filed on January 20, 1956, by Giffen Industries, Inc., a roofing company hereinafter referred to as "Giffen", in the amount of $3,478. Giffen then filed on April 12, 1956, a complaint to foreclose this lien, naming both the owners and the builder as defendants. The owners by their answer counterclaimed with respect to certain alleged rain damage. The builder answered the complaint and also answered the owners' counterclaim, cross-claiming for extra work which he alleged was performed at the behest of the owners.

Claim of lien was filed by Overhead Door Company of Fort Lauderdale, Inc., hereinafter referred to as "Overhead Door," within three months of the time that company had furnished labor and materials. Action being brought also on this claim, the court granted motion of the builder to consolidate the cases. A decree pro confesso was later entered against another lien claimant, John L. Schnorr, Jr., who had been brought in and joined as a party defendant through the consolidation order.

After hearing, the chancellor, on November 20, 1958, entered his final decree awarding Giffen a lien for the full amount claimed, $3,478 plus interest and costs, and denying the owners their counterclaim. Also Overhead Door was granted the full amount of its claim, $877.56 plus interest and costs; and the builder was awarded a total of $3,706.61 for extras claimed by him plus interest and costs. The sum of $401.61 due the subcontractor, Schnorr, from the builder was permitted by the court to be paid directly by the owners as reduction of their indebtedness to the builder.

In analyzing this case and applying the pertinent provisions of the mechanics' lien law to the facts as they have emerged from the record, we first must determine the actual contract price. Section *243 84.01, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., defines the term, "contract price", as the amount agreed upon by the contracting parties for the performance of all labor and services and the furnishing of all materials covered by the contract, this amount to be increased by the price of any "extras" and to be diminished by any allowances made because of altered specifications or defects in workmanship or materials or by other breaches of the contract. The contract we are here considering specified that any extras must have been authorized in writing by the owners. This we recognize as valid. Howard v. Pensacola & A.R. Co., 1889, 24 Fla. 560, 5 So. 356. We also recognize, however, that such a provision may be waived; and a waiver of the provision may be established by the subsequent course of dealing between the parties. Charlotte Harbor & N. Ry. Co. v. Burwell, 1908, 56 Fla. 217, 48 So. 213. Ordinarily, a written agreement cannot be abrogated nor modified by executory or parol agreement; but if the parol agreement has been accepted and acted upon by the parties, this rule does not apply. Tussing v. Smith, 1936, 125 Fla. 578, 171 So. 238. "Extras", by statutory definition, consist of labor or services performed or materials furnished for the improvement of real property authorized by the owner in addition to labor, services, or materials covered by a previous contract between the same parties. Section 84.01, Florida Statutes, F.S.A. In the case here considered, the testimony, supported in part by the exhibits, amply establishes that during construction of the building there were many changes in the plans authorized by the owners for extras incorporated in the construction, although these authorizations were not made in writing by the owners.

The basic contract price being $23,900, it follows that in order to arrive at the actual contract price, this figure must be increased by the price of the extras. To achieve this result, this court must study severally the items of extras enumerated by the chancellor in his order of September 15, 1958, for the purpose of ascertaining whether each is sustainable, since these do not individually appear in his final decree.

Prefatory to such an analysis, we call attention to a twenty per cent increment allowed by the chancellor under the builder's claim as payable in connection with certain items classified as extras. The builder's claim with regard to the respective twenty per cent additions is that it should be paid on these several items for "overhead and profit." It may be said at the outset that such twenty per cent charge is not sustainable unless the record shows that it constituted a reasonable rate at which the contractor might be reimbursed for his labor and services.

The provisions of neither section 84.01, defining extras as labor or services performed or materials furnished, nor those of section 84.02, Florida Statutes, F.S.A., providing for liens for these items, apply to overhead and profits. Overhead and profits, as separate items, are not within the purview of the Mechanics' Lien Law. Surf Properties v. Markowitz Bros., Fla. 1954, 75 So.2d 298. When parties enter into an agreement for construction work and during the progress of the construction changes are requested and made in the form of extras, then the law implies an obligation to pay the reasonable cost thereof in addition to the stipulated sum named in the original agreement. Therefore, the price of extras should be computed at reasonable rates. DeLotto v. Fennell, Fla. 1952, 56 So.2d 518. Where not otherwise agreed upon, a plaintiff should submit proof as to the reasonable value of labor and services, including supervision, and materials actually furnished a defendant. Golub v. De Linardy Flooring Co., Fla. 1950, 44 So.2d 75.

Certain of the items allowed by the court are sustainable, or partially so, as hereinafter delineated.

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Bluebook (online)
117 So. 2d 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/broderick-v-overhead-door-co-of-fort-lauderdale-inc-fladistctapp-1959.