Collins v. Hall

161 S.W.2d 311, 1942 Tex. App. LEXIS 198
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 25, 1942
DocketNo. 9092.
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 161 S.W.2d 311 (Collins v. Hall) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Collins v. Hall, 161 S.W.2d 311, 1942 Tex. App. LEXIS 198 (Tex. Ct. App. 1942).

Opinion

BAUGH, Justice.

Hall, contractor, sued Collins, owner, for a balance due under a contract to erect a business building in the City of San Angelo; and for extra compensation for changes, alterations and extras, made in, or added to, the plans and specifications, at the request of Collins. Collins tendered into court the balance of the $2,800 contract price and denied liability for any sum above that. Trial was to a jury on 26 special issues, all of which were answered in favor of Hall, the contractor, and judgment rendered in his favor for the $428.50 balance due under said contract and $1,564.65 for extras, from which judgment this appeal is prosecuted. Certain furnishers of material intervened and their claims were established in said judgment, but their interests coincide with those of appellee, and they need not be separately considered herein. The appellant did not testify on the trial hereof and offered no evidence except by cross examination of appellee’s witnesses.

The contract, to which was attached detailed plans and specifications, called for the erection, as a turn key job, of a one-story brick and tile store building with concrete floor, on concrete foundations, fronting 85 feet on Oakes Street and 48 feet deep. It was designed for use as a garage, and the owner had already leased it if it could be completed by May 1, 1937. After construction began, either to satisfy the requirements of his prospective tenant, or to expedite construction, the owner directed many changes to be made in the construction, not provided for in the plans and specifications, which are the subject matter of this lawsuit.

There is no contention that the contractor had in any manner breached his contract, or had only substantially complied with it; nor that the changes, alterations and additions made at the request of the owner, not provided for in the plans and specifications, were not properly and 'satisfactorily done. On the contrary, the owner accepted the building as completed, went into possession thereof, and in' this suit has tendered the unpaid balance of the contract price; and defends on the ground that this is all that he owed the contractor. He is consequently .estopped to deny that the contractor did not fully comply with his contract. The only issue, therefore, is whether he has, at the request of the owner, done more than perform his original contract, for which he is entitled to be paid.

The jury found, and-the undisputed evidence showed, that numerous material changes of construction and additions to .the plans and specifications were made at the request of the owner which added materially to the cost of construction over and above what it would have cost the contractor to erect the building in accordance with his original contract. Some of them were: Increase of the horizontal thickness of the concrete foundation wall from 8 inches to 10 inches; increasing the height of the walls both front and rear over the height specified in the contract; making the ceiling higher than specified; constructing larger doors both front and rear than specified; changing the windows from the type and size specified; changing the lighting system; installing a different and more expensive type of roof than called for; and substituting wooden trusses to support the roof in the place of steel beams specified in the contract. All these matters were submitted to the jury who found that they had been made at the request of the owner ; and also the additional cost to the contractor thereof over and above what it would have cost him to erect same in accordance with the plans and specifications made a part of the original contract.

Appellant’s first contention is that the contractor must recover upon the contract or upon quantum meruit, but not upon both; and if upon the latter, his measure of recovery must be determined by the reasonable value of the building actually constructed; and that the changes, additions and alterations sued for cannot be classified as “extra work” under the holdings in Houston, E. & W. T. Ry. Co. v. Trentem, 63 Tex. 442; and Bradshaw v. Wolfe City, Tex.Civ.App., 3 S.W.2d 527. This, contention is not sustained. Having admitted that the contractor had fulfilled his contract and was entitled to his full compensation pro *314 vided therein, the only question of liability to be determined is whether the contractor was entitled, under quantum meruit to recover for the additional work and materials done and furnished beyond his contract requirements.

Extra work, for which a contractor is entitled to additional compensation, and for materials and labor, are such as are not “contemplated by the contract, but which are required by changes in the plans and specifications made after the contract has been entered into * * Houston, E. & W. T. Ry. Co. v. Trentem, supra; Baldwin v. Polti, 45 Tex.Civ.App. 638, 101 S.W. 543, writ refused; ■ Mood v. Methodist Episcopal Church South', of Cisco, Tex.Civ.App., 289 S.W. 461; Id., Tex.Com.App., 296 S.W. 506; Id., Tex.Com.App., 300 S. W. 30; 7 Tex.Jur. § 62, p. 622, § 64, p. 626. The changes and additions made at the request of the owner after the contract was made and construction had begun were clearly not provided for nor contemplated in the contract itself, but they were manifestly “connected with the subject matter of the contract” and not foreign to it.

Appellant’s next contention is that he was entitled to deduct from sums claimed by appellee the value of all omissions from the original plans and. specifications ; and that since they called for brick columns to be built in the walls to support all girders, and these were omitted and concrete run into the tile at such designated places instead, this constituted but a substantial compliance with the contract and that under the holding in Atkinson v. Jackson Bros., Tex.Com.App., 270 S.W. 848, 38 A.L.R. 1377, it was incumbent upon the contractor to show.not only his extra work, but also his saving, to properly arrive át the sum still due him. As a general rule this contention is correct. But it was alleged and shown that all changes were made at the request of the owner who accepted the concrete in lieu of the brick columns. The contractor testified that these brick were used in other parts of the building, and the cost in the one instance equalled the saving in the other. Hence nothing was saved to the contractor in this change. No issue of mere substantial compliance, short of full compliance, was raised in the instant case, as was true in the Atkinson case cited above. This particular change does not present a question of saving on omissions; . but one of substituted construction at the instance of the Owner of equal cost to that provided in the specifications.

Appellant next urges that the trial court erred in permitting appellee to testify in detail as to the added costs of material, labor, etc., necessitated by the changes and additions, on the ground that such testimony contradicted the written contract. So did the changes and "alterations to the same extent. But they were made by the owner with the consent and agreement of the contractor. Nor did they constitute an abandonment or abrogation of the original contract. They merely constituted substitutions and additions, orally agreed to, in lieu of the written provisions of the contract. As such they were.binding on the owner as well as on the contractor; and his recovery therefor is not predicated upon the terms of the written contract, but for extra work done and materials furnished beyond the requirements of the contract on a quantum meruit basis.

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Bluebook (online)
161 S.W.2d 311, 1942 Tex. App. LEXIS 198, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/collins-v-hall-texapp-1942.