County of Cook v. Harms

Citations

• 108 Ill. 151
• 1883 Ill. LEXIS 66

Syllabus

<p>1. BuHjDING contract—when it ceases to govern, by material departures in its execution. A contract for furnishing all materials, and constructing a foundation for a court house according to certain plans and specifications, upon which bids were based, provided that any work, changes, additions or alterations ordered should not invalidate the contract, but that they should be paid for as extra work, or deducted from the original amount, as the case might be, such extras or deductions to be subject to the valuation of the architect, whose decision was to be final: Held, that if the work, etc., ordered, was materially variant from the plans and specifications, it would be a different work not within the contemplation of the parties when the contract was made, and that where more than mere changes, additions and alterations were required, the contractor was not bound to accept such compensation for his labor, etc., as the architect might fix.</p> <p>. 2. Same—provision for changes, etc., in work, construed. Where a contract for the construction of a building provides that “changes, additions and alterations” in the work may be ordered and paid for as extra work, or deducted, as the case may be, on the architect’s estimate, it will be held to mean only such “changes, additions and alterations” as may be incidental to the complete execution of the work as described in the plans and specifications, and therefore of only minor and trifling importance. Any material departure from such plans and specifications, resulting in a- new and substantially different undertaking, can not be regarded as within the meaning of such a provision, and the contractor, in case of such material and substantial change, is not limited or governed by the original contract as to his compensation for the work.</p> <p>3. Same—estoppel of party, by Ms conduct, from availing of an abandonment of a special contract. In case of the abandonment of a special contract for labor, work and material by one