International Contract Co. v. City of Tacoma

Citations

• 79 Wash. 311
• 140 P. 373
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 1199

Syllabus

<p>Municipal Corporations — Improvements — Contracts ■ — ■ “Extra” Work — Construction. Under a contract for tbe construction of a city water system which, provided that changes in the work might be ordered and' that the contractor should be paid at the contract prices for only the actual amount of work done, at the prices fixed in the bid, and that extra work not contained in the plans and specifications should be done by the contractor at actual cost and ten per cent added, a change reducing the size of a tunnel, the work on which included excavation at $3 per cubic yard, and concrete masonry, at $10.50 per cubic yard, was not “extra work” under the contract to be paid for at actual cost and ten per cent added, although the cost was proportionally increased by the change, where the court could not say that the change was so radical that the work was entirely different from that contemplated in the contract, and there was no sufficient evidence to determine the amount of increase in the cost of the work. •</p> <p>Same — Claim for Extra Work — Estoppel—Plans and Specifications. Under a contract for the construction of a city water system, providing for payment at the contract prices for only the actual amount of work done, regardless of the approximate quantities stated; a claim for extra work not included in the plans and specifications cannot be made on account of the increase of a certain excavation from the approximate amount of 450 cubic yard’s to 3,500 cubic yards, when a computation from the plans and specifications could readily have been made showing that the excavation required was about 3,500 yards.</p> <p>Same — “Extra Work” — Liability of City. “Extra work” under a contract for a city water system, by reason of increased cost through changes ordered, cannot be allowed where the city did not make the work more expensive by its own act, and the work was not inconsistent with the provisions of the - contract fairly and reasonably construed.</p> <p>Same— Co