If you signed a contract to install the electrical system according to the plans you need to follow them.
This is not quite true. It is true within the limits of contract law, but presuming that the contract is legal, and that the customer held up their end of the contract, then I believe that scjohn can reasonably _request_ a change.
If scjohn has treated the GC and customer well, then it is not in their interest to leave him screwed over because copper prices went through the roof. It is also not in their interest to pay him more or get less copper, so they will have to balance those issues, and scjohn will have to be persuasive.
But this should be a lesson to the rest of us; include in the fine print in your contracts reasonable 'escape' clauses. Bids should be of limited duration, and work should proceed at a reasonable pace. If the customer or another contractor delays the work (delays getting you paid), then your bid should accommodate changes in your costs.
What would happen if you started a job, then something happened to put it on hold for a couple of years...you've given people raises, copper and steel prices have changed, etc. What do your contracts say? Would you be left holding the bag?
scjohn was not paid up front, and the job waited six months from the bid and start of work (more or less; I don't know the exact timing). Why should he front out of pocket to buy the copper up front, if he has to wait months before he could install it and get paid. What would happen to _you_ in the same situation. Would you end up eating the price increase, or do you bid in a way that lets you pass the price increase on, yet still make a _fair_ profit?
-Jon
