Barnes v. Beck

This case is an instance of what is getting to be chronic litigation between home owner and contractor. The one invariably claims that the contractor agreed to build a house on his lot for so much money, whereas the other usually insists that the agreed arrangement was that of “cost plus” construction. The parties in cases of such nature rarely reduce their commitments to writing. When they do, apparently inevitable controversies respecting extras and subsequent modifications — occasioned by claimed oral agreement from time to time as work progresses — make up a congeries of trouble for our…