Court of Appeal considers meaning of ‘cost’ in contract for interior design services (Alebrahim v BM Design)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications of this case?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Construction analysis: The Court of Appeal found that a reference to ‘total cost’ in a contract for interior design services meant the estimated costs of relevant items, as approved by the client, and not what it cost the designer to then procure those items. In turn, this meant that the designer was not obliged to pass on trade discounts that it obtained when procuring items for the client, after the client had approved the cost estimates.