3 Tips for Reviewing Quotes from Contractors

[Allan Smith]

1. Be wary of the "under quote" - Sometimes unknowingly, contractors will show a lower price but once construction begins, the change orders start to pile in and the price ends up being as high as some of your other quotes, but without the upgraded service of a higher priced company. There are SO MANY sneaky ways to under-quote a job. If it's a small job, they might buy tools and then send you the Home Depot receipt and most investors won't notice. Another subtle way is to give you a low unit price ($2.5/SF to install flooring for example) but then they add 20% of SF to the quote bc they know you haven't measured it! 

2. Apples to Apples - Yes of course the scope has to be the same, but go deeper. Does one quote mention anticipating needing ancillary work to accomplish your scope, while others don't? If you trust their experience, you might need to add the price of that piece to the other quotes to make it comparing Apples to Apples.

3. Timeline - Many quotes won't included start or end dates but this is possibly the 2nd most important factor to price. I have lost a lot of money hiring the lower cost contractor, only for it to take twice as long and end up not being worth it.

[Bruce Woodruff]

Good post! I believe that the most important part of a project is getting the SOW right. Completely detailed and matching expectations of both sides.

I would add that the paperwork must be very detailed and complete. It always amazed me how a lot of my Contactor brethren would have little or no paperwork, not even a legal contract and certainly no decent Change Order contract.....