How Do You Track Which Contractors Actually Stay on Budget?
Flippers, how do you actually keep track of which contractors come in on bid vs. who blows your budget? I keep getting burned by guys who quote low then run 30-40% over, and I realized I have zero record of who's actually reliable across my past jobs. Do you track this somewhere, or is everyone just going on memory? Genuinely curious how you all handle it.
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I actually do keep a spreadsheet to track this and jot down exactly why the numbers changed. But honestly, my main trick is stopping those overages before they even happen.
Once we lock in that final estimate, my contractors know they can't change a thing without my say-so. Something broke? Call me. Materials out of stock? Call me. A fix is way more complicated than we thought? Call me. I have to greenlight any and all changes outside the original bid.
This setup works great for me, but at the end of the day, a trustworthy GC is worth their weight in gold.
Once we lock in that final estimate, my contractors know they can't change a thing without my say-so. Something broke? Call me. Materials out of stock? Call me. A fix is way more complicated than we thought? Call me. I have to greenlight any and all changes outside the original bid.
This setup works great for me, but at the end of the day, a trustworthy GC is worth their weight in gold.