Best Course of Action to Cut Back Scope

[Christopher Blanco]

I ran an initial estimate on a property, when I showed it to my contractor, before he went out to the property he thought the dollar amount and the scope looked good. After words, he came back with a bid that was about $18K more than I have budgeted. So now, I need to figure out the best way to cut scope and come under budget. I think I can negotiate some of his prices down, and that will get me about 5-7K less, but that still leaves a substantial chunk of budget to get nailed down. 

What do you look to cut first? 

[J Scott]

The resale price.

If you plan to cut the scope of work, the very first thing you'll need to cut is the resale price, as you can't expect to get the same resale amount if you do less work...