What's the craziest bid you ever received?

Question

I volunteer with a local organization. They had a collapsed retaining wall on their property, as well as various drainage issues. I gathered bids for them, some were people I use, and some were various recommendations from the members.

The bids were $2,700 all the way up to $45,000 dollars! Sheesh. One person suggested putting a french drain in the middle of a gravel parking lot! Crazy.

It was bit delicate, since I was new to the organization. I had to convince the guys that they should not listen to their "friends"- they needed to listen to this "little lady".

At my recommendation, we went with the $2,700 bid and everything turned out great.

What's your crazy bid story?  How did it turn out?

J Scott · Answer

Just the opposite in my household.  Of course, that's because she's right most of the time...  :)

Kyle J. · Answer

I would never use a contractor who didn't answer or return my calls BEFORE he got my business.  You can bet he'll be even less responsive after you've agreed to do business with him.

Kama Ward · Answer

A carpenter was fixing my rehab's front porch. There were three extremely broken down front steps going up to the porch- cracked concrete over block. I asked how much to break these up- not even haul away. He says $534. First of all- why the $34?  So I will take him seriously?  No thanks.

When my husband heard he borrowed a sledgehammer and a friend and had them gone and loaded into our pickup in 15 min.  So the carpenter wanted $2136/hr.  That wasn't really a crazy bid- more like a I don't want to do it bid.  I don't use him anymore.

J Scott · Answer

I try to keep this from happening early on in the discussion with my contractors -- I'm nice, but very firm about my expectations (and what I have to offer in return for working with me).  I explain that I'm an investor, and that if they can't provide very competitive price (along with quality work), they shouldn't waste their time bidding the job.  I've actually had a couple contractors over the years just leave at that point, which was good for both of us.

That said, the craziest bid was last week.  A plumber in Milwaukee bid about $9000 to do some rough plumbing, move a couple supply/drain lines and install new sinks/tubs/fixtures in a 2.5 bath house.

I asked him to break down the bid for me so I could understand where the price was coming from.  He broke it down into 79 hours worth of work...I had to explain to him that I could have the entire house repiped for less than half of that (and in less than half the time he estimated).

Now that I think about it, that was probably the second craziest bid I've ever received.  The first was, I asked the guy I was using for all my investment property plumbing a couple years ago to stop by my personal residence to replace a garbage disposal.  When I told him what model I wanted (the same that I use in my investments properties that can be bought at Home Depot for $99), he quoted me $377.65 to replace it.

I tried to keep a straight face when I asked him how long it would take to do the work, and he said about 30 minutes.  I explained that I tend not to pay my plumbers $500 an hour, and sent him on his way.  The funny thing was, he was always very reasonable on our investment work pricing.

Kama Ward · Answer

Brian- We got lucky alright! It was a young- very honorable- guy who just plain underbid the job.  We could get rid of most of the wall with slope. We kept the rest of the wall under 4', so no engineering needed.  No critical issues or permits needed.   We gave him a bonus at the end.

Rob K. · Answer

I have roofer I've been using for the last five years that does a great job. Before I met him, I had a roof that needed to be replaced and I called three different contractors for bids. One guy came out and measured the roof and then looked at me and said, "How about six grand?" I said, "SIX GRAND!?!" He looked at me with a straight face and said, "I'm sorry. How about forty five hundred?"

I sent the guy packing, but I couldn't believe that he apologized and also dropped his price $1,500 in five seconds. I wondered how many people jump at his first price and he makes an extra $1,500 for a job that he would do for a lot less? I ended up getting someone else to do the job for $4,000.

I'm also suprised by how many times you have a contractor doing work and then you ask them how much extra it would be to do another 20 minute task and they tell you something like $50. I have to break it down to these guys that they're already here and I'm not paying $50 for 20 minutes worth of work.

Bill Gulley · Answer

Wish I had the time back that was wasted on scammy contractors! As Jason mentioned, try to get the expectations clear quickly up front.

I have tons of "I don't really want the job" bids....

Then, there are those that bid based on what it will be worth after it's done and the increase in value is what they want......LOL!

Ron Robin · Answer

I had to bid out a job for a glass patio 10X20'.  Lowest bid was $2500, he showed up in a falling apart truck then would not return my calls.  Highest bid was 12k, this guy did not even take measurement, he just walked out looked at the slab and said 12,000.  I think it ended up costing me 6.5k.  I rarely take the lowest bid.

Ryan M. · Answer

I keep those capacitors in my truck, cost $18.

Once they blow a cap, I put a hard start kit on it but they are getting to the end of the life.

Scott W. · Answer

earlier this month, ac went out at 1 of my rentals. it was a saturday afternoon, 100 degrees & humid. needless to say, my normal HVAC contacts were busy. i got a kid out there; he told me I need a new condensor & wouldn't be able to do it until monday. he thought a condenser w/ go for $500 + $200 labor. on monday, says condenser goes for $900+! I say, "hold on!" & get another estimate. needed a capacitor & cost me $160 all in.

moral of the story - always get more than 1 estimate.

What's the craziest bid you ever received?

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