Specialist · Member since 2026 · 20 posts · 10 votes
How often are you actually checking the market?
If you have a vendor you trust, do you ever test whether their pricing is still competitive? Once a year? Once every few years? Only when something feels off?
And what stops you from running a competitive bid more often?
Time?
The hassle of managing multiple site visits?
The parade of salesmen that follows?
Difficulty finding qualified contractors?
Something else?
I'm not asking because I think there is a right or wrong answer. I'm genuinely trying to understand where the friction is. For those who have a system for benchmarking vendor costs; what does it look like?
The hassle is getting bids on the same scope. If one contractor includes cleanup and another doesn't, the numbers aren't comparable. I would write down the exact work, materials, and timing before calling anyone, then only ask for a fresh price when the job is large enough to justify the extra visits.