Contractor Quote Comparison

The headline number tells you almost nothing

Comparing quotes by their totals assumes all three priced the same work. They rarely did. One included disposal and two did not. One is supplying materials at a markup, another expects you to. One has allowed for the plywood being rotten underneath and the others have not mentioned it.

Put them in columns and read across the rows. The gaps show up immediately, and the gaps are where the money is.

What to compare, line by line

• Strip-out and disposal — the commonest omission, and never cheap.
• Materials — who supplies them, and at whose price.
• Labour, split by stage if they will give it to you that way.
• Permits and inspections — included, or your problem?
• Making good — patching, painting, and the bits around the edges.
• Contingency — an honest quote usually has one. Its absence is not good news.

The five questions to ask all three

Ask every contractor the same questions and write the answers on the same sheet. Different answers to the same question explain most price gaps.

1. Is this a fixed price or an estimate that can move?
2. Who supplies the materials, and am I paying a markup on them?
3. Is disposal included?
4. What happens to the price if you find something behind the wall?
5. How much up front, and what triggers each later payment?

Knowing the material cost changes the conversation

If you have run the numbers yourself — the calculators will give you a material count for most jobs — you know roughly what the materials should cost. That does not make you an estimator, but it does tell you whether a quote is mostly labour or mostly markup, and it makes the conversation a different one.

A big spread is information, not a bargain

When the high quote is double the low one, the usual explanation is not that one is greedy. It is that they priced different work. Find out which, before you assume you have found a deal.