Why you should want to pay for bids

One universal truth that seems to be shared among potential remodeling clients and contractors alike is that it should be industry standard for estimates to be free and homeowners should collect no less than 3 estimates when shopping around for a contractor. This seems like sound advice. As a homeowner you want to protect your largest investment and the horror stories you read about and seen from friends and family’s experiences with remodels gone bad makes interviewing contractors and comparing their bids seem like an obvious smart financial decision. The problem with that is it’s literally impossible to compare one company’s estimate with another’s. For starters, there is the unknown of how each company is structured from a financial standpoint. Overhead, profit, job costs etc… all play a role in what their final sales price will be. The biggest reason however is the common mistake of treating contractors as if they work in the production industry rather than the service based industry. Imagine you are shopping for a tv. You have your budget and you know the size and make that you want. You’ve done your research and you're ready to buy. Now you begin to shop around. You see the tv you want for sale at an online store for $600.00. You see it on sale at the local electronic store for $700.00. and finally you see it at a big box store for $650.00. Since tv’s are production based they will all be made exactly the same and sold for relatively the same price, so going with the store that is selling it the cheapest is usually a safe bet and a wise purchase. However, contractors work in the service industry, meaning they offer different value based on each custom job they do. Are they promising to do all the exact same tasks using the exact same materials and promising to get it all done in the exact same amount of time? What about job supervision? Clean up? Warranty? Are they all paying the exact same amount in overhead to stay in business? Are they asking you to handle any parts of the job the other guys aren’t? Contractors who offer free estimates are not going to take the time to get to know your job intimately prior to demolition. They will take their best guess, submit a proposal with a number they think makes them competitive then correct that number after getting the job in the form of change orders and “unforeseeable” circumstances. Now you find yourself under contract with a remodeler who didn't charge enough to do your job properly. That’s when the issues with his “service” show up. He starts missing days, buying cheap material, using cheap unskilled labor and worst of all, hitting you up for more money in attempt to fix his mistake. Unfortunately this isn’t all his fault. He is just doing what he thinks he needs to do in order to be competitive with what he perceives to be his competition. He feels if he charged the correct price up front he’d never get hired because he feels all his potential customers have been taught to collect multiple free bids and choose the lowest one. So how do you the homeowner avoid this trap? By finding a contractor who will give you a free consultation but then charges for his bid. Also, if you are upfront with that contractor about your budget then he can design your remodel to give you what you want at the price that you essentially choose. That contractor understands the amount of time it takes to truly come up with an accurate detailed proposal. No contractor could afford to donate the amount of time needed to do this for free without getting paid for their time. A contractor who understand this, and insists on taking the time to go over every detail of your job with you and then takes the time to write a detailed proposal (several pages long) will almost always leave you with the job you always thought you were getting for the price you wanted. I can already hear your next objection. “I would never tell the contractor my budget, he’ll just overcharge me and pocket thousands of extra dollars that I otherwise wouldn’t have had to pay!” This fear is understandable and I’d be naive to think this doesn’t occasionally happen. However, you wouldn’t walk into a used car dealership with a $20,000.00 budget and say to the salesman “show me the best car you have to offer me. I’m not going to tell you my budget but just know that if you show me a car I can’t afford I’m out of here, and if you show me a car that isn’t as nice as the one I want and can afford then I’m going to accuse you of trying to rip me off and I’m out of here!” This would be a ridiculously inefficient way to shop for a car and asking a bunch of contractors to guess at what you want while making them believe that they have to be the cheapest bid to be considered is not only unwise its literally asking for problems. So what do you do next? Find a company that looks reputable, ask them for a free consultation, at the consultation pay attention if they address your major concerns besides price, such as: Will they get the job done on time, do they seem organized and honest about potential issues, do they use quality materials, do they offer a warranty, are they insured and registered with the state? If you like them and feel good about them after you conduct the interview at the consultation then you can usually feel good about paying them to give you a firm price quote. You’ll be setting yourself up for much more likely success than you ever would shopping around for multiple free bids. As always, please feel free to reach out to Greg Z Renovations to set up your free consultation today and be the next to experience what Joyful Interior Luxury Living feels like!

-Greg Z.