Long Island Contractor Comparing estimates

Comparing Bids

So, You are getting ready to start your project. You have plans in place, building permits ready to go, and 4 estimates in front of you. Now comes the hard part. How do you compare bids fairly? How do you get the contractor that you are most comfortable with, and is also giving you good value for the money?

We have developed this spreadsheet to help you sort through the bids, so that you can compare "Apples to Apples" all the bids you are looking at. A good deal of any project is discretionary spending, also called allowances. This is where big differences in price can have you shying away from a contractor, simply based on their seemingly higher original price. It is also where you can protect yourself, by making sure that the lower bids are including items that the higher estimates are. In short, it lets you level the playing field between contractors, and helps you select the contractor that you are most comfortable with easily.

Some examples of discretionary spending are plumbing fixtures, electrical work, heating, air conditioning, tile prices, flooring prices, window prices and many others unique to each type of project.

Just for an example, say you are putting on an extension with a bathroom and a oak floored great room. As part of this remodel, you will be upgrading your existing air conditioning system as well as adding a zone for heat. You put out bids to 4 contractors, and you get the following prices back:

Contractor A $65,000.00

Contractor B $70,000.00

Contractor C $75,000.00

Contractor D $79,500.00

Which is the best deal? At first glance, contractor A is the least expensive, and contractor D the most expensive. But how do you know that that is indeed the case? Suppose Contractor D included items that someone else did not. Suppose one contractor figured on much more expensive tile then another one did? The prices get distorted, and in turn you may well be making a wrong choice!

In this example of how the spreadsheet works, I put all the prices under the appropriate contractor name and in the Quoted Bid Row. I then put all the allowances and what each contractor allowed in the rows under their names. Contractor A figured on putting a heating coil in the A/C system to heat the extension. this is a cheaper way to do it, however forced air heat is less desirable. Contractor A also did not include tile in his price. Contractor D has figured considerably more in his allowances then the other contractors. Once you deduct the discretionary spending from the bid price, (Automatically done for you at the bottom of the spreadsheet) it becomes clear that Contractor A is no longer the lowest price and Contractor D is no longer the highest price.

A good contractor will gladly provide you with figures on what he is allowing for you to spend on discretionary items. If you are budget conscious, these discretionary spending items are a good place to save money. A honest contractor will give you these figures, and also point out potential savings. Of course, if a contractor did not include the price of tile in his estimate, you will pay for it in the end, thus increasing the price.

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That is why we would like you to be able to use this simple spreadsheet (opens with Microsoft excel or Microsoft Works). So that you can easily compare prices fairly between contractors.

Download the spreadsheet here