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Selecting a contractor: Price comparisons alone don’t tell the whole story.

by Bill Delorey

Get three competitive bids. Pick the best one. That’s what many homeowners think when selecting a contractor for their renovation projects. It’s a great concept in theory, but not necessarily true every time. A Cape Cod homeowner feels lucky to get one return call, and return calls from three dependable and quality-conscious contractors who will spend enough time to evaluate and analyze a project with the hope of securing the work is nearly impossible.

Bidding a project is time consuming and unrewarding unless a contractor wins the bid, and some feel the time required to figure costs on a project that they are unsure they will build is not always time well-spent. When contractors compete, one bid might reflect cost-cutting factors that would be better left in – but may be offered later with cost increases.

An architect or draftsman often designs to minimum span specifications on floor framing, for example. To increase the quality of his product, one builder might decrease that floor joist call-out from 24 inches on center to 16 inches on center to eliminate deflection and bounce in the floor. This upgrade increases the quality of the basic floor structure but adds to the cost of building.

Adding insulation in walls that contain supply or drain lines decreases the sound of running water in the walls, and installing soundboard behind the drywall buffers internal noise from bathrooms and the laundry room. These upgrades are not required by the building code, so they don’t always appear in the plans, but when installed they substantially improve the quality of the project.

The same holds true with cabinetry. Factory-built cabinets come in specific sizes, and often require “filler boards” between the cabinet bodies and end walls because the wall dimensions do not match exactly. For example: When two 36-inch standard cabinets fill a 73-inch cabinet space, the cabinets have a line gap between them and require a one-inch filler. Custom-built cabinets run a continuous 73-inch cabinet with no line gap and no spacer. They are more pleasing to the eye, but once again add to the cost of the project.

Installing these higher quality improvements costs additional dollars, and when bidding against other contractors, one builder may risk losing the bid because the overall cost of building increases with these upgrades, even though one builder would install these improvements automatically when building a high-quality “spec” home or his own residence.

The building code dictates framing, rough electrical, rough plumbing and basic structural components that are less likely to affect substantially the overall cost of a job. The highest cost variables develop primarily with finish and trim: cabinets, flooring, appliances, plumbing and electrical fixtures–with cabinetry and flooring the highest of these. Select finish and trim early and include that information before the bid. If it’s not practical or timely for a homeowner to select all items before bidding, then bond a specific amount for each item, know where to find it and know if bond costs are retail or wholesale. If the final bid exceeds the homeowner’s budget, a little flexibility with trim and finish might help solve the problem.

With all these variables in mind, the initial bids may not reflect the final cost, so choosing a contractor based purely on price comparisons might be less effective than choosing one based upon the quality of his product and a budget the homeowner sets. Quality is a function of the builder, not the blueprints–so one builder may approach quality control differently from another.

The best way to limit bidding to one contractor is by evaluating the work of several, selecting one who upholds the quality standards that suit the project and then working together toward a set budget, choosing options along the way. A homeowner may choose some high-quality items and exclude others, based upon a discussion with the contractor and the cost of each item. A contractor can be more flexible if he knows the job is his. Every project has cost variations within it–given the individual contractor, his trade skills, his ability to lead a crew, and his experience–both in costing and in supervising. A builder who is a great supervisor may charge less because of that skill. A general contractor who also builds cabinets can charge less but still add that high-quality component, so the same project on paper may actually cost more or less in production with different builders.

Once a homeowner inspects and evaluates a contractor’s work in progress, and finds quality that suits the task, he or she should ask the builder to price the job with standard values on every component. Then the builder and the homeowner can work together to decide which upgrades to include, choosing finish and trim based upon the homeowner’s dreams, the builder’s experience and the cost of each item. When the price fits the budget, hire that builder and the search is over.

A general contractor since 1979, Bill Delorey designed and built custom homes and renovations in California and several other states and ran a cabinet shop for more than 25 years. He now lives in Brewster and writes about the building industry and environmental protection. He is currently writing two books: one about residential construction and another about land development and its interaction with wildlife.

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