How to compare three contractor bids that look nothing alike

This is the step that makes everything else possible and the one most people skip. Put in writing what you want done, what stays, who supplies materials, and what your budget assumptions are. Hand the identical document to every contractor. Without it each one quotes a slightly different project shaped by what they assumed you meant, and no amount of analysis afterwards recovers the comparison.

Read what each bid does not include before reading what it does. Disposal, permit fees, painting after repair, moving and reconnecting appliances, protecting floors, final cleaning — these commonly appear in one bid and not another, and they are where a cheap quote and an expensive one converge once you add the missing pieces back in.

An allowance is a placeholder for something not yet chosen — tile at a certain price per square metre, fixtures at a certain budget. Two bids with different allowances are not comparable at all, because the cheaper one may simply have assumed cheaper materials. Ask every contractor to price the same allowance figures, or the comparison is meaningless.

Every bid should say how change orders are priced and approved. A contractor with a clear process — written, approved before work continues, priced at a stated rate — is telling you something good about how the project will run. A bid silent on change orders is a bid that will change without a conversation.

A materially lower bid is information, not automatically a red flag. Sometimes it reflects a genuinely leaner operation or a gap in their schedule they want to fill. More often it reflects work left out, cheaper materials assumed, or a contingency the contractor intends to bill later. Ask directly what they have assumed that the others have not. A confident answer is reassuring; a vague one is the answer.

A contractor who can start next week may be the right choice or may have availability for a reason. A contractor booked three months out is usually booked because people keep hiring them. Neither fact decides it, but a suspiciously immediate start on a busy trade in a busy season is worth a question.

Manufacturer warranties cover materials failing early. The contractor's workmanship warranty covers installation errors — and that is the one that matters more, because most failures are installation rather than material. Compare the length and terms of the workmanship warranty across all three bids; it varies far more than people expect.

Once exclusions and allowances are normalised, the bids usually cluster more tightly than they first appeared, and the remaining gap tells you something real about overhead, crew quality or how much risk each contractor has priced in. Choose from that adjusted comparison rather than the headline numbers, and you will be choosing on the thing you actually care about.

Two bids at the same total can carry very different risk depending on when money moves. Look for payments tied to completed and inspected milestones rather than calendar dates, a deposit sized to materials and mobilisation rather than a large share of the contract, and a meaningful final payment held until the punch list is genuinely finished. A bid that is slightly higher but structured so you are never far ahead of the work is usually the better deal, and that difference rarely shows up in a side-by-side of headline numbers.

A fixed-price bid covers a defined scope for a set number. It gives you certainty and includes a contingency the contractor has priced for risk you cannot see. Cost-plus bills actual costs plus an agreed percentage or fee. It is more transparent and less predictable, and it can be the better structure on a project with genuinely unknown conditions — an older house, a renovation where nobody knows what is behind the wall. Neither is superior. What matters is knowing which you are signing, and never comparing a fixed-price bid against a cost-plus estimate as though they were the same thing.

The document tells you something before you read the number. A bid broken into line items with quantities and allowances stated is from someone who costed the job. A single figure with a paragraph of description may be from someone experienced enough to price it in their head — or from someone who guessed. Ask any single-figure bid to be broken down. A contractor who can do that quickly costed it properly. One who struggles has told you what you needed to know.

On anything involving area — flooring, tile, roofing, siding — compare the quantities each bid works from, not just the prices. Contractors measure differently, include or exclude waste factors differently, and occasionally measure wrong. A bid working from a materially smaller quantity is either more efficient or has under-measured, and under-measuring surfaces mid-project as a change order. It takes two minutes to compare and it catches a real problem.

Communication style, responsiveness during quoting, whether they turned up when they said they would. These feel soft next to numbers and they predict the experience better than the numbers do. A contractor who is slow to respond while trying to win your work will not become faster once they have it. Not a reason to pay substantially more, but between two comparable bids it is a legitimate tiebreaker.

Once exclusions are added back, allowances normalised, quantities checked and contract types matched, bids usually cluster far more tightly than they first appeared. Whatever gap remains is real — it reflects overhead, crew quality, or how much risk each contractor priced in. Decide from that adjusted picture. Choosing from headline numbers means choosing on how much each contractor left out, which is almost exactly the wrong criterion.

Add rows for the exact Oregon CCB business, regulated specialty contractors, design responsibility, permit applications, plan revisions, inspection scheduling and final records. Verify the legal names and license numbers rather than accepting licensed and insured as a complete answer. If one bidder includes permit and design coordination while another excludes it, move those responsibilities into the comparison before judging total price.

An allowance is useful only when it identifies quantity, quality level, tax, delivery and installation treatment. A blank or low allowance can make an incomplete bid appear competitive. List owner-supplied items, contractor markup, substitutions and the change process. If a bidder cannot define foreseeable work, request an investigation or option instead of hiding the gap inside miscellaneous or as needed language.