Understanding Quotes From Subs- A Job For Your General Contractor

Understanding quotes from subs- A job for your general contractor

One of the most difficult things when building a house is sorting through the prices that you receive from your sub-contractors.

If you don't understand the terminology that your sub contractors are using then you will have trouble understanding what they are going to install under the contract that you signed with them. A lot of people end up taking the lowest bidder from a reputable company and then are disappointed with the end results; not because of poor workmanship or poor installation but because what work was completed and the products that were installed were not what you as the homeowner thought they would be; you didn't understand what was written in the contract that signed.

Industry short forms, product codes and a homeowners poor understanding of systems in the home and how they work make it almost impossible for a homeowner to be able to determine if every sub contractor that prices the job is pricing the same material or systems.

This is one of the main reasons why when you are building a custom home you should be using a general contractor.

General Contractors solicit quotes when they originally budget your home before the build process starts. This might only be one quote for the budget from each part of the build (electrician, plumber), but it creates a baseline for them to work from going forward. Later in the build process if you are asking for more quotes (from multiple plumbers and electricians) then the general contractor will require all new bids to be based on the same criteria that the original quote was structured around.

This type of organizing allows the General Contractor to present the best quotes to you the client without fear of not getting what you wanted.

Your general contractor can save you enough money doing this over the entire build process that they almost pay for themselves in the money they save for you compared to if you were to be going it alone.

Let your general contractor worry about the quotes from the subs and you can worry about how you want to decorate your new home.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.