When the Cheaper Bid Is Actually the Expensive One
Why is one bid $100,000 below the next one, for what looks like the same remodel?
Is the low one a deal, or a setup?
In this post, you’ll learn why two bids for the same remodel land so far apart, what a cheap number leaves out, how to compare bids by scope instead of total, and what to ask before you sign.
Why Are My Remodeling Bids So Different?
Remodeling bids differ because they’re rarely bids for the same project.
Each contractor prices the scope they assumed, the allowances they set, and the overhead they actually carry.
A cheap bid usually reflects reduced allowances, selections nobody has made yet, and no real planning phase, so the gap closes later through change orders once construction is underway.
Bunn & Sons Custom Builders hears about this constantly.
Someone collects three or four bids and tells us two other guys came in $100,000 or $200,000 under our number.
Our first question is always, “Are we even looking at the same project?”
Usually we aren’t, and the differences are pretty consistent.
Our scope is written out in detail, with design, engineering, finish selections, permit costs, and the rest of what an actual business costs to run.
The low bid is often a one-page scope with a lump sum and placeholder allowances that grow once you’re under contract.
Why Two Bids for the Same Remodel Can Be So Far Apart
Two bids land far apart for two reasons:
- The projects behind them aren’t the same project.
- And the companies behind them aren’t the same kind of company.
Not the Same Project
Two bids can describe the same house and still price completely different work.
The low one left out permits, structural engineering, real finish selections, or any schedule at all.
In the worst case, there’s zero thought behind the low number, just somebody throwing out a figure to stay in the conversation.
That’s a red flag, not a discount.
Not the Same Kind of Company
A remodeling company with employees, an office, vehicles, a 401k, workers’ comp, real general liability, a jurisdictional license, and a client management system carries costs that a one-truck operation simply doesn’t.
A Chuck in a Truck has none of that.
Think about a made-in-America engineered tool, a John Deere, the kind that lasts generations.
Now think about the $350 knockoff, reverse engineered with cheaper labor and inferior materials.
It works for a while, but then a part works loose, and by the tenth or twelfth use the thing flat out breaks.
You can see a cheap job in the finished work, trade by trade:
- Walls that aren’t plumb or square.
- Plumbing run unstrapped and through exterior walls.
- Cabinet faces that don’t line up.
- Uneven tile and paint lines.
- Doors that won’t hang true.
Nobody wants to see any of these in their home.
How to choose the right remodeler.
What a Low Number Often Hides: Reduced Allowances and Later Change Orders
A low number usually hides a stack of decisions somebody else already made on your behalf.
Say you want white Shaker cabinetry.
To win the job, a builder specs the cheapest white shaker on the market, checks the box, and comes in low.
You find out much later, standing in your own kitchen, that it looks nothing like the picture you saved.
It’s easier to sell a cheaper project than an expensive one.
Then the corrections start.
Another $10,000 here, another $20,000 there, and the project you signed at $95,000 is $210,000 by the time it’s actually the thing you wanted.
That’s a brutal thing to learn six weeks after signing, especially when you may not even have the $210,000.
An allowance on a thin bid is often a placeholder set low enough to keep the total attractive.
It’s not a price.
It’s a promise to price it later.
How to Compare What Is Actually Included and Decided, Not Just the Total
Line the bids up and compare scope, not totals.
Here’s how our complete price stacks up against a cheaper one:
| What our price includes | What a cheaper bid often leaves out |
|---|---|
| Full design and engineering, settled before pricing | Design figured out on the fly, mid-build |
| Permit management and inspections | Permits you’re expected to get |
| Structural work and the tie-in to your home | The structural connection, priced as a change order later |
| A dedicated superintendent running your job day to day | One project manager juggling multiple projects |
| Real finish and fixture selections | Placeholder allowances that grow over time |
| A fixed price and a detailed schedule | An open-ended number that climbs through change orders |
Running a remodel or addition well takes a superintendent or project manager 15 to 30 hours a week, which is half to three-quarters of a full-time person for the length of your build.
Nobody itemizes it on the cheap bid, and without someone whose job is your project, your build starts to slip.
A scope that’s genuinely decided produces a number that holds.
Fixed-Price vs. Cost-Plus: Which Number Will Actually Hold
Fixed price is the number that holds. Cost-plus isn’t a number yet.
With fixed price, the total is calculated upfront using:
- Materials
- Labor
- Overhead
- Profit
Margin gets applied to those numbers. It isn’t a pool of allowances.
With cost-plus, the actual cost is unknown until the end of the build.
That contract is essentially a long list of allowances and assumptions, which lets everybody kick the can on decisions.
The reason fixed price can hold at all is that the major decisions were already made before anyone signed.
A change order is a change to work that was originally contracted, so there has to be a defined scope to change from.
You have to have a starting point.
Cost-plus can look transparent because you see a lot of numbers.
Those numbers are frequently optimistic or purposely reduced allowances used to sell the job, followed by change orders once you’re contractually bound.
A contractor working cost-plus has little reason to identify unknowns upfront, because he can just charge for them as the project moves along.
Under fixed price, that same unknown is his problem.
If we missed something during planning that you told us about, that’s on us to cover. We charged you for pre-construction, and you gave us a lot of your time, so it should be on us.
That’s the actual risk in handing someone a firm number, and it’s why we take pre-construction as seriously as we do.
More on fixed-price vs cost plus contracts.
How the Depth of a Firm’s Planning Shows Up in Its Price
Planning shows up in the price because somebody has to pay for the hours it takes to decide everything before demolition starts.
A cheap number usually means nobody put in those hours. Nobody:
- Surveyed the house.
- Talked to a structural engineer.
- Priced real cabinetry.
- Asked the city what it would allow.
The number is a guess dressed up as a quote, and every one of those decisions still has to happen. It just happens later, while you’re living in a construction zone, with the contractor holding the pen.
A higher number often means real work has been put into your bid.
Our Planning Process
At the bid stage, we give you a range that’s what we honestly think your project costs, not a lower number designed to win the job and then climb back up through the build.
Then we go to work.
We’re hawks in pre-construction, drilling down to a granular level, because we don’t want to miss anything.
That work happens under a Project Development Agreement, a paid, legally binding planning phase with its own contract, separate from the build.
Here is what happens during our pre-construction process:
1. Kickoff.
You meet your full project team at your home. We complete a detailed digital site scan, and we run a Vision and Lifestyle Planning Session so we’re designing around how you actually live in the space.
2. Concept Presentation.
We present layouts and aesthetic direction and refine them with you until you see your ideal space. You make your first major selections here, too: appliances, cabinetry direction, fireplaces, and major equipment.
Each concept revision can take 2 to 4 weeks to complete and present.
3. Design Development.
The concept becomes buildable. You see cabinetry and layout plans, lighting and electrical design, specialty trade coordination, and full construction documents ready for permit submission.
You finalize every remaining selection, down to the paint.
This can take 3 to 6 weeks per round, and it’s worth the wait. It’s faster, less expensive, and far less stressful to make changes at this stage than with your kitchen torn out.
A lot of those reviews happen inside a live 3D model, with our designer spinning it in real time while we talk through sightlines, cabinet heights, and how the morning light hits the island.
4. Contracting and Construction Launch.
We hand you the fixed-price construction agreement, order and procure materials, confirm your permit is approved, set your start date, and schedule the trades.
Other work is happening alongside these stages:
- Land surveys.
- Soil tests.
- Energy-efficiency evaluations.
- Hazardous-material testing.
- Architects, structural engineers, designers, vendors, and building departments are all being coordinated on one timeline and one budget by the same team that’s going to build the project.
We also name the known unknowns out loud.
Weather windows, city inspection timelines, long-lead material backorders, whatever is hiding behind a 70-year-old wall.
We can’t make those disappear, but we can flag them during planning so they aren’t surprises later.
Here’s the test of whether a number was really planned: ask who eats the cost if something was missed.
On our contracts, if we missed something during planning that you told us about, covering it is on us.
Our featured projects show the fruits of our planning.
What to Ask Each Remodeler Before You Choose One
Ask every one of them these, then compare the answers before you compare the numbers:
- What triggers a change order, and how are they handled?
- Are permits itemized in writing?
- Are you licensed in my jurisdiction?
- Do you walk the home before pricing it?
- Is this fixed price or cost-plus, and when does the final number lock?
- What does your warranty cover, and for how long?
- Who is on my job day-to-day, and how many other jobs are they running?
Here’s how we answer each question:
What triggers a change order, and how are they handled?
A change order usually only happens when you decide to change what’s in the contract after it’s signed, or something genuinely undiscoverable turns up once we open a wall.
When one comes up, we tell you what it does to the price and schedule. If you want to move forward with it, we get your signature on an updated contract before we touch anything.
Are permits itemized in writing?
Yes. Permit fees, applications, and inspection coordination are all outlined in our bid and contract.
Are you licensed in my jurisdiction?
We hold active licenses in Boulder County, Jefferson County, Broomfield, Louisville, and Littleton, and we can get licensed in other municipalities on request.
Here are our licenses for each:
- Boulder County CON-21-0102
- Jefferson County 998951
- City of Broomfield – OL-24-12470
- City of Louisville – LSVL-005302-2023
- City of Littleton – AEC002195
Do you walk the home before pricing it?
Always. We can’t give you an accurate estimate unless we walk your home.
Is this fixed price or cost-plus, and when does the final number lock?
We’re fixed price. Our number locks when the Project Development Agreement is finished and signed.
What does your warranty cover, and for how long?
Two years on materials and craftsmanship, on top of any manufacturer warranty on what we installed.
Who is on my job day to day, and how many other jobs are they running?
You get a superintendent, and we cap ourselves at three major projects at a time. But they don’t have to be your only point of contact. Between our design partners, our superintendents, and our trade partners, somebody is always ready to take your call.
Get a Real Number You Can Trust With Bunn & Sons Custom Builders
If you take one thing from all this, read the scope before you read the total.
The bids sitting in front of you are almost certainly describing different work, and the monetary gap tends to close later rather than never.
If you want a bid you can trust, fill out our contact form or give us a call today.
