Have you ever met with a contractor to look at a job for your home and it took longer than expected to receive a quote back?

Let us explain!

There are several components that go into providing an accurate quote for a job.

1. Our time and labor – this is the easiest thing for us to pull together because this component is in our control.  We think about how long it will take us to complete each section of the project and assign labor hours to it. 
2. Cost of materials – the cost of materials are constantly changing.  To make sure we provide an accurate quote we price key materials when creating a quote.  For example the cost of lumber skyrocketed over the last couple years, if we used historical data for our quotes we would be way off.  We also reach out to our vendors to get pricing on windows, doors or other materials.  It often takes time (could be as long as a week) to hear back from our vendor contacts to receive the most updated pricing. 
3. Pricing for subcontractors – for larger jobs we often need to schedule a time for our subcontractors to look at a job in order for them to give us an accurate quote for the job and for them to figure out how much time they think the job will take.  Sub contractors often include plumbers, electricians and HVAC contractors. For us to get a price back we schedule the visit and then need to wait for our subcontractors to provide pricing back to us.  This process could take several weeks.

Once we finally have ALL of our pricing materials back we compile it into a comprehensive quote for our clients review. For us we feel strongly that putting this work in up front is important.  We strive to offer clients an accurate and realistic price for their potential project.