What a complete quote contains
A complete quote tells you what is being built, what is not, what products it assumes, what it costs, and when you pay. If any of those five is missing, you cannot compare it with anything. Ontario's consumer rules add two more facts worth knowing: a renovation contract over fifty dollars has to be in writing, and a final price cannot run more than ten per cent over a written estimate unless you agreed to new work or a new price.
Start with the contingency, because it is the fastest test of whether the person quoting has done this before. On a renovation to an older house we build in a contingency of roughly 10 to 15 per cent, stated openly in the document, not hidden in the margin or discovered in month two. A quote that shows no contingency on a 1970s house has left the risk out rather than priced it.
Here is what should be on the page:
- Scope written room by room, or system by system, in language you can read.
- Exclusions, listed explicitly. What is not included tells you more than what is.
- Allowances, each with a dollar amount and a unit.
- Products named where the choice is already made. Manufacturer and model.
- A contingency, stated as a percentage or a figure, with the rule for how it gets spent.
- A payment schedule tied to completed milestones.
- The change order process, in writing.
- Permit responsibility. Who applies, who pays, whose name is on it.
- Warranty terms and length.
- Site conditions. Protection, storage, working hours, cleanup, disposal.
The cheapest number is usually the smallest scope
Three contractors pricing the same kitchen buy materials from broadly similar suppliers and pay broadly similar labour rates. There is no secret discount. When one bid lands 30 per cent below the other two, something has usually been left out of it.
Compare the exclusions before you compare the totals. The cheap quote is usually missing demolition disposal, or permit costs, or electrical upgrades, or the paint, or the flooring transitions, or the plumbing rough-in the new island requires. Every one of those items still has to be paid for. You will pay for it later, one change order at a time, when you have no leverage and no alternative contractor.
Allowances, and where they hide cost
An allowance is a placeholder amount for a product you have not chosen yet. Tile, plumbing fixtures, lighting, countertop, hardware. It is a legitimate tool, and every good quote uses a few. It hides cost when the amounts are set unrealistically low.
Read every allowance in the document and ask one question. What can I buy for that? Then go to a supplier and check. If the tile allowance buys nothing you would put in your house, the quote is not cheaper than the others. The cost has been moved to later.
A properly written allowance names four things:
- The amount, per unit, and what unit. Per square foot, per fixture, per item.
- Whether installation is included in the allowance or priced separately.
- What happens if you spend less, and whether you get the difference back.
- What happens if you spend more, and whether markup applies to the overage.
That fourth point is where money quietly moves. Ask directly whether the contractor's markup applies to allowance overages, and get the answer in writing.
Contingency belongs on the page
A contingency is money set aside for conditions nobody can see until the walls are open. Knob-and-tube wiring behind plaster. A rotted sill plate. A drain that runs where no drawing shows it.
On an older house we tell clients that we will find something, and that we do not know what yet. The contingency is how we handle that without renegotiating the whole contract in month two. If nothing is found, the unspent contingency stays yours. That clause should be in your contract, in writing, because it changes the incentive.
Money should follow the work
Payments should follow completed work, not dates. Each milestone should describe something you can walk over and look at. Demolition and disposal complete. Framing complete and inspected. Rough-ins complete and inspected. Drywall complete. Cabinets set. Substantial completion.
Watch the front end. A deposit is normal and reasonable, because materials get ordered and trades get scheduled. A deposit that represents a large share of the contract before anyone arrives at your house is a different thing. Money should always sit slightly behind the work, never ahead of it. That gap is the only leverage you retain.
Ontario's Construction Act requires a ten per cent holdback on the value of work performed, released after the lien period. Ask how it will be handled on your contract, and get that written into the payment schedule rather than assumed.
The questions that expose a thin bid
Ask these six, in this order.
- What is excluded from this price?
- Which items are allowances, and what can I buy for each amount?
- Is a contingency included, and what happens to it if we do not use it?
- What happens if you open the wall and find something unexpected?
- Who is on my site every day, and who do they answer to?
- Show me your insurance certificate and proof of WSIB coverage.
A contractor who has priced the job properly has already thought about each one.
One more. Ask for a written schedule with the sequence of trades, not a finish date on its own. Anyone who has run a site can produce it in a day.
Send us the quotes you are comparing, along with the scope you asked each firm to price. We will show you where they differ and what each one leaves out, whether or not you build with us. Start a conversation.