How to Compare Contractor Bids

Module 6.10 explained why bids differ. This is the how-to: the working method for turning three incomparable documents into one honest decision. Budget an evening; it's the highest-paid evening of your project.

Step 1: Build the matrix. One spreadsheet, one column per bid, rows for every scope element: demolition, foundation, framing, roofing, windows/doors, plumbing (+fixtures?), electrical (+panel work?), HVAC, insulation/drywall, kitchen, bath, flooring, paint, utility trenching, appliances, landscape repair, permits/fees handling, supervision, cleanup. Fill each cell with included / excluded / allowance $X. The empty cells are the conversation.

Step 2: Normalize the scope. For every excluded item, add your realistic cost (Modules 6.6–6.8 gave you the numbers) to that bid's total. Bid A at $150K excluding $45K of reality is a $195K bid wearing a costume. Now the totals compare.

Step 3: Reality-check the allowances. For each allowance line, ask: can I actually buy this at this number? A $1,500 flooring allowance for 800 SF is $1.87/SF — checkable against any flooring website in minutes (LVP alone runs $3–5 installed). Sum each bid's allowance shortfall and add it to that bid's total too. Fantasy allowances are the most common way low bids are manufactured (lesson 11.6 called it; now you've quantified it).

Step 4: Compare the non-price columns. Timeline (and whether it's committed or decorative), payment schedule shape (lesson 11.10's test), warranty terms, who supervises, and — from your funnel notes — communication quality and reference warmth.

Step 5: Now, and only now, look at prices. With scope normalized and allowances corrected, the spread usually shrinks from "$90K apart?!" to a real difference of 10–15% — and the decision becomes what it should have been all along: which professional do I trust to run six months of my life for this price? Sometimes that's the cheapest normalized bid. Often it's the middle one whose paperwork was immaculate.

Two closing rules: never share Bid A's number with Contractor B to squeeze them ("bid shopping" — the good ones walk, the desperate ones lie), and never let the normalization exercise talk you past a red flag. A great spreadsheet can't fix a bad builder.