Contractors and estimates?

[luvmarypoppins]

We are in the midst of some major outside renovations.

We just had a new roof put on and we got 2 estimates.

The first one included a lifetime warranty. My dh said, we will be dead and who cares etc.
2nd guy was $10k cheaper and the materials were all the same and the warranty was acceptable. He had only 1 bbb complaint in about 7 years that I think was resolved.

Dh was a roofer in college so he said as long as the materials are the same etc.

Of course we went with the cheaper one.

Now we are in the midst of getting driveway estimates.
Guy #1 estimate includes taking down and disposing of a huge tree and bushes lining our front walkway. He does not have such a good bbb rating. He did mention his dad was the president of the company but they retired him due to his dementia. I have seen their work at a neighbors house although it was not done recently.
Guy#2 came today and was $6K more than the first guy plus he told us we would have to get a tree guy to come in and take down the trees and bushes etc. This guy does have a great A+rating with the bbb.

Tomm we are getting estimate #3.

Just amazed at the big difference in prices etc.

So if you have gone through this lately. Do you take the lowest estimate, check out references work, bbb ratings etc?

This whole process is a learning process for me. I am still trying to figure out why there are just such huge differences in prices etc.

 

[crayon3448]

We just got our HVAC replaced, the first quote we got was from the company that has serviced our house for years and we know their work. We got another company to give us a quote as well, just to compare, even though we were fairly certain we were going to go with the first company. The second estimate was almost 5k more! It was a no-brainer for us to go with the first estimate- we could buy almost a whole new system with the price difference between the two companies!

 

[tOSU]

I don't put any value on what BBB says. I have seen companies that do HORRIBLE work have great BBB ratings.

 

[eliza61]

I do all of the above.

I do use Angies list, I ask for references and then check them out and I make sure they have the insurance they claim they have.

I had my roof repaired but I went with the higher cost and the lifetime warranty. I was able to get a 4K higher bid in April when I went to sell my house because of being able to say new roof, life time shingle and work warranty.

Now I'm having the basement remodel in my new house. once again I asked for references, all the references, offered to let me come to their houses and see the work. price was within my budget.
Pretty much all the bids where within a two thousand dollars of each other so I didn't think anyone was overly out there.

 

[summerblue]

As far as BBB, you can only partially trust them. For example if you pay to be an BBB affiliate they help resolve complaints so they don't ding your rating, if you don't pay to be an affiliate your rating gets dinged if people report problems to them. My DH has no ratings under BBB, because no one has ever complained on him to BBB, they called and said if we pay them something like $200 a year we would be listed as an affiliate and get an auto A+ rating since we have no complaints. We said no.

Now as to variance in prices, some people value their time and work very highly. My DH is one of the most expensive concrete guys in our area, but he is the best and his work shows it. His crew gleans up after themselves, after they are done you won't find their trash or cigarette butts on the ground. Once people have had. DH do work, should they have additional projects in the future they don't bother with an estimate, they just call him and pay his price.

Also, though some contractors, especially if it's concrete can get better/different rates on mud (cement) depending how much they pour with a particular plant. We pay 20% less than every other contractor in our area! but we pour three times as much as the others too.

 

[I loveStitchnippyjon]

We are in the midst of some major outside renovations.

We just had a new roof put on and we got 2 estimates.

The first one included a lifetime warranty. My dh said, we will be dead and who cares etc.
2nd guy was $10k cheaper and the materials were all the same and the warranty was acceptable. He had only 1 bbb complaint in about 7 years that I think was resolved.

Dh was a roofer in college so he said as long as the materials are the same etc.

Of course we went with the cheaper one.

Now we are in the midst of getting driveway estimates.
Guy #1 estimate includes taking down and disposing of a huge tree and bushes lining our front walkway. He does not have such a good bbb rating. He did mention his dad was the president of the company but they retired him due to his dementia. I have seen their work at a neighbors house although it was not done recently.
Guy#2 came today and was $6K more than the first guy plus he told us we would have to get a tree guy to come in and take down the trees and bushes etc. This guy does have a great A+rating with the bbb.

Tomm we are getting estimate #3.

Just amazed at the big difference in prices etc.

So if you have gone through this lately. Do you take the lowest estimate, check out references work, bbb ratings etc?

This whole process is a learning process for me. I am still trying to figure out why there are just such huge differences in prices etc.

As we recently discovered, removing a large tree can be ridiculously expensive! Get a separate estimate on that, in order to have a valid comparison.

 

[Andtototoo]

The BBB rating is meaningless. My coworker and her dh run a small business. They got a call this week asking if they wanted to be on the BBB with an A+ rating and telling them how much it would cost to buy that rating.

 

[Colleen27]

References are my first and primary screening tool. I don't put much faith in the BBB because, as previous posters have mentioned, they give their paid members a preferential rating system. For example, there is a roofing company around here that is the bane of many small contractors' existence - their volume and use of undocumented labor allows them to undercut small and above-board businesses, their license is held be someone in the front office who isn't involved in the on-site work, and their warranty has so many loopholes that one could build a side business just servicing their declined warranty claims. They have 60-some BBB complaints in the last year, a handful of negative reviews, a 50% "would recommend" percentage, but retain an A+ rating. But not a single one of the reputable sole proprietors/small companies in our community has a rating at all. Why? Because with BBB you, as a business owner, get what you pay for.

 

[Sadie22]

It can cost thousands to remove a tree safely and without damage to nearby structures or property. Well worth getting estimates from several insured professional companies. Once the tree is on the ground, cutting it into pieces and having them removed is another job, as is stump removal. Then there would be a need for restoration in that area.

I would be very wary of driveway companies saying they could get rid of a tree for you.

BBB is just one place to check. You want to make sure your people are licensed to do the work and that they have been in business for a while without major complaints.

 

[tvguy]

There are soooo many things to consider. References, price, time in business, and just the plain old, are you comfortable with the people.

I did a complete renovation, got bids from Sears and 3 local specialty contractors.
Sears came out, the lady was very good, asked the right questions, and saved herself and us a lot of time. DW wanted Corian for the shower surround, Sears only uses Corian for kitchen counters.
One of the specialty contractors have been in business and run by the same family for 100 years, but they were interested only in doing the job at the lowest prices with lower quality materials than we wanted.
Second specialty contractor had us do a ton of the work for the bid, having us run around to select materials on our own.
The company we went with has been in business 20 years. Their designer spent a lot of time with us, going with us to pick materials, all this for free and all this just to assemble a bid, knowing it could all be for nothing. They made us feel like they cared about our project, and were willing to do the work to earn it.

 

[sam_gordon]

For any major project, I'd get at least three bids. If one bid is outlandishly high (or low), I would discount that one.

Next, find out references (not from BBB). A good contractor should be able to provide your references.

THEN make a decision.

 

[tvguy]

For any major project, I'd get at least three bids. If one bid is outlandishly high (or low), I would discount that one.

Next, find out references (not from BBB). A good contractor should be able to provide your references.

THEN make a decision.

The company we picked provided a list of 40 past customers as references, including 2 people I knew. Nobody else provided that.

 

[Christine]

We just got about 9 bids on our roof. I was amazed at the price difference between them all. We had quotes between $6,000 and $15,000. All for the same thing. The $15,000 guy stayed at our house for an hour and half giving his spiel. Uuuggggh..

We went with the $7,700 roof. We really wanted the cheaper guy. He did my next door neighbor's roof and it's just fine. My next door neighbor is a realtor and his has a lot of local connections for home renovations. Our problem was that we couldn't get the cheaper guy to come out for the quote/contract. He stood us up two times and then just doesn't answer his phone. I think he worked for my neighbor because my neighbor throws a lot of business his way, but just couldn't be bothered with us. Who knows. But I guess I don't want someone like that working on my house.

 

[tvguy]

On thing I ran into with all the projects I've done since October is how you pay for things can lower the price.
The roofer I used bid a price for materials, with me paying the supplier directly, and a price for labor, with me paying him. It lowered the price and eliminated the need for him to provide a lien release to prove he had paid for the materials.
The company that did the driveway bid a CASH (as in green paper) price, and offered to bid a check or credit card price. This was a project where the utility company had removed part of my driveway for utility repairs and was paying for that replacement, I wanted the whole driveway replaced so it matched so it was the contractor the utility uses, and the utility guarantees the work for 5 years.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Is the driveway guy even licensed for tree removal?

We had a pool put in and we had to have some trees removed. We had to hire a tree company to do it.

I would make sure that the work offered by a bid can be legitimately done by the bidder. ;-)

We tend to try and avoid the lowest bidder if we cannot justify why the bid is so low. Sometimes (but not always) low bidders cut corners. For example--how many nails per shingle did your roofer use. But other times--some bidders are bidding so high because they are actually DECLINING to do the job--but if you pay them enough they will do it.

Right now, in the area we live in, I have a friend who is like her own version of Angie's list. She knows all the people to use and who to not use. And if you follow her recommendations, you will not be disappointed.

 

[summerblue]

But other times--some bidders are bidding so high because they are actually DECLINING to do the job--but if you pay them enough they will do it.
.

It is true, we do it a lot, especially when we are slammed busy, but we always give a quote, if they tell us we are too high or cannot wait our current 2 -3 month wait list we have right now, we do have a list of other people we refer them to. Our philosophy is if someone wants our quality bad enough they will pay the quote and wait their turn. We also tell people if they can wait until we slow down we can give them a discount, so some people choose to wait, and when things slow down we give them a call.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

It is true, we do it a lot, especially when we are slammed busy, but we always give a quote, if they tell us we are too high or cannot wait our current 2 -3 month wait list we have right now, we do have a list of other people we refer them to. Our philosophy is if someone wants our quality bad enough they will pay the quote and wait their turn. We also tell people if they can wait until we slow down we can give them a discount, so some people choose to wait, and when things slow down we give them a call.

I think it would be nicer to not waste my time than to insult me by giving me a quote that is double everyone else.

I don't know why the contractor would waste their time in that manner either.

ETA: we have only had that happen once in 15 years of home ownership. The guy just didn't want to do the project.