How our estimates work
What happens when we come and look, what goes into the written estimate you get back, and how to read one before you sign it. Free, itemized, and with no obligation at any point.
What happens when we come and look
Every estimate starts with someone standing in the room, and that is not a formality. Almost everything that decides the price is invisible in a description or a photograph, and the things people forget to mention are usually the ones that move the number most.
What we are actually looking at. The condition of what is already there, not just how much of it there is. A room that needs filling, sanding and priming before anything else happens is a different job from one that needs two coats, and on a floor plan the two are identical.
What we measure. Enough to price it properly rather than approximately — areas and heights, how much trim and detail is involved, and where access is going to slow the work down. Access is the variable most often left out of a description and it changes real time on site.
What we will ask you. What you want the finish to be, whether the property will be occupied while the work runs, whether there is a date you are working towards, and whether anything has been repaired before. That last one matters more than people expect: something that has already failed once tends to tell you the first repair addressed the symptom.
What you can send ahead. Photographs help, and so does a rough list of what you want covered. Neither replaces the visit, but both make it shorter and mean we arrive knowing what to look at rather than working it out on the doorstep.
What makes an estimate accurate
Seeing the actual surfaces — Condition is the single largest variable.
Knowing the full scope — What is in, and what you have decided against.
Where the work is awkward — Tight corners, high ceilings, rooms that stay in use.
Anything repaired before — A repeat failure usually changes the fix.
Your timing — A date to work towards changes the sequence.
Materials already chosen — Or a note that we should specify them.
What is actually in a written estimate
An estimate is a description of work with a number attached, and the description is the part that matters. These are the things worth finding in it — ours or anyone else’s.
It is itemized, not a single figure
The work is broken out rather than arriving as one number at the bottom. A single total tells you what to pay. An itemized one tells you what you are buying, and it lets you take something out or change it without starting the conversation again.
A scope, written in words
What is being done, to what, and to what standard. This is the part worth reading twice, because a difference in scope explains almost every difference in price between two estimates for the same room.
What is being used
Materials and finishes named where they have already been chosen, or flagged as provisional where they have not. If a figure assumes one thing and you want another, that is far easier to adjust before the work than during it.
The order things happen in
For anything involving more than one stage, what happens when. On larger projects the scope and program are agreed in writing before anything starts, so a phase happening later is working from the same document rather than a recollection.
What is not included
Stated rather than left to be assumed. Exclusions are not a trap — they are how you tell whether two estimates are covering the same job, and an estimate with none listed at all is usually the one to ask about.
What it does not commit you to
Anything. Estimates are free, there is no obligation, and no deposit is taken to receive one. Nothing is booked until you say so.
Included, priced separately, or not ours to do
Almost every question about an estimate is really a question about which of three categories something falls into. Knowing which is which is most of what makes one readable.
Included. Where preparation is part of doing the job properly, it belongs in the estimate rather than appearing later as an extra. Protecting the area, patching afterwards and clearing up are part of the work, not additions to it.
Priced separately, deliberately. Some things are quoted on their own line so you can decide rather than have it decided for you. Where it is genuinely a close call — refinishing against replacing, repairing against renewing — separating the two lets you compare them instead of guessing.
Not ours to carry out. Anything needing a licensed plumber or electrician we coordinate rather than perform. It still appears in the program, because it has to happen in the right order, but the regulated work belongs to the trade licensed for it.
And materials you supply yourself. We regularly fit client-supplied flooring and install client-supplied cabinetry. The one thing we do first is check the material and the quantities, because a shortfall found on the day stops the job rather than delaying it slightly.
Where the line usually falls
Preparation — In the estimate. It is the job, not an add-on.
Removal and disposal — Usually included, and confirmed either way in writing.
A genuine close call — Priced separately so you can compare the options.
Licensed plumbing or electrical — Coordinated by us, priced by that trade.
Materials you have bought — Fitted, once quantities have been checked.
Something found once opened up — Stopped, shown to you, and priced before continuing.
What to check before you accept an estimate
This applies to ours and to everyone else’s. If an estimate cannot survive these questions, the number on it is not the part to be worried about.
Compare the scope before the totals
Two honest estimates for the same room can be a long way apart, because they describe different amounts of work. Read what each says it will do, then look at what each costs. The other way round is how people end up comparing a full preparation against two coats over the top.
Look for what is missing
The lower estimate is sometimes lower because something has been left out — preparation, patching, moving and protecting furniture, taking the old material away. An exclusion you did not notice becomes a cost you did not plan for, usually at the point where it is too late to shop around.
Check what has been assumed
Every estimate rests on assumptions about condition, access and materials. If one turns out to be wrong the price moves, so it is worth knowing which assumptions are holding the number up before you agree to it.
Ask what would change it
A fair question, and a revealing answer. Anyone who has priced the job properly can name the two or three things that would move the number and roughly which way. An estimate nobody can explain the shape of is usually a guess with a decimal point.
Ask what happens if something is found
A normal question rather than a suspicious one — anything of any age has a surprise in it somewhere. What you want to hear is that everything pauses, you are shown what turned up, and the cost of dealing with it is agreed with you before it proceeds rather than surfacing on a final invoice. Ask everyone quoting, and prefer whoever already has that process written into the document.
Take the time you need
Estimates are free, carry no obligation, and no deposit is taken to receive one. There is nothing to be gained by deciding quickly, and a contractor applying pressure to sign on the day is telling you something useful about how the rest of it will go.
Common questions about estimates
Still unsure? Call (872) 235-7481 and we will talk it through.
It is free and it commits you to nothing. No deposit is taken to receive an estimate, and nothing is booked until you say so. You get it in writing and itemized, so you can take time over it, take something out of it, or use it to compare against someone else.
For anything beyond the very simplest job we need to see it. Photographs genuinely help and are worth sending ahead — they make the visit shorter and mean we arrive knowing what to look at — but condition is the largest single variable in most quotes and it is the thing a photograph is worst at showing. A number given without seeing the work is a guess, and it tends to be corrected later in the direction you would not choose.
Nothing should be added to the price without you seeing it first. That is the rule worth asking any contractor to state plainly before you agree to anything: does the work pause, are you shown what has been found, and is the additional cost put in writing before it goes ahead? When you compare estimates, check whether that process appears anywhere in the document. The moment to establish it is while you are still choosing, not when somebody is standing in your hallway with a problem and a deadline.
Yes. We regularly fit client-supplied flooring and install client-supplied cabinetry. The one thing we do first is check the material and the quantities, because running short partway through stops the work rather than slowing it down. Tell us at the estimate what you are supplying so it is priced as labor and fitting rather than materials.
It should say so explicitly rather than leave you to assume. The common exclusions are work belonging to another trade, materials you are supplying yourself, and anything that cannot be assessed until something is opened up. Regulated plumbing and electrical work is coordinated by us but priced by the licensed trade doing it. An estimate that lists no exclusions at all is usually the one worth asking about.
Compare the scope, not the totals. Most large gaps between two honest quotes come down to one describing more work than the other — usually preparation, patching, or protecting and moving things. Line them up on what each says it will actually do, check what each has excluded, and ask both what would change the number. The differences usually explain themselves within a few minutes of doing that.
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