Hiring
What a builder's quote should show you
A quote is not a price. It is a description of exactly what you are buying, with a number at the bottom. If the description is thin, the number is meaningless — and you will find out how meaningless somewhere around week ten.
Why two quotes are rarely the same job
Three builders quote for the same extension. One is cheaper, one sits in the middle, one is dearer. Most people take the middle or the cheapest. Almost nobody asks the only question that matters: are these three prices for the same job?
They usually are not. The cheapest often excludes the roof covering, the electrical second fix, the making good, and the tiling — and none of those exclusions is written down anywhere, so they arrive later as extras. The final bill is not the number you compared.
What a proper quote contains
| Section | What it should tell you |
|---|---|
| Scope of work | What is being built, in enough detail that a third party could read it and know what is included. |
| Itemised breakdown | Preliminaries, groundworks, structure, roof, services, finishes, external works — each with a price against it. |
| Specification | What materials, what standards. "Tiling" is not a specification. |
| Exclusions | Written down, in plain words. This is the single most useful part of any quote. |
| Provisional sums | Allowances for things that cannot yet be priced, clearly labelled as allowances, with what they cover. |
| Prime cost sums | Allowances for items you will choose later — sanitaryware, tiles, kitchen — so you know what budget you are choosing within. |
| Programme | Start date, duration, and the key stage dates. |
| Payment schedule | Stages tied to work completed on site, not to dates in a calendar. |
| Variations | How changes get priced and agreed — in writing, before they are built. |
| Validity | How long the price holds. Material prices move. |
| Insurance | What cover the contractor carries. |
Exclusions: read these first
Turn to the exclusions before you look at the total. The gap between the cheap quote and the expensive one is nearly always sitting in there. Common ones worth checking for: roof covering type, electrical and plumbing second fix, tiling and floor finishes, painting, making good to the existing building, disposal, temporary works, scaffolding, professional fees, planning fees, and anything at all to do with the ground.
The test. If you cannot tell from the quote whether the price includes painting, the quote is not finished. Ask. Get the answer in writing and attached to the quotation.
Stage payments
Payments should follow work that exists. A sensible structure ties each payment to a completed, visible stage — foundations complete, walls to ring beam, roof on and watertight, first fix complete, and so on — with a final payment after snagging.
Warning signs: a very large payment before anything happens; payments on calendar dates rather than on progress; and a request to pay in cash for a substantial part of the job with nothing written down.
Warning signs on any quote
- A single number with no breakdown. There is nothing to hold anyone to.
- No exclusions listed at all. Every job has exclusions. A quote with none has hidden them.
- Dramatically cheaper than everyone else. Occasionally it means a quiet month. Usually it means a different, smaller job has been priced.
- Pressure to decide today. Any price that expires this afternoon was not a price.
- Reluctance to put anything in writing. The single clearest signal there is.
- No programme. If nobody will commit to how long it takes, nobody is planning to finish quickly.
How to compare three quotes properly
- Give all three builders the same scope and the same drawings. If you change the brief between conversations you cannot compare the answers.
- Line the itemised sections up side by side and look for gaps rather than for the lowest total.
- Add each builder's exclusions back in at a realistic cost. Now compare.
- Ask each of them what they think the risks are. The one who tells you something uncomfortable is usually the one who has actually thought about your job.
- Go and see current work. Not a photograph — a live site.