The problem with the lowest bid
Here is a little fable about hiring the contractor with the lowest bid. It’s a true story.
Living Structures once had an opportunity to submit a bid for a kitchen remodel for a local chef whose work we deeply admire. We were very excited about the chance to work for her, but after looking at the job and working up a careful estimate, we were honestly a little devastated when she went with the lowest bid she could find (not us).
But we stayed in touch, and about a year later, she sent us this:
“I opted to go with the contractor with the cheapest bid, although Living Structures was not unreasonably far from this rockbottom bid. I ended up having to pay my contractor two times his estimate and he was pretty irresponsible, leaving a mess wherever he went, doing a lot of sloppy work, and leaving a massive pile of wood and trash in my backyard for weeks. He did not pull any permits and perhaps because of the mess in the yard, I was given a stop-work-order by the city of Boston. He was not licensed and now I am subject to fines and possibly an inspection that may require the walls of the renovation to be torn down which will cost thousands. On top of this, the contractor was sent to jail for [reasons which are not really relevant to the story] for a few days and had an emotional and financial collapse towards the end of my project, which ended up taking about 4 times as long as he predicted.”
The moral of the story?
We strive to deliver all the value we possible can within your budget. We do not strive to provide the lowest bid for the job. Sustainability has many facets, and one of these is the sustainability of our company into the future. Businesses in the home remodeling industry have an alarmingly high failure rate, and the company that gave you that rock bottom bid is not likely to be around in a year’s time if you need to call them back for a repair.
Customers who hire us do so because we offer superior services, including thorough design services by experts in sustainable design; fastidious air sealing and insulation of your home as a standard practice; careful control of dust and other construction hazards; up-to-date information and in-depth knowledge of cutting edge building techniques and materials; our open book communications policy, and quality craftsmanship with an emphasis on durability and maintainability.
We understand that homeowners have an almost biological mistrust of contractors.
Apples to Apples: Questions to ask our competitors
- The Massachusetts Home Improvement Contractor law http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocaterminal&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2=Home+Improvement+Contracting&sid=Eoca&b=terminalcontent&f=guide_to_home_improvement&csid=Eoca is designed to protect you. Look up Home Improvement Contractor license at http://db.state.ma.us/homeimprovement/licenseelist.asp
- The EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule is now in effect for all home improvement work. http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/renovation.htm Contractors must be certified by the EPA. Ask your contractor for his/her license, or search the EPA database at http://cfpub.epa.gov/flpp/searchrrp_firm.htm.
- Insurance: Do you carry Liability and Worker’s Compensation Insurance? Clients should ask contractors for their insurance certificates, as routine verification.
- Are the people working on my job employees of your company? Unfortunately, it is quite common in our industry for contractors to illegally treat full-time workers as subcontractors, in an effort to avoid paying payroll taxes and unemployment insurance. We bring in specialists (electricians, roofers, etc) for certain aspects of our work that require it, but most of the work on our jobs is performed by highly skilled and trained full-time carpenters and laborers on our own payroll.
