It is not normally done if you are requesting multiple bids for a Fixed Price contract but it can be if you are negotiating with more than one contractor for a Cost of the Work with a Fixed Fee contract. Conducting multiple negotiations with contractors allows a homeowner to compare subcontractor prices and is not advantageous to the general contractors and many won't do it at all. This multiple negotiation/bidding approach seems to be unique to home building.

I don't think you should have to pay for a bid. Yes, it takes time to put together a bid but that's the cost of doing business. Home builders who have experience and connections seem to be able to put together a bid pretty quickly, esp. if they have a lot ot go on from you - such as the finishes you want to use, whether you will be putting in new appliances, fireplace, septic, etc.

When you get a 'free' estimate, it's not really free. If I'm a GC and I bid on three jobs and get one, who do you think pays for those other two 'free' estimates?

Personally, I support more transparency and honesty in these transactions.

In exchange for your hard-earned money, you should be given cost breakdowns in each major area of the house, including specifics on how much a particular finish is going to cost you, in order that you can make an informed decision on whether you want to upgrade, downgrade, or hold.

(And for what it's worth, I don't think that $1200 even covers the real cost of doing a comprehensive estimate. It is, however, a large enough number to test the seriousness of the client.)

Good luck!

Sure. But how do you convince me (the buyer) that you're not just going to make up some numbers and take my $1200 for doing it? At least if the bid is free (to me) I know I can discard the bid if it's not serious (either because you don't need the business or because you don't care).

Ok, that pretty much runs the range.
So it's not 'never heard of' and not 'that's SOP'.
I'll get some more input from other builders/contractors before I start shelling out a couple of appliances for estimates.

Thanks, all!

jerry

I would never consider paying a GC for an estimate/bid on a job. That tells me that the GC would probably nickel and dime me to death over every little thing.

I would pay $1200 for an estimate if it was truly comprehensive. If it listed every little thing down to how many and what type of nails. That could be a benefit to you when looking for other bids and throughout the construction process.

I work for a top end contractor. We do not charge for bids. We will also not waste our time doing a comprehensive bid for a job we will not get.

We will give a ballpark figure from the first meeting and plans. This bid will be wide in scope. All details and final numbers will be dialed in after we know we have the job.

A good contractor can prequalify the customer. Too many customers have no real clear idea of the costs of building a home and we will not waste our time bidding on jobs that will never be built as spec'd because the customer wants more than they can really afford.

Most homeowners who have a real clear idea of the costs of building a home would never sign a contract with a GC without having the details and final numbers dialed in before that. I would absolutely NEVER even consider a GC whose philosphy would be to "dial-in" numbers after I signed a contract. Talk about giving away any leverage I would otherwise be bringing to the table! That is one of the shadiest business practices I have ever heard...

Custom home estimates can only be as detailed as the specs given by the person requesting the estimate unless you want generic ballpark information based on builders grade material and a tract home blueprint. Requesting bids for a project without having four dozen pages of details mean you haven't done your homework and you either want the builder to do all the work or are pretty clueless about the process and the price and the effect that your choices have on that process and price. That non specific a request for bid is what leads to the gripes about change orders costing the price of the bid all over again. That's why builders will give ballpark figures for estimates when confronted with a "tell me what goes into building this house and how much" type bids. It somewhat weeds out the clueless. Spending weeks on preparing a very detailed bid for someone who is just going to experience sticker shock and rethink the whole project is not a very productive way of spending time for an contractor. That's why many DO request a deposit for an estimate from those who do not appear to be on track with actually awarding them the contract after a great deal of time has been spent on detailing many many specifics. IT forces the customer to be far more specific with the request for bid proposal and it also places some responsibility on the customer to narrow down their potential builders. Throwing a blueprint out there to a dozen builders is likely to get you a dozen wildly different estimates. Giving a 76 page detailed spec sheet along with a blueprint copy is likely to get you very similar cost estimates from those with real experience. It's all in the amount of work YOU want to do vs. what you want a builder to do. If he has to work to force you give him your wants, then it's going to be one of those more difficult builds that will need a bit more cushion in the compensation department. That cushion starts up front at bidding time.

"ost homeowners who have a real clear idea of the costs of building a home would never sign a contract with a GC without having the details and final numbers dialed in before that. I would absolutely NEVER even consider a GC whose philosphy would be to "dial-in" numbers after I signed a contract. Talk about giving away any leverage I would otherwise be bringing to the table! That is one of the shadiest business practices I have ever heard..."

If that was in response to my post, then you have assumed facts not in evidence.

No one is doing anything shady. The final contract would have detailed prices before being signed. You can know you have a job before a contract is signed.

Actually, you don't know that you have a job before the contract is signed...you are making an assumption based on some degree of good faith, which is completely meaningless.

"Actually, you don't know that you have a job before the contract is signed...you are making an assumption based on some degree of good faith, which is completely meaningless."

Well it works for the company, I work for and we are booked out through 2010 with custom homes.( a company that has been in business for 30 years)

Good faith means alot in our world , sorry it does not in yours.

jmagill, Sounds like the GC you work for only builds for folks with verrrrry deep pockets?

I know GCs that seem to be the same as jmagill's.

There is a difference between a ballpark bid and a contract, and those GCs aren't confusing the two. Ballpark bids are convenient in introducing reality to those dreamy-eyed folks who have absolutely no idea of costs for either labor or materials. If one is lucky, the dears will already be aware of how much $$ they can afford and are simply unknowing that one doesn't get million-dollar details for tract-house cost -- or it might be more accurate to say that they don't know that those details will cost a million. A ballpark bid can be a real eye-opener for them. Also, ballpark bids help the GC weed out the folks who have bigger eyes than wallets and permit him to pay attention to those who can pay for his services.

Personally I think if a GC has built a dozen houses similar to the plan, then charging for a ballpark bid is ridiculous. He has already made [or lost] money on his previous houses and should know the approximate cost that will permit a fair profit. OTOH, if the GC builds unique one-of-a-kind houses, then he will [and should] be wary of ballparking without knowing the details involved. Thus if the owner does *not* submit well-considered details with the plan, the GC is going to have spend considerable time prying those details from the owner; IMO time = money and the GC *should* be paid for his time even though the bid is still ballpark.

A contract is a different issue, and that should spell out ALL the details and specifications and be signed in agreement by all parties. A well-written contract actually protects all parties... it is equally unfair to the contractor to have the buyer expect to get more than contracted, as it is to the buyer if the builder does less than contracted.

"jmagill, Sounds like the GC you work for only builds for folks with verrrrry deep pockets?"

160 to 250.00 a foot average, not deep in our neck of the woods. Just up the road the going rate starts 300.00.

Please be aware that a detailed comprehensive bid takes 30 to 40 hours to prepare properly. Large production builders will have this all computerized and your options will be limited in scope. They can afford to do this for, what you believe is free( someone will pay).Smaller custom home builders have just too many variables.

Think about home much time it takes you to finalize your decisions, from windows to paint colors. Then think about how much time it takes to call every supplier and sub contractor to pull together all the prices for all your picks.

We'll have to agree to disagree here on just what is considered to be a lot of work, and IMO...30-40 hours is not that much time to prepare a bid. Just another cost of doing business. There are numerous businesses that put out RFPs. Their contractors/vendors put these together, generally, without costs associated with the process.

And, it takes a person who is custom building a home MANY more hours to finalize their decisions (which should be chosen upfront before putting out their plans & specs for bids) than it would take a builder to put together pricing. Seriously, it is not that hard, nor does it take much time, to send a fax/email requesting a price quote or a bid to a vendor or a sub...

"And, it takes a person who is custom building a home MANY more hours to finalize their decisions (which should be chosen upfront before putting out their plans & specs for bids) than it would take a builder to put together pricing. Seriously, it is not that hard, nor does it take much time, to send a fax/email requesting a price quote or a bid to a vendor or a sub..."

This statement would lead me to believe that you do not have experience in the home building industry.(I of course may be wrong).

I have never seen a client come prepared to a builder with complete specs and choices nailed down. My husband who also works in the industry has also never seen this happen(he works with contractors who build homes that range from 1 mill to 10 million.

It happens but it is far from the norm. There are just too many decisions and most finalized contracts will still have allowance numbers for everything from carpets to appliances. This forum is the best example of that.

Bidding is a cost of doing business. Can you afford to give away 40 hours of work?

My company see's no point in doing that extensive a bid for no revenue. We would have to pass on the cost to our other jobs by raising our rates and that is not fair to those customers. We keep our prices down by not wasting our time or our customers money.