They are scared to tell you that it’s a 400K+ project.

It's not rare to charge for quotes, but it's not clear to me what the "evaluation" would entail. Has there not been a site visit yet?

First, let's agree on the terminology: Many folks consider an "estimate" and a "quote" to be the same thing. They aren't. An "estimate" can be given off the cuff or based on any level of investigation and design work with accuracy varying all over the place. By contrast, a quote is an offer to perform a contract scope of work at an agreed price. There is a risk doing anything based on an estimate--and that risk is usually the homeowners'.

It takes time and effort to produce plans and specifications and cost out a project. Larger projects take longer as do those with more alternatives and more homeowner selections to make. If the design dept. has a backlog of work (and who doesn't at the moment?) then it might be a couple of weeks after a project is measured up before they can even begin design work. Once that's completed, they need to get pricing from suppliers and the trades. Depending on the scope of the remodel a couple of months from measurement to contract might not be unreasonable. I think yours falls in that category. It would have been better if your remodeler prepared you for the time it takes.

It's also been my (limited, personal) experience, having gotten quotes for lots of different projects over the years, that even the most straightforward hard quote may take a couple weeks to months to get. Sometimes long enough that I have thought they did not want the job. Sometimes from people who said I would hear in a "day or two".

@rippedjeansconstruction the site visit when they took measurements was in mid-March. First quote for kitchen only was given in late June. Still waiting for a quote for the rest of the project

@charlesrosshomes good point about estimate vs quote. the designer took measurement in March and had the kitchen renderings in April. We go w/ the designer to the stores and shop our material and pay our invoices to the stores directly. I think a couple months for a quote could be reasonable. I’m not so sure about 5 months (still waiting). House isn’t huge. 1,900 of livable space. But I agree, I wasn’t expecting how long it would take.

There's a lot of demand for remodeling services in most markets at the moment, so things can get backed up. Compounding the problem are supply logistics issues which take time away from design, estimating, and execution of projects. We're spending a whole lot more time trying to purchase materials and get them to the job site, then a whole lot of time rescheduling work when orders are either only partially filled or totally back ordered.

I didn't go with a particular design-build firm because they wouldn't give me an estimate before I put a non-refundable large deposit down for them to do a quote. While I agree that doing a quote is valuable work and deserves compensation, I'm not going to pay $5k to find out that a firm does not have competitive pricing. I get that it's a seller's market right now. But that's just predatory.

The contractor I did go with, gave me an estimate based on my scope document (I'm very detailed). When I agreed to the estimate, I put down a non-refundable deposit of 5% of the estimate value and they did a formal quote. We agreed that everything would be ordered ahead and that no work would start until all supplies were on site. That mitigates everyone's risk. I get a guaranteed labour rate; the contractor doesn't have to deal with supply chain issues and scheduling is immeasurably simplified.

Some of the contractors on the other sites I visit brag about how far they're booked out as vindication of how much in demand they are. I'm talking nearly two years with some. I think this is indicative of their pricing their work too low. Nor is it fair to the customers who are willing to pay more to have to wait behind people paying less.

You should have to wait a bit; the contractor you want is very busy now.

Verbo may be on to something.

Ben:

Estimates are an even exchange of information. Potential remodel customers want proposals and contractors want to know the potential customer is qualified before investing the time in providing same. Methinks you need to work on the latter.

Of course, that's why we provide a general estimate based on unit prices and market data. Some homeowners don't realize how much things cost. If they realize that it will take 400k not 200k to accomplish what they want we can figure that out soon, adjust or abandon the project.

We only go out to bid to the trades once the homeowner understands the price range and is ready to move forward. We are also working on tools to make it easy for trades to get Quantity Take Offs from our 3D model and submit estimates online.

We are trying to make this process easier for everyone involved, homeowners and trades. Reach out if you have a couple of minutes to discuss some of the pain points you face in the estimation process. ben@mybuildplan.co

Hi, Ben,

Conditions will vary from market to market and over time, but in my local market, a competitive bid approach won't return many bids, if any. The better builders and remodelers tend to partner with clients from the outset. Many provide in-house design services and charge for those services as well as cost estimating services.

While there are usually new entrants in any local market, the demand in ours far exceeds the supply of qualified builders and remodelers as it does in adjacent markets. Folks seeking competitive bids on a project simply need to recognize the approach limits the set of builders and remodelers they can choose from.

Where are you located?

Ben,

You can get additional information about pros on houzz.com simply by clicking on their avatar.

@charlesrosshomes my build design firm only takes on as many clients as they can handle within their capacity. supplies, supply chain issues are not a factor in the quote, given that I am paying for all our materials, appliances, etc., directly to the vendors (and I go shopping with their in-house designer before a quote is even given.)

@buildplan San Francisco Bay Area

@jenniferk your approach makes a lot of sense but if you had structural work how were they able to give you an accurate quote without a comprehensive evaluation? I incurred $20.5K on concept, design, and pre-construction fee before the quote for the kitchen was even given (3 months after they took measurements). I have incurred a total of $35.5K and still don't have a quote for the rest of the house. (The kitchen cost is completely separate and not in these numbers). This just doesn't feel right.

@Susan W, I haven't had much structural work done. The most invasive was digging up the basement floor to put a new toilet in. And even for that, I received a reasonably accurate estimated price range before I received a very accurate quote. The estimate was ready inside of a week. The quoting process took about 6 weeks and involved a trades' day where all the subs showed up to evaluate the space and the work. The job was scheduled to start 2 months later-- which happened to be the first day we were all told to work from home due to covid. Covid really threw a wrench in our 4-6 week job schedule. It ended up taking 6 months! And that is why on my current reno (with the same contractor), all supplies are being obtained before they start work.

"supply chain issues are not a factor in the quote, given that I am paying for all our materials, appliances, etc., directly to the vendors"

Your question was about the time required waiting for a quote on your project. Supply chain issues affect that, too, when the same folks do the estimating, ordering, and managing the execution of projects, which describes nearly every one of the (small size) remodelers in our market. We're spending beaucoup time chasing back-ordered components and addressing the scheduling implications of the longer lead times. So are our suppliers and trade partners. That takes time away from everything else we have to do including selling the next job, estimating the next job, generating proposals, etc. The lead times for proposals gets extended as a consequence.

San Francisco doubles the quote to 800K. Youve got big red tape and seismic retrofitting required.