Is my contractor quote fair?

1. Scope: what exactly is being done?

Scope is the single biggest reason two honest quotes disagree. "Replace bathroom vanity" could mean swapping a cabinet, or it could mean moving plumbing, patching drywall, retiling and repainting. Both are real jobs. Only one of them is cheap.

• Read the quote out loud and check that every physical thing you expect to happen appears somewhere in writing.
• Anything you assumed — hauling away the old unit, patching the wall, cleaning up, painting to match — should be named, not assumed.
• If two quotes differ a lot, print both and mark the lines that appear on one and not the other. That list is usually your answer.

2. Materials and equipment: model numbers, not adjectives

"Premium", "builder grade" and "high efficiency" are not specifications. Model numbers are. A quote that names the make, model and size of the equipment or the specific product line for the finishes is a quote you can verify yourself in ten minutes.

3. Labour: what basis is it priced on?

Some trades quote flat rate per task from a pricing book. Some quote hourly against an estimated number of hours. Some quote a lump sum for the whole project. None of these is wrong — but you cannot compare a flat-rate quote with an hourly one until you know which is which.

• Ask: is this flat rate, hourly, or a fixed project price?
• If hourly: what's the rate, how many hours are estimated, and what happens if it runs long?
• If flat rate or lump sum: what happens to the price if the work turns out to be faster than expected?
• How many people are on site, and are apprentice hours billed at a different rate?

4. Exclusions: the most-skipped section of any quote

Exclusions are where a fair-looking quote turns into a surprise. They're usually near the bottom, in smaller text, and they're the most important paragraph on the page. A contractor who lists exclusions clearly isn't hiding anything — they're telling you exactly where the extra costs live.

• Permits and inspection fees — included, or billed at cost later?
• Disposal and dump fees for the old material.
• Drywall, paint, tile or flooring repair after the work.
• Electrical or plumbing upgrades required to bring the work up to current code.
• Anything "found" behind a wall, under a floor or inside a unit.
• Access work: moving furniture, protecting floors, scaffolding, lifts.

A quote with no exclusions listed is not a quote with no exclusions. It's a quote where you'll discover them later.

5. Allowances: the numbers most likely to move

An allowance is a placeholder — a budgeted amount for something you haven't chosen yet, like tile, fixtures or countertops. Allowances are completely normal on renovation work. They're also the most common reason a final bill lands well above the quote, because the allowance was set low and you picked something ordinary.

6. Permits, disposal and the boring line items

Permits, inspection, disposal and, on some jobs, code upgrades are real costs on real work. They're also the easiest things to leave out of a quote to make the number look better than a competitor's. A quote that names them, even at an estimate, is more trustworthy than one that's silent about them.

If a contractor tells you a job that normally requires a permit doesn't need one, that's worth a second opinion — not because they're necessarily wrong, but because unpermitted work can surface later when you sell or make an insurance claim.

7. Warranty: on labour and on parts, separately

8. Timeline and payment terms

A start date, a rough duration and a payment schedule tied to progress are all signs of a contractor who runs an organised business. A large deposit with no milestones attached is worth pausing on — not automatically a red flag, but worth asking why.

• What's the deposit, and what does it cover?
• Are the remaining payments tied to milestones or to dates?
• Is there a holdback until the work passes inspection or a final walkthrough?
• What happens to the schedule if materials are delayed?

9. Change orders: agree on the process before you need it

On any job that opens up a wall, floor or roof, something unexpected can genuinely turn up. The problem isn't that changes happen — it's when there's no agreed process for them, so the first you hear of a change is a bigger invoice.

• Do change orders get priced and approved in writing before the work is done?
• Is there a dollar threshold below which small changes are just absorbed?
• Is extra work billed at the same labour rate as the original quote, or a higher one?