wildly divergent contractors’ estimates

I’m trying to do some subsantial, though almost entirely cosmetic, work on the 3 rental apartments in my house. We’ve gotten quotes from four different contractors, and the estimates are WILDLY divergent, despite being quite specific about what we’d like done. We’re talking a range from $50k to well over $100k… One of the very low quotes is from All Renovation, who seems to be recommended by many here. One of the high quotes comes from a firm we feel very confident about, but their price tips over what we have to spend. Any advice on how to choose?? I think I’d feel reasonably comfortable about All Reno’s work (though not TERRIFIC, given a couple of mediocre reviews I’ve heard), but I’m very curious about how much OVER their actual estimate I should expect they might end up being.

Anyone know if All Reno tends to low-ball their estimates??

I’m afraid if we end up going with one of the lower quotes, they might be lowballing and end up costing as much as the higher quote anyway, without doing as good of work…

Advice?

By tanner | 08/12/2008 8:57 AM