Appropriate Time For A Contractor To Get Back To Someone With A Price Quote?

What do you think is an appropriate time for a contractor to get back to a person with a price quote after evaluating and seeing the work that needs to be done for a potential client? Just looking for opinions from those of you who have had minor and/or major renovations done on their apartment or house. Also direct feedback from contractors would be great too. Thanks.

happycats

in Brownstoner Renovation 11 years and 9 months ago

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fcdrzlqniytyvj | 11 years and 8 months ago

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It depends on the size of the contract and the workload of the contractor. I am a designer/Builder who acts as a client representative. renovation is a time sensitive manor and time is money. We always get an idea of the overall scope of the project including , funding, deadlines that may apply, and the over all goals go the client. If the the person giving you an estimate does not give you a timeframe or ask you yours ( I always do both) you should ask/share your time frame needs with them. Any party you hire is there to serve your needs, the better you articulate them the better they can serve you.

hooky | 11 years and 9 months ago

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Greenmountain- I am with you. It takes me a bit to do detailed quotes. I like to be as accurate as possible so that change orders are completely transparent and not a surprise. I would always ask that the scope of the job be properly vetted and the contractor be honest with the homeowner. I know that I have waves of availability- when all the designs are done and jobs become installations, I have no time for new clients because I’m always in the field or in meetings. I hate to lose jobs during those times, but you have to say no if you’re just going to make the new client unhappy!

greenmountain | 11 years and 9 months ago

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I have been waiting a few days to reply… Until recently, I was terrible at getting my quotes out. I used to produce long estimates with descriptions I could easily cut and paste in to contracts. The contracts were even longer, conforming to the Dept of Consumer Affairs requirements. When most of my quotes resulted in work, the time I took producing and refining them was helpful to my customers and helped me to arrive at reasonable prices. Now I am producing shorter, faster quotes using Quickbooks. I am specializing more and repeating more of my quotes. I produce many quotes for home owners who don’t hire me. They may hire cheaper contractors, or contractors who say they are faster, or customers “go in a different direction.” Customers hire only one contractor, but routinely request 3 or more quotes. On the other hand, I can’t work for all the customers who want my service, but if you read this and you asked me for an estimate, and you still didn’t get one, this would be a good time to renew your request. My work is not the cheapest, nor the fastest, but it is longer-lasting, and higher-quality than you can easily get for the price I charge. Producing and revising many detailed, quotes can easily become a full time job. The prices many ‘Stoners are willing to pay for home improvements, do not pay for office staff. My first priority is to work in the client’s house, who already signed a contract. Still, I understand answering the question “What does it cost?” is part of the job. Consumer Affairs allows contractors to charge for quotes, as long as the price for a quote is quoted in advance. I don’t know any small contractors who charge for quotes for small jobs. Perhaps more of us would get this job done faster if we did.

marie-helene | 11 years and 9 months ago

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For a smaller job, 2-3 days. If there is anything custom, a week or two. For a very large and/or complex work, it could take weeks. However, no matter how short or long, that’s definitely a good question to ask: “How long until I receive a quote from you?” Their response, and its accuracy, will be indicative of everything that follows.

Augustiner | 11 years and 9 months ago

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2-4 weeks for a detailled quote on a bigger reno

bedstuytownhouse | 11 years and 9 months ago

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We broke up with our longtime contractor for dragging his feet on getting quotes to us…but we’re talking months (plural) not weeks. The new contractor we are working with and found on this board got us our quotes in about a week and we revised from there so the final quote took about a month because of our adding and deleting.

curated | 11 years and 9 months ago

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2-3 days for a minor project. Up to 2 weeks for a large project. http://brownstoner.staging.wpengine.com/curated