Estimating
Remodeling
Definition of an estimate:
"A good guess rounded out to two decimal places"
What is the Right Price for remodeling?
Several years ago I was in a waiting room & picked up
a copy of Money Magazine. Inside the issue was a very
interesting article.
It was around tax return time & the
magazine editors had sent a semi-complicated tax
return information with a fake name to 50 different tax
preparers spread around the country. They asked each
one to prepare their return for them & send them the
bill. The list included national firms, medium size firms
down to as small as the local CPA working out of his
house.
The results were astounding. They received back 50
tax returns with 50 different answers. Not one return
had given the same tax payment due, even though
each had worked with the identical information. Not
only that, they received 50 different invoices for
preparing the return. The cost varied from over $1000
to less than $100.
I can only assume that the federal government
would
have accepted each return & the check that went with
it. The lesson was that there is no right answer to the
question: How much do I owe in taxes?
Now since this is a website about home remodeling
you may be wondering about where I am going with
this.
I would like to bet that if you were to call in 50 different
contractors for a quote on a semi-complicated remodel
that you would receive 50 different answers. You
would be left wondering "Which one is the right
price?"
The answer is: There is no right price! You are left with
the problem of trying to decide which of the 50 is
going to give you the most value for your money. A
difficult task indeed. If you use the method I advocate
you will come as close as possible to the best decision
you can make.
I could write a whole book about estimating a remodel.
Come to think of it, I wrote a whole book about
estimating. Several of them.
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