Remix: Quoting Like a Pro: How Residential Contractors Can Stay Competitive with Better Quotes!
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In residential contracting, being competitive is about more than just being the cheapest. It’s about delivering value, making a profit and providing quotes your clients can trust. After over 10 years in the business I’ve learned that mastering the art of quoting is key to growing your client base and staying ahead of the competition.
The Market
Today clients aren’t just looking for the cheapest quote – they want value. Homeowners will pay more if they know what they’re getting for their money. That’s where detailed, well structured quotes come in. They don’t just show a number – they tell a story.
“I had a job where I was up against a competitor who underbid me by about 10%. Instead of just lowering my price I decided to provide a more detailed quote, breaking down every cost and showing the value of my work. The client chose me because they felt more confident in what they were paying for.”
Why Quotes Matter
The biggest mistake you can make as a contractor is to submit inaccurate construction quotes. If you underquote you’ll eat into your profits – or even lose money. If you overquote you’ll lose the job to a competitor who can price the project more realistically.
How to Quote Competitive and Profitable
Quoting competitive and profitable is more than just throwing numbers together. It requires planning and understanding your costs. Here are a few tips I’ve learned over the years:
- Know Your Costs
● Before you submit any quote make sure you know every cost involved – labor, materials, equipment and even overhead. Don’t forget to include delivery fees or any special permits required for the job.
● Personal anecdote: Early in my career I underbid a bathroom renovation because I forgot to include plumbing costs. That wiped out my profit for the entire job. Now I triple check everything.
- Include a Contingency Buffer
● Unexpected expenses are a fact of life in construction. I always recommend adding a 10-15% contingency buffer to every quote. This protects your bottom line when surprises (like weather delays or material shortages) pop up.
● Tools like Bolster make it easy to add this buffer into your quotes so you’re always prepared.
Using Historical Data to Refine Quotes
Another way to stay competitive is to learn from past projects. Historical data can help you refine your quotes over time so you’re always quoting a realistic price that reflects the market and your expertise. If you’ve done similar jobs in the past look at how long they took and what the actual costs were. This helps you avoid underbidding or overquoting future projects.
How Software Keeps You Competitive
Manually preparing construction quotes takes time – and time is money. Not to mention, manual quotes leave more room for error. In this competitive industry you can’t afford mistakes – whether it’s leaving out key details or underquoting.
Bottom Line
Quoting is about more than just giving a number – it’s about showing value, being transparent and being profitable. Detailed and accurate construction quotes keep you competitive in today’s market and build trust with your clients.
Use tools like Bolster to streamline the quoting process, avoid costly mistakes and quote like you’re an expert and the job is real. Get ahead of the competition and grow your business.