Contractor Secrets- How to Bid on a Renovation Project and Add Additional Money to Your Pocket

Every contractor out there is looking for a way to remain competitive when bidding on contracts without sacrificing their own profits. With the housing market in a slump, it is becoming more and more competitive for each job Unless you are dealing with the high-end clients, homeowner’s are less likely to spend the big bucks right now because of fear they will not see the return on their investment. The biggest challenge for the industry right now is how to remain competitive on bids without sacrificing money that should be going in my pocket. If you can’t cut back on the labor, you have to start looking at the materials.

With 15 years of kitchen and bathroom renovations under my belt (some my own, some for clients), the easiest way that I have found to cut back on material costs is to go straight to the source. While buying that the big home supply centers may be routine because of it’s convenience, the mark up on their products is staggering. The reality is, if you take the time to do some research on the internet, you can find just about everything you need for a remodeling bid on-line. The key is search for the manufacturer’s and importers.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise to find out that retails stores have a huge mark up on their products- in some cases well over a 100% markup. You could easily save 30-40% on the same products by shopping on-line. The problem is you won’t see advertisements for huge savings in your newspaper, so you have to go seek them out. I will give you a couple of examples.

Countertops- Every homeowner starts out with the idea that they want Granite or Solid Surface countertops, correct? When you go to the big stores, all they are doing to passing you off to a distributor and putting a mark up on their price. What if you could buy similar, if not the same, countertops and get them for $7.00-$15.00 less per square foot? The key is to finding the companies that import them directly. With such a huge inventory, they are going work with you on closeouts and more common colors/textures.

Cabinets- This is where you can really show both the homeowner a savings and put extra money in your pocket. A neighbor of mine asked me to renovate his kitchen. He got a quote from Home Depot for the cabinets that came out to roughly $11,400 for the cabinets. I was able to find him a very similar style, which was built better for $3,850 online (including delivery). That is close to an $8,000 difference! Do you think you could be competitive on a bid when you know that on the kitchen cabinets alone you had an $8,000 cushion?

Flooring- This one isn’t always as easy to find, but there are some great deals out there if you know the square footage that you need. I was able to add mahogany engineered flooring with the 3/16” layer of wood to my entire first floor for $1.20 per square foot, which was selling for $4.00 a square foot at Lowes.

So if you really want to find ways to boost your profit margins, or trim back the bidding price on your next renovation project, start doing some research online. You will be amazed at the savings you can generate, and the money you can put in your pocket, by finding alternative sources for materials.