As I’m sure the vast majority of you are aware, the depressed home construction market has spawned a good deal of low bidding, even going so far as to spurn undercutting between contractors, forcing many qualified contractors out of seemingly solid leads. In such a climate it may be easy to fall into the web of low bidding. Indeed it is often hard to lay blame when considering the desperation that many contractors feel — contractors who were thriving just a few years ago.

Low bidding is not without its pitfalls, however, and it is vital that no contractor bid lower than his or her means allow, especially within the realm of remodeling.

Pitfall #1: Losing Potential

Low bidding can easily lead to taking a loss. A contractor, in the oft mad drive for work, might look at a job — quickly measuring up the job and the homeowner — and feel confident enough to bid lower than normal for the work. The general gamble here is that the job will run smoothly and according to plan, despite experience of the opposite. We often counsel homeowners to be prepared for just about anything when “opening up” their home. In this case, the same advice is useful for remodelers seeking to outbid the next guy — simply having work does not necessarily spell success.

Pitfall #2: Labor and Manpower

Labor is another key issue. You, the contractor, are responsible for paying your employees, whether the job is over budget or not. Low bidding combined with unforeseen circumstances can spell disaster for your job, finances, reputation, and that all-important relationship with employees. Furthermore, should circumstances send the job behind schedule, you won’t have the resource to recruit the manpower to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

Pitfall #3: Reputation

Reputation. Low bidding is often looked sternly upon by other contractors and trades within the community. It may seem like the short road to ongoing work, but in the long run it can be more damaging than helpful. In tough economic times all contractors are forced to lower their bids, there is no denying that; we all have mouths to feed, and that includes homeowners. But on top of all the other risks involved in low bidding, which can also hurt your reputation, tarnishing the company name is not one to ignore. (more…)

We here at CalFinder know as well as any that there are a wealth of remodeling bloggers cruising the Internet, and we cross paths with quite a few of them at one time or another. With such an overwhelming amount of material to peruse, we find it important to single out those that excel above the rest.

For some time we’ve been keeping an eye on Jonathan Sweet and his remodeling blog, The Sweet Spot. As senior editor for Professional Remodeler, Sweet keeps a close eye on the state of remodeling these days. And he does good work in disseminating not only his opinion of the times and trends, but solid information as well. (more…)