Understand your renovation quotation [part 1 of 4]

Renovation quotation is hard to read with different permutations and technical terms, making it hell for homeowners to understand, and heaven for renovation firms to play tricks. Hence, we decided to do a full 4-part series to share on things you should look out for.

Watch our tiktok video on this if you lazy to read.

You must be prepared to spend at least an hour to analyse each quotation. Refrain from making conclusions based on the final quoted amount.

First Tip: Make sure all your requirements are inside the quotation

This is the main reason for the hour required to analyse each quotation.

Your end goal is to compare the final cost, given the items that you are doing.

To do so, you need to verify your requirements, to make it an “apple-to-apple” comparison.

Take a look at the illustration below.

Source: Deconstruct

For example, if you are looking to lay wall and floor tiles in the toilet, make sure that wall and floor tiles are quoted for.

It can be quite common for one firm to “hear wrong” and charge only for the floor tile at $2,000, with another one quoting $3,500 for floor and wall tiles.

The latter might seem more expensive, but it is in fact cheaper, if you are doing both the floor and wall tiles.

Second Tip: Make sure your quote is specific, with size and material

These specifics 100% matter. For most items within the quotation, especially the expensive ones like tiling and carpentry, there should always be the size and material.

Just go down each line item, and tick off if the size and material are present.

Let’s go back to the tiling illustration

Source: Deconstruct

You can see the specifics in the line item.

Size: 600mm x 600mm
Material: Homogenous
Material: Up to $3,50 psf - this refers to the base cost price of purchasing the tiles alone from suppliers. Different tiles have different base cost price

A proper quotation should always have these specifics.

This ensures that you are indeed buying whatever you are looking for, no more, no less.

Follow us below to hear more!