You did the responsible thing. You got three bids. Now you are staring at three documents that look nothing alike. One is a single page with six line items. Another is four pages with forty. The third is a one-paragraph email that says "$51,000, materials and labor included." You wanted a comparison. What you got is an apple, a grocery receipt, and a photograph of fruit.

The chaos is not always intentional (though sometimes it is). Each contractor made different assumptions about scope, chose a different level of line-item granularity, and included or excluded different items. Until you drag all three bids onto the same baseline, comparing their bottom-line numbers tells you almost nothing.

Why three bids never look the same

Three contractors walk through the same kitchen. Each one sees a different project:

  • Different scope assumptions — Contractor A assumes you want the existing layout. Contractor B prices a layout change that moves the sink to the island. Contractor C includes a layout change plus a new electrical sub-panel. Each assumption adds $3,000-$12,000 in scope difference before a single material is selected.
  • Different line-item granularity — Contractor A writes "Cabinetry: $18,500." Contractor B writes 14 line items breaking cabinetry into uppers, lowers, pantry, island, hardware, soft-close upgrades, crown molding, fillers, and installation labor. Same work, completely different documents.
  • Different inclusion/exclusion lists — One bid includes demolition, dumpster, and final cleaning. Another excludes all three, shaving $2,800-$4,500 off the face of the quote. The third mentions demolition but not dumpster or cleaning.
The rule: You cannot compare bottom-line numbers until every bid covers the same scope. A $42,000 bid that excludes $7,200 in work the $51,000 bid includes is not a $9,000 savings. It is a $1,800 difference with a change-order trap built in.

Step 1: Normalize scope with a master checklist

Open a spreadsheet. Read all three bids and list every single task, material, or service mentioned across all of them — even if only one bid names it. Your master checklist for a kitchen remodel might run 40-60 items:

  • Demolition of existing cabinets, countertops, backsplash, flooring
  • Dumpster rental and haul-away
  • Plumbing rough-in for relocated sink
  • Electrical rough-in: dedicated circuits, GFCI outlets, under-cabinet lighting
  • Cabinet supply (specify: stock, semi-custom, or custom)
  • Cabinet installation labor
  • Countertop fabrication and install (specify material and edge profile)
  • Backsplash tile supply and installation
  • Flooring supply and installation
  • Painting (walls, ceiling, trim)
  • Appliance installation (not supply)
  • Hardware (pulls, knobs)
  • Permit fees
  • Final clean
  • Paint touch-ups after installation

Next to each item, mark which bid includes it: Bid A, Bid B, Bid C. The items that only one or two bids cover? That is where the real cost difference lives — not in the bottom-line number.

Step 2: Convert to comparable units

Normalized scope gets you to the same project. Comparable units get you to the same language. Two contractors can quote "$6,200 for flooring" and mean wildly different things. You need everything in the same rate:

  • Flooring: $/sq ft installed. If Bid A says "Flooring: $6,200" for 200 sq ft, that is $31/sq ft. Bid B says "$4,800" for the same area but specifies builder-grade LVP at $2.50/sq ft material — that is $24/sq ft installed, but with a product that delaminates in three years.
  • Cabinetry: $/linear ft of cabinet run. A 25 linear ft kitchen at $18,500 is $740/linear ft. Industry range for semi-custom is $500-$900/linear ft installed. For stock cabinets, $200-$450/linear ft.
  • Countertops: $/sq ft fabricated and installed. Quartz runs $55-$120/sq ft depending on brand and edge. Granite runs $40-$100/sq ft. Laminate runs $15-$40/sq ft.
  • Plumbing fixtures: $/fixture for supply and install. A kitchen faucet install runs $250-$500 labor depending on complexity. A new sink install (undermount) runs $300-$600 labor.
  • Labor: Hourly rate. General carpentry in most metro areas runs $55-$85/hr. Licensed plumbers run $90-$150/hr. Licensed electricians run $80-$130/hr.
Why this matters: Two bids can quote the same dollar amount for flooring and deliver wildly different products. $/sq ft lets you see whether the price difference is labor, material quality, or margin.

Step 3: Check the exclusion lists

The cheapest bid almost always has the longest exclusion list. That is not dishonest by default — but it is where hidden costs hide in plain sight.

Red flag: If the lowest bid excludes three or more items that both other bids include, the contractor is either planning to add them as change orders later or genuinely scoped a smaller project. Either way, the bottom-line number is not the real price.

These are the exclusions that most often inflate the real cost of a "cheap" bid:

  • Dumpster and debris removal: $400-$800 per haul for a 20-yard dumpster. A kitchen remodel typically needs one to two hauls.
  • Final cleaning: $300-$600 for post-construction cleaning of a kitchen and adjacent rooms.
  • Paint touch-ups: $200-$500 for touch-up painting after cabinet and trim installation.
  • Hardware: $300-$1,200 for cabinet pulls and knobs, depending on count and quality.
  • Permit fees: $500-$2,500 depending on jurisdiction and scope of work.
  • Appliance hookup: $150-$400 per appliance for gas line, water line, or electrical connection.

Worked example: three kitchen remodel bids

Here is how this plays out on an actual project — three bids for a full kitchen remodel in a 1,800 sq ft home:

Bid A: $42,000. One-page quote. Six line items: demo, cabinets, countertops, flooring, plumbing, electrical. Excludes: dumpster, final clean, paint touch-ups, cabinet hardware, permit fees, backsplash tile.

Bid B: $51,000. Four-page quote. Thirty-eight line items. Includes everything in Bid A plus dumpster (2 hauls), final clean, paint touch-ups, hardware (30 pulls at $18 each), permit fees, and backsplash tile supply and install.

Bid C: $58,000. Three-page quote. Twenty-two line items. Includes everything Bid B includes plus a layout change moving the sink to the island, which requires new plumbing rough-in and an additional electrical circuit.

Build the master checklist and the picture changes. Bid A excludes $7,200 in items that both Bid B and Bid C include:

  • Dumpster: $1,200 (2 hauls)
  • Final clean: $450
  • Paint touch-ups: $350
  • Cabinet hardware: $540 (30 pulls)
  • Permit fees: $1,800
  • Backsplash tile and install: $2,860

Add those back in and here is the real comparison:

Bid A (normalized): $49,200 — same scope as Bid B

Bid B: $51,000 — $1,800 more than normalized Bid A

Bid C: $58,000 — includes a layout change neither A nor B priced

That $42,000 bid is not $9,000 cheaper. It is $1,800 cheaper — and that gap may vanish entirely once you compare material grades. The middle bid turns out to be the value play: most detailed, all-inclusive, and only marginally more expensive than the normalized low bid.

Common tricks that make cheap bids look cheaper

Red flag: Quoting "builder grade" materials without specifying actual products. "Builder grade cabinets" can mean $150/linear ft particleboard boxes or $300/linear ft plywood boxes. Without a product name, SKU, or manufacturer, you cannot verify the price or the quality.
  • Unspecified material grades — "Mid-range countertops" is not a specification. Silestone at $62/sq ft and a no-name import at $38/sq ft are both "mid-range." The $24/sq ft difference across 45 sq ft of countertop is $1,080.
  • Excluding permit fees — This makes the bid look lower and shifts a $500-$2,500 cost to you as a separate payment. Some contractors do this because permit costs vary by jurisdiction, but it should be clearly called out.
  • Listing allowances below market — A "$2,000 tile allowance" for 60 sq ft of backsplash is $33/sq ft for material and labor. If installed mid-range subway tile runs $22-$30/sq ft for material alone, the allowance is $400-$600 short before labor. You will be asked to pay the difference.
  • Omitting waste factors — Flooring and tile require 10-15% extra for cuts, breakage, and pattern matching. A bid that quotes exact square footage with no waste factor will either come up short or bill you for the extra material later.

What to do next

Build the master checklist. Normalize all three bids to the same scope. Convert key line items to comparable unit rates. It takes about an hour of focused work, and it will reorder your assumptions about which bid is actually cheapest — because the cheapest number on the page is almost never the cheapest project in practice.

The contractors who provide the most detail are usually the ones with the least to hide. The ones who hand you a single page and a round number are betting you will not do this work.

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