​Inaccuracies Due to Overbidding
When you overbid a job – meaning you estimate that it will require more materials or labor hours than it realistically calls for – you’re likely to lose out on a lot of projects.
If you’re worried about the cost of materials or unsure of how long it will take your team to complete the work, you might be tempted to put a high price tag on your proposal just in case. But general contractors closely compare the bids they receive from subcontractors for an idea of price ranges, and many of them also perform their own takeoffs to check measurements. If your bid comes in significantly higher than others, the job will go to a lower bidder, and you’ll be back to searching for other projects.

Inaccuracies Due to Underbidding
Underbidding can win you the job, but you shortchange yourself in the process. When you underbid a project, you’re held to the quote you originally provided even if the job costs more than you anticipated. So you won’t recoup the cost of any materials that are more expensive than you planned for or any added manpower or overtime – these costs will come out of your pocket.
An exception to this is change orders. When plans change in the midst of a project, you’ll have the opportunity to reevaluate your estimate and provide a new quote for the changed work – but again, if you underbid on the change order, you are responsible for covering any extra costs.
There might be times when it’s worth it for your overall business strategy to intentionally underbid a project, which we’ll discuss later. But remember, in order to underbid on purpose, you still need to have a strong handle on what an accurate estimate looks like for the job.

Developing a Positive Reputation with Contractors
If you consistently submit accurate, professional proposals to Contractors, they’ll begin to take notice. General contractors measure success on the same things you do – time and monetary efficiency – just on a larger scale and with more moving parts.
Your accurate bid means they can spend less time checking your estimate – they’ve worked with you enough to know that you have a good grasp on the cost of getting the job done without price gouging, and this way your company can give the Contractor peace of mind.  
When a Contractor knows they can trust you to bid the job correctly and deliver on your estimate, you can expect to win more jobs from them.

Saving Time with Accurate Estimates
Bidding accurately is also a simple time saver for your construction company. An accurate estimate allows you to order the right amount of materials – no scrambling to source more supplies or find storage for a surplus, and it keeps your crew schedules on track.
When one job is bid accurately, your time is freed up to evaluate other projects and keep a steady flow of work for your team.

Knowing When to Aim for Submitting the Lowest Bid
If you’re trying to break into a new area of specialization and get a foot in the door, underbidding can be one way to catch the attention of the general contractor. This could be the case if you’ve expanded to a new trade and your team doesn’t have many projects under their belt, or if you’re trying to get into government contracting, where those with the lowest responsible bid tend to win.
In these instances, the main goal might be adding these projects to your portfolio rather than simply making a profit. Perform your takeoff and create your estimate as you normally would, and then you’ll be able to see how much of the total price you can shave off to increase your chances of winning.
You need to have a strong understanding of your overhead and other indirect costs to make cuts to your price. When you know your normal markup for labor, for example, you’re able to reduce it by a fraction if needed. Be careful of coming in too low, however, because this can still result in losing the job if your qualifications are questioned. You also don’t want to set the bar so low that you can never make a profit in this area.

How to Create More Accurate Estimates
You may already understand why accurate estimates are so important, but how do you go about improving your process so that you can be more precise? These 5 tips can help.

1. Get ahead of deadlines
If you’re always working down to the wire on submitting proposals, your estimating team is stressed and playing catch up. Instead, be proactive. Find a tool that lets you increase your takeoff speed so that time isn’t wasted in the measurement stage.
The faster you can perform takeoffs, the better able you are to decide which projects are worth bidding on in the first place, and you have time to gather more information, conduct potential site visits, and create a comprehensive proposal that will get your company noticed.

2. Eliminate mistakes caused by human error.
Sometimes a ruinously inaccurate bid is a result of something as simple as a misplaced decimal point or a typo. This is an easy fix, so don’t let it happen to you. Use a pre-construction platform that keeps all your data in a single source of truth. You should be able to go from takeoff to estimate to proposal in one software without transferring data elsewhere and introducing the opportunity for mistakes.

3. Get familiar with the details.
Even if you want to send only a high-level overview in your proposal to the Contractor, get in the habit of making your internal estimate as detailed as possible. A labor and material estimate allows you to break down costs in terms of items and assemblies, but even if you prefer unit cost estimates, you should separate all indirect costs, rather than adding markup into the price of your measurements.
Knowing your true direct costs enables you to adjust markup, overhead, or labor charges as desired both per estimate and company wide. Don’t forget to include other indirect costs associated with the project, like freight, delivery charges, or refuse containers.

4. Take material cost increases into account.
If you can, share your takeoffs with your suppliers along with your quote request to ensure the most accurate possible order. And remember that prices rise regularly, so be sure you’re informed about supplier increase cycles. Don’t assume your materials will cost the same now as they did three months ago – double check before finalizing your estimate, and if you anticipate an increase mid-project, include a clarification about time-sensitive pricing in your proposal. This way your cost remains accurate and the Contractor isn’t caught off guard.

5. Anticipate waste.
We’d all like to think our crews are perfect, but in reality they’re human. People have off days and don’t accomplish as much as they intend. They make mistakes when measuring and have to scrap some supplies.
Account for this in your estimate by tracking how much waste is generated on average per measurement or per material (and labor) and add that percentage into your total price so all your bases are covered.
By following these 5 practices you should see your estimated costs start to line up much more closely with actual completed job costs, so you can bid more, win more, and grow your business.
Looking for a pre-construction estimate that will help you save time and improve your home remodeling processes?  Click Here

​Sometimes there are limits to where you can go with size alone, when you decide to update your kitchen. The proportions of a charming bungalow, for example, might be worth preserving for their own sake – or they might cloak load-bearing structures that just aren’t going anywhere. Whatever the apparent limitations, it’s good to know that size alone is no reason your kitchen can’t sizzle.
In fact, what’s true in so many design challenges often comes into play in the kitchen. We find that the obstacle points the way to the solution. Just as the world’s favorite cuisines came from societies in which you had to find a use for everything, so too, in design, it can be the pressure that produces the diamond.
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Connect to the Life of the Home
The size of your kitchen is no reason not to take advantage of the biggest change of the past century, where kitchens are concerned. You can connect the space you have to the rest of the flow of your home. Way back when, a kitchen was a place where people prepared meals behind closed doors, and then presented them – voila! – with a flourish and a swinging door. That hasn’t been the way it works for a long time, and eventually home designs caught up with that fact.
Today’s kitchen is the heartbeat of the home. Cooking is less and less seen as one person’s solo domain; more and more as a couple’s or even a whole family’s chance to rub elbows a bit, at the beginning or the end of the day.
This doesn’t mean your kitchen has to be big enough for everybody. It only means that it has to be connected. As far back as the 1960’s, pass-through counters and breakfast stools began to define the border between the kitchen and the family room. More and more, that opening has expanded further and further, until kitchens often appear to be a kind of stage, or showcase, in full view of the dining room, living room, or even the media room.

Getting rid of noise is one of the best things you can do to create a zen-like environment at home. There are quieter versions of many household products you can choose from if you don’t want to eliminate every sound. Choose items that produce little to no sound by consulting some Quiet Product Guides.

Many products are available that are quiet, including hairdryers, fans, keyboards, coffee grinders, and alarm clocks. Soundproofing your bedroom or home office can also be done with noise reducing curtains.

Looking to re-design or change your home into a quieter living space? Contact us for free consultation

​Home decorating can be a daunting task. There are so many decisions to make when deciding what style of furniture, how much space, and where to put everything that it can quickly become overwhelming. The good news is that with these 6 essential tips, your home will look like a pro decorated it in no time!

So are you ready to up your interior design game?

Consider the “less is more” rule

A big house with lots of rooms might seem like a blank canvas that tempts you to fill it to the brim with as many things as you can find. But if you just start putting many mismatched items in without a guiding plan, your home can suddenly feel cluttered. It will make the space feel more cramped and less spacious-feeling. And you want a home that looks elegant and sophisticated, not cluttered.

Create a vision board before you start decorating your home so that every piece of furniture and accessory is intentional. You can then put thought into every piece that goes in, and they will all work together cohesively instead of just being an assortment of random pieces.


 
You also want to avoid unintentional clutter when your family members inevitably start leaving things lying around when they've finished using them. Make sure you invest in high-quality, functional storage solutions like this valet shelving to ensure that personal items stay stored behind closed doors.

​Use lamps to create different moods in your home

Lighting can quickly change the tone of a room. As well as making sure that there is enough natural light coming into every room and setting up your furniture to make the most of it, lamps are an excellent way to create different moods in the rooms of your house and change them throughout the day.

Lamps can set the tone of your space, whether you want something cozy and inviting after dark or enhance the bright energy of natural light during the day.


 
Overhead lights by themselves can be harsh and often don't illuminate the whole room evenly. This is why free-standing lamps can be an easy and quick way to change a space in your home from dull and lifeless to an exciting and vibrant area that invites entertaining or a welcoming nook for you to curl up in. And if you install dimmer switches, you can play around with different levels of light depending on what you need at any time throughout the day or night.


 
For an easy change, try placing table lamp nightstands on each side of beds to provide a tranquil bedroom ambiance. And a perfectly placed standing lamp beside a comfy armchair can offer a cozy atmosphere that invites you to sit down and unwind after a long day.

Use mirrors strategically

Mirrors are a small but important detail in any room. If you strategically place them in the right spots, you can create more light and space and make your room look larger and brighter than it is.

By showing the reflection of the open room in front of them, mirrors create an illusion of more depth and space, giving off the impression that the room is bigger than it really is. Cleverly placed mirrors help you feel as if you've gained extra floor area and spaciousness when decorating or redecorating your home without breaking any walls down.


 
They can also help reflect natural sunlight into a dark space. This is especially helpful if there isn't much open floor area in a particular part of your home, such as a corner of a room or long corridor, or where there aren't windows available, like in a small bathroom.

​Use accent pieces to tie the room together

Once you have the main look of the room and all of the big pieces of furniture in place, play around with smaller accent pieces such as artwork, pillows, and throws. These smaller accent pieces can be more colorful or patterned to make a statement and help tie the room together. The great thing about them is that as they are small and moveable, you can change them up from time to time to suit your mood or the seasons. This way, you can refresh the look of a room as often as you like without needing to make a big investment.