Thats a ballpark. He doesnt want your job. That or your plans are not specific enough.

Our architect specified everything. Right down to which bulbs to put into whic fixtures. Paint brand, line, sheen, color. Tile brand, pattern, size, color, installation pattern. There was a page on how to install the windows correctly which were exactly specified on a schedule. Doing this should result in a prett specific bid.

HU-33705873.

That’s the perplexing thing. It’s his architect that we used. We really wanted him to do the work and not sure if he’s just too busy to give an itemized breakdown or he needs more time. How long did it take you to get a bid once the builder got your plans?

What sort of owner-general contractor construction contract are you planning on using: Fixed cost (lump sum); Cost plus, or; Time and materials?

The type of construction contract determines the type of bid response.

I honestly don’t know...is one better then the other? I am assuming it’s up to the GC on how he wants to price it. This contractor wanted us to buy all materials such as paint, tile, cabinetry, fixtures, lighting ect.

Contractors will run the other way from homeowners who want to cherry pick quotes. Unless you are paying for them to do all of that work as a value engineering consultation. If you want to break this up into multiple projects, ask him how he would plan to break things up, based on the maximum that you can spend, minus 20%. Then ignore the rest until later. Which may never come. You do not want to have to go back and rip up new freshly done drywall In order to install new electrical that should have been a #1 priority on the list.

That price sounds extremely low. As in half as much as the minimum that most big remodels generally cost. Labor is the larger part of any project. Not materials.

Your architect should be playing a bigger part in specifying this out, and splitting it up into separate projects. He should also be offering input into contractor selection. If you paid for full service help. It’s smart to pay for full service help. The fact that you are not familiar with contract types says that you also need a construction lawyer on your team. Good luck!

puterputz:

Jobs are bid on the economies of scale. When I bid your kitchen and bathroom, I did it with the knowledge that I'd have enough work to keep so many people occupied and my truck and tools were already there. You don't get to make it into two jobs and expect the same price for each. You postpone the bathroom and it becomes a new separate job that costs more than if I did it with the kitchen.

I just had this happen the other day. A customer's replacement outdoor kitchen sink cost half as much as his kitchen sink replacement because we were already there. Had he waited, it would have been nearly the same and it was a lot smaller sink. Why? Time was allocated. Guy was there. Tools were there. Way easier and faster.

You can itemize all you please, but little good it will do you. You're not shopping at Home Depot.

"Jobs are bid on the economies of scale"

Neither here nor there, but what you are describing is closer to economies of scope.

Economies of scale is leveraging larger capacity to achieve better prices. Economies of scope leverage larger jobs to achieve better prices.

If you are planning to supply the materials and just contract for the labor, that is a different type of business relationship and its risky for the contractor if you want him to take full responsiblity for the job . For example, if you fail to order the right materials, materials get delayed in delivery or you change your mind and get something else it will affect the time and labor. If he is in control of the entire job then he has the experience to try to avoid those problems, but you may not have the same knowledge about lead times, material choices, etc.

Getting the right materials to the job site a the right time, and then coordinating it with the labor and tools is a complex task. For example, your buying one brand of wood flooring vs another might have no impact on labor, but saving money by switching from wood to tile or sheet vinyl means a totally different type of labor and tools.

Bruce

Thank you everyone for your replies.

@Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor Thank you...most builders don’t price like this builder, so it will be difficult to match apples to apples...but we will figure it out overall once we get all bids in.

@Bruce in Northern Virginia This builder built our friend’s 5000 sq ft house and our friend referred us. We met with him, discussed the project and used his architect he referred us to. This is how this builder wants to do pricing,

@User @Joseph Corlett, LLC It is a full house renovation and the reason for having things itemized is because some items are wish list items based on the total cost of the project and if we can or want to pay the extra price for say extending out the Master Bedroom another 15’ or making the sliders opening larger.

@User, the reason for not doing a tear down? Because in Florida on the water it’s extremely costly to build and would easily be 2 million not counting the million we paid for the property that’s why...

@User This builder built our friends 5000 sq ft house and referred us to him. The builder referred us to the architect we used. We are not cherry picking...there are some items that are wish list items so yes, I do want to know what those costs are to decide whether We will include them or not. The roof is not bad so we may wait to replace...but again, just depends on our overall cost. we have 260k extra we will be paying towards the renovation costs for paint, cabinetry, lighting, kitchen counters, bathrooms, appliances, tile ect that other builders are including in their prices. Believe me, we are doing this one time and not leaving anything out.

Thank you all again.