In a traditional formal bidding process serious deviations from the bid documents would be considered "unresponsive" and the bid would be rejected. Obviously the bidders are inviting you to a negotiate with them even though that would render the bidding process worthless. Home builders are a special breed; they usually want to be the designer of the project so they can control the project from start to finish. If you allow that during the bidding process you might as well scrap the bids and negotiate with the best qualified contractors using his suggestions if yo like them. You will pay a premium for that but with unresponsive bidders you have no choice; you can't negotiate with all of them with different designs. Negotiating with the current low bidder in this situation would be the worst option.

duct leakage can be mininized if all ducts, plenums, supply boxes & return air are mastic sealed. not duct tape, not foil tape. paint on mastic applied nickel thick or mastic tape like Hardcast brand 1402 mastic tape. x2 mike's post. also, 13 SEER a/c just meets the legal mininum allowed by law (code) 15-17 SEER heat pumps will provide a better savings & quickly re-coup the extra costs. variable speed air handlers will help to handle summertime relative humidity. get the load calc based on your plans, specific insulation values & types, orientation, window shgc & ufactors. building a home this size invest in an independent load calculation (manual J) duct sizing & design. then shop the load calc you own to hvac companies. have enteries in load calc based on design temps for your area & reflect the specifics of your build. hvac should be sized for average temps and not the 5 days per year of extreme temps. this is why there are specific design temps to be used. otherwise the hvac companies will run a quick load not release it to you until you sign a contract and you get what they decide to make the load calc verify. it is common practice to not release load calc as homeowner can use the company that did the calc's to shop job to other companies. foam insulating the roofline will put ducts in semi conditioned space & save you about 20-30% in energy costs. upgrading to foam will also reduce tons of hvac required. take it a step further & use foam sheathing on exterior walls, tape the seams & caulk it air tight. a tight home is an efficient home. bid one mentions fresh air intake. this MAY be necessary but should be planned for & designed. damper is set to cubic feet per minute (cfm) of air required by ASHRAE 62.2 ventilation strategy, not just a random amount. blower door testing of house, duct testing of ducts should also be done. oversized hvac systems cost more upfront to purchase, more to operate, contribute to high RH in the home. sizing the systems is the best investment that you can make now for comfort and affordability. think about hiring an efficiency expert. resnet.us is a good place to start. best of luck.

In the US there is a well established construction industry that uses standards published by organizations dedicated to standardizing the definitions of construction work and the organization of construction information by trade. Without this service sub contractors would not be able to be sure of their responsibilities on a project and you as the owner would not know what you are paying for making a construction difficult or impossible to enforce. Architect's and engineers are taught to use the CSI (Construction Specifications Institute) standard work categories (or some abbreviated variation of them) to organize design and construction information of all kinds like filing systems, estimates, budgets, bidding/construction documents, etc. It not only allows easy retrieval of specific information in the design phase, it allows sub contractors to easily find what their work entails during the bidding and construction phases and allows effective resolution of construction disputes. Unfortunately, builders who design single-family houses for their customers rarely use such standards, preferring instead to use their own individual definitions and categories. Usually these categories are based on a list of "features" like you might find in a sales brochure. This allows the builder and owner to agree on features of the purchase but it would bear little resemblance to what should be used for estimating or for bid documents. So, when you ask about a contractor's definition of "Finishes", you must tell us if you are talking about construction information or sales information. The latter has no standards and virtually anything that is visible in the finished work might be considered a "Finish". The term "Finishes" could then be though of as contractor jargon for "Finished Work". But if you are talking about a work breakdown for an estimate, to be effective and accurate it would need to limit "Finishes" to trade categories like the ones established by CSI in Division 9 and posted above by design professionals. Therefore, it would be impossible to know, and pointless to guess, whether or not a builder might have included light fixtures or cabinetry in a list of "Finishes". To find out you must ask the builder to clarify his statement.

Thanks, those were only the items that would fit on the first post. I understand that prices are very location based, but I'm thinking that supplying and installing a sliding glass door (I looked online and it looks like any decent one would be priced about $1K-$1.5K, in our case all of our windows and glass doors will be the Milgard Tuscany line) would be similar in price or installing an outlet shouldn't differ too much across the nation (I understand labor broken down hourly could vary greatly). I will ask the builder to clarify if the cost allotments include the installation but I'm thinking they do b/c he phrased it as "install (1) 8068 SGD. Cost allotment $1,300" for each line item but I just truncated to fit the character limitation here. I believe he's open to us supplying and then he will install and will be asking. He misinterpreted that we want to supply/install more than we actually plan to do so we're asking for a revised bid. ($29,855) Electrical Install: (4) exhaust fans. Cost allotment $200/ea. (44) LED can lights. Cost allotment $80/ea. j boxes for (3) pendants. HO installs and supplies. Ceiling outlets for garage lighting. HO supplies and installs. fan boxes for (8) ceiling fans. HO supplies and installs. wiring for (6) smoke/CO2 detectors. HO supplies and installs. wiring per plan for Data and Phone. (95) j boxes for outdoor lighting. HO supplies and installs. (2) exterior GFI outlets. (28) GFI outlets. (51) outlets. (5) dimmer switches. (42) decora switches. 200 amp Service Panel. Plumbing; ($16,170) Install Sewer, mixer valve and supply to Roll in Shower. HO supplies and installs Shower. Cost allotment $150 on mixer valve trim kit. Install supply, mixer valve and sewer to 3 x 3 Shower. HO Supplies and installs Shower. Cost allotment $150 on mixer valve trim kit. Install Sewer, mixer valve and supply for drop in tub. HO supplies and installs tub. Cost allotment $150 for mixer valve trim kit. Install Sewer and supply for (3) toilets. HO supplies and installs. Install Sewer and supply for (4) sinks. HO supplies and installs. Install sewer and supply to 2 well island sink. HO supplies and installs. Install supply and sewer for Kitchen sink. HO supplies and installs. Install supply and sewer for Dishwasher. HO supplies and installs. Install supply for Refrigerator. HO supplies and installs. Install condensate line for furnace. Install Sewer and copper supply. Install sewer and supply to washing machine. HO supplies and installs. Install (2) outdorr spigots. Install supply for exterior On-Demand. HO supplies and installs. Insulation; ($5,790) Install R-15 Batt insulation in exterior walls of House and Garage. 2,124 sq. ft. Install R-38 Batt insulation in ceiling of House and Garage. 3,666 sq. ft. Sheetrock: ($14,500) Install ½” sheetrock on walls of House and Garage. Imperfect smooth. Install 5/8” sheetrock on ceilings of House and Garage. Imperfect smooth. 11,930 sq. ft. Windows are 3 side sheetrock. Roofing: ($12,894) 50 year landmark composition roofing. 33 squares. Cost allotment $9,900. Install 273 lin. ft. of 5” OG gutter and (9) downspouts. Cost allotment $2,994. Heating and cooling: ($12,250) Install a 15/12/95 split 5 ton American Standard unit. Up to (16) supply and return using R-6 ducting. Hers test and verification Siding: ($18,300) Install 6” lap Hardi plank siding. Install 171 sq. ft. of stone veneer. Cost allotment $19/sq. ft. Trim; None Paint; None Cabinets: None Countertops: None Surround: None Flooring; None Fire Protection: None