What Goes into a Flow Right Job Bid?
Have you ever received a job bid for work on a project in your home and wondered really what goes into the costs that make up the final proposal? The home services industry is not always transparent when it comes to home repair bids. That makes it difficult for customers to trust their proposal is fair when they seek out a bid or compare contractors.
At Flow Right, we believe that such transparency is critical to building a solid relationship with our customers.That is why we’ve broken down the basics of what goes into a bid on a home improvement job. This should help you better understand the costs associated with a home services project.
1. Applying and Paying for all Permits Associated with the Project
Cities and counties require permits for most home services projects. It may seem silly for you or a contractor to request permission to perform work in your own home or place of business. However, safety is at the forefront of the requirement. Your home belongs to you, but it is also part of the community and the work you do within it can have an effect on others.
A portion of your bid includes the cost of obtaining permits. Cities structure permits by the cost of the project. They also base the cost on the type of work the company will perform and other factors, such as the number of fixtures. These permits also include associated steps, such as a post-project inspection by the city, when required.
Your contractor must ensure your home is up to code before, during and after they begin the project. For example, if your electrical panel is not up to code, your electrician must update it before they can complete any electrical work. For many homeowners, this type of expense can feel like an unnecessary add-on instead of a necessity for safety.
A reputable contractor cannot complete the work in good conscience if they know they are violating the city’s requirements. They will not leave you open to liability or unsafe conditions. Any provider that is willing to do such a thing could be putting you, your family and your home at risk.
It’s worth noting that unpermitted work can have an impact on selling your home or business in the future. It must be disclosed. It can cost you thousands of dollars to update or even affect the security of the sale. Undisclosed unpermitted work can also impact you after the home is sold. If the new homeowner experiences an issue and wishes to sue for damages, you may end up in trouble.
2. Warranties and Warranted Work
the costs associated with work performed in and around your home also includes warranties. Your HVAC, plumbing and electrical systems all shoulder a great deal of work. It is a tough job keeping your home comfortable, safe and sanitary. Warranties ensure that those systems are covered for repairs or replacement in the event of damage or breakdown.
Warranties do add to the cost of the equipment. However, the value over time can be substantial in the event of extreme repairs or an entire system replacement.
Most warranties require that your installer or service provider has the appropriate credentials in order to perform the work. A licensed electrician must install a hot tub in order for manufacturer to honor the warranty, for example. You must also be able to provide evidence that you have complied with all installation and maintenance standards. Pay extra for a professional to install and maintain your new equipment now. It could save you thousands of dollars in the future.
3. Safety
Safety training never ends when you work with electricity, water, gas and heavy machinery. Our techs spend a large number of hours training each year. We are vigilant about safety to protect your family and our technicians. What does that mean and how does it impact the total cost of your job bid? Let’s break it down.
Our technicians always endeavor to complete a project quickly. We respect that our customers do not have hours to waste or money to burn. However, doing things the right way takes more time than speeding through the steps or skipping them altogether. We use the proper tools and equipment for every single task. Our technicians complete their tasks in compliance with experience and knowledge gained via thousands of hours of industry training. We don’t cut corners or skip tedious tasks for convenience. Those actions can lead to serious consequences for everyone involved.
4. Labor
Labor can be one of the largest parts of a contractor bid, depending on the project. Our licensed technicians spend thousands of hours learning their chosen trade and we choose to compensate them fairly for their expertise. We pay competitive salaries to attract top talent from all over the country. This ensures that every person we send to a customer’s home is the best technician for the job.
When you pay for labor at Flow Right, you are paying for the services of lifelong tradespeople who have spent thousands of hours honing their skills and perfecting their trade. Our pay packages don’t just attract the best of the best, they help us retain them. Happy employees produce quality workmanship in all aspects of their jobs. By paying a fair wage for their skills, we ensure that our employees feel valued.
Even our bonus structure is designed to reward hard work. We do not tie our bonuses to an employee’s salary because that incentivizes the wrong approach to customer service. Each technician on our team has worked hard to earn their position and their pay should consistently reflect that. We even pay our interns as they gain valuable experience because their contributions are valuable and their paychecks should reflect that.
5. Continuing Education Training
Continuing education is also an important part of a successful home services business. Technology changes rapidly and we want our team to know which new tools and equipment are valuable new innovations – and which ones are gimmicks that will waste our customers’ hard-earned money.
We assess every new industry innovation to determine if it can benefit the customer and help the technician to better do their job. If we take on new equipment or establish a new repair protocol, we spend time training our team on how to use the modification.
Continuing education is also part of our commitment to the safety of our employees and customers. We strive to learn the safest, most effective way to tackle all of your toughest challenges. We provide ongoing safety training, annual training and field training to help our technicians get home to their families each night.
6. License & Insurance
If there is one piece of advice we can give our customers, it is that they should not to accept a job bid from uninsured contractors. This is to protect you financially in the rare event that a technician gets into an accident or receives an injury while they are working in your home. When you decide to start soliciting a proposal or estimate from a home services company or a general contractor, it is very important that you check out their accreditations before you sign.
We hope this bill breakdown has helped you better understand the costs that go into a bid for work. As a leading home services company in Pueblo, we know that we may not always be the cheapest bid. That is because we are committed to safe, compliant work completed by professionals with the the proper credentials. .