How do you price a job when all of the selections haven’t been made for cabinets, flooring, electrical and plumbing fixtures, etc.?

Question:  How do you price a job when all of the selections haven’t been made for cabinets, flooring, electrical and plumbing fixtures, etc.?

Answer:  In order to give you a complete price for the project we incorporate allowances for the items that haven’t been selected yet.  After 36 years of experience, I am able to ask a few questions to gauge the quality, basic materials, and finishes of the items in question.  From the answers, I am able to include a cost in my estimate that generally covers the cost of the selections you will make without going over by too far.  As we move through the design process and you make selections, I replace my guesses with the actual cost of the items you select.  Ideally, we like to have all the selections made by the time we sign the construction contract.  However, we are not always able to wait for those selections to be made.  In those cases, our contract states that we have given you an allowance of certain amount to purchase the item that hasn’t been selected.  On the final bill for the project, we compare the actual cost of the item selected to the allowance and make deductions or additions as necessary.

Don Jason