4 Questions to Ask a Contractor Before You Hire (and Why Three Bids Aren't Enough)

If you've never renovated before, you've probably heard the standard advice: get three bids and compare. It sounds like smart shopping. It usually isn't — at least not as a starting point.

Here's why. When you ask a contractor for a bid up front, without clear plans and details, all they can do is talk in broad, ballpark terms. Those numbers might not be accurate at all. It's a waste of their time and yours. The bid isn't the first thing you need. The fit is.

So before you're comparing prices, get to know how a contractor actually works. These are the four questions I tell clients to ask.

1. How do you run your projects — and who will I be dealing with day to day?

Ask how many projects they take on at once, and whether they're the person on site every day or whether project managers run the jobs.

Larger firms often have several PMs, each responsible for multiple jobs. If that's the setup, ask how many jobs each PM carries, how often you'll interact, and how you escalate a problem. Smaller firms often mean the GC is on site day to day, coordinating the trades — a more personal touch.

Neither is right or wrong. You might want the one-on-one of a hands-on GC, or you might feel more confident with a broader team on your project. Either way, if there's a project manager, ask to meet the person who'd actually be assigned to your job — that's who you'll deal with daily.

2. Can I visit a project you're working on right now?

Their reaction alone can tell you a lot. A good contractor should be able to bring you on site. You'll see how they run their sites and how clean they keep them.

Don't give too much notice — you want a real look. If it's last-minute, they can't stage it for you, and you'll see what your own project might look like mid-build.

If a contractor is reluctant to bring you to a job site, that's a flag. There can be good reasons — an active foundation dig isn't safe to walk through, for instance, and that explanation makes sense. But if they've got multiple jobs running and still won't let you visit a site or talk to a past or current client, that tells you they're not as open as you'd want.

3. How do you build your pricing?

Is it priced by square footage, or by scope of work? What's included? Do they give material allowances, or are you (and your designer) responsible for all the finished materials — tile, cabinetry, countertops, lighting, plumbing fixtures?

This matters because an allowance with no detail behind it is a very vague number. If they give you one, ask what goes into it. Is it assuming a lower-level finish or something higher-end? Allowances that come in lower or higher than you'd expect tell you a lot about the kind of projects they usually do — and whether that lines up with yours. Also ask how they handle changes along the way, and whether the contract spells out details or stays general. Set those expectations up front.

4. What do you need from me to give a genuinely accurate bid?

Ballpark figures aren't real — they don't get to the heart of what the project will actually cost. Some contractors will say they bid off the architecture plans. But architecture plans leave a lot out.

Take tile. Are you tiling the floor and the walls? The ceiling of the shower? That single decision swings both the installation price and the material cost. So ask what level of detail they need from you — what scope of work — to give you their most accurate number.

The thread under all four

Notice what these have in common: none of them is about catching a contractor doing something wrong. The problem is almost never the people. It's asking for a price before anyone knows the real scope. Get the scope right first, and every number downstream gets more honest.

That's exactly the work we do before the architect and the contractor ever get involved — figuring out what you actually want and turning it into a plan everyone can price accurately.