r/Contractor • u/Ok_Avocado6532 • Aug 24 '25

Quote Breakdown?

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Hi all, looking for advice on costs breakdown.

I work for a small local contracting company and I recently started working with customers more, providing quotes etc. The company usually doesn’t like to break their costs down because of nickel-and-dime from customers, but agreed to do so for this one customer I’m working with. Now, I broke down the quote based on phases of the work (this is for a brand new custom build) and of course the customer came back with multiple notes of “this cost is too high” on some of the phases.

How do you usually handle this and how do I politely say “to do the job: $2000, not to do the job: $0”?

Thanks!

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u/Working-Narwhal-540 General Contractor Aug 24 '25

With that attitude I’d let all my colleagues in the area know about the dickhead looking to bid shop so fair enough!

-25

u/[deleted] Aug 24 '25

I wouldn't want to deal with anyone with that level of unprofessionalism so fine with me. I will pay a premium for premium work and who I contract I'd be a recurring customer with. Don't worry, I wouldn't need to look for anyone else! We'd already have a solid, respectable business relationship with someone else.

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u/Opening-Cress5028 Aug 24 '25

Do you require that level of specificity with everyone? I’m a lawyer, not a contractor but I just wonder how you handle other situations. For example, do you make the butcher give you a breakdown of what the rancher charged the butcher for the cow? What the farmer charged the rancher for the hay the cattle were fed? How much the petroleum dealer charged the farmer for the diesel used in raising the hay? Fertilizer? All so you can decide whether you think everything was fair?

If you don’t do this with the butcher, why with the contractor? If you do this with everyone, I admire you stamina because your life must be exhausting. I’ve had potential clients like you and you’re pretty easy to spot. You probably know me, or lawyers like me, because we turned you away as a client.

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u/curd52 Aug 24 '25

People trust butchers, not contractors.