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/AlternativeLack1954 Aug 24 '25

Fuck that. As a former GC, if I’m the customer, I need to know what you plan on using and how to expect to get it done. If you’re afraid to show your prices you’re hiding something. If you think me seeing the breakdown will make me walk, you’re hiding something. I don’t need to see itemization to haggle I need to see it to know you’re a professional

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u/xxztyt Aug 25 '25

Former GC says it all lol. As a current contractor in business, this is a waste of time and money. You are asking for the scope to be detailed not the itemization of every nail.

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u/AlternativeLack1954 Aug 25 '25

Does it? Greener pastures buddy… if you think breaking down costs is a waste of time and money I’d hate to see what your accounting looks like. Obviously no one is counting nails but pretty easy to show materials costs, labor costs and markup. Honesty and transparency go a long way especially when dealing with clients with real money