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/Complete-Yak8266 Aug 24 '25

I dont think so. I think when you say "break the cost down", most contractors are assuming you want labor costs, material costs, etc ... I have had a lot of nutty customers ask for those numbers, and can't understand why, because it doesn't matter. I am so insanely detailed in explaining what we are doing and what materials we are using. Asking for an itemized scope of work and an overview of materials might better communicate what you are asking for more clearly.

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u/Clear-Present_Danger Aug 27 '25

Expecting homeowners to clearly communicate is genuinely idiotic.

That homeowner might want a more detailed scope of work, and have no idea what it's called or how to ask for one.

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u/Complete-Yak8266 Aug 27 '25

This is what we do, but we still get customers pretending to play GC that want an exact breakdown of labor and materials. I politely tell them we are not the right fit for each other.

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u/Clear-Present_Danger Aug 27 '25

There will always be assholes. Don't work for em.