Questions to ask before you sign.

1 · Why three bids can differ by 40% and all be honest

Homeowners usually assume a spread between bids means someone is gouging them. Sometimes. More often the three contractors bid three different projects, because nobody wrote down what the project was.

One assumed the subfloor is sound. One budgeted to replace it. One excluded it entirely and will hand you a change order the day they open the floor. All three are quoting in good faith. Only one of those numbers is going to resemble the final invoice.

2 · What exactly is included?

Ask for the bid broken into line items rather than one number. You are not trying to nickel-and-dime anyone — you are trying to see whether two bids cover the same work.

Any contractor who does this professionally will have that breakdown already. Reluctance to share it is itself information.

Specifically confirm

• Demolition and disposal — who hauls it, and is the dumpster in the price? Dumpsters are billed by weight, and tile or plaster debris hits the cap fast.
• Permits — who pulls them, and is the fee included? Plumbing and electrical are usually separate pulls.
• Protection — floor and furniture protection, dust containment, and daily cleanup.
• Final connections — a bid can include a fixture and exclude setting it.

3 · Which items are allowances, and what are they set at?

An allowance is a placeholder dollar amount for something you haven't picked yet — tile, fixtures, countertops, lighting. It's a legitimate and normal practice. It's also the most common reason a final invoice exceeds a bid.

If one bid sets a tile allowance at $3 per square foot and another sets it at $9, the cheaper bid isn't cheaper. It's just assuming you'll pick cheaper tile.

That last part matters. An allowance you can't shop against isn't a real number.

4 · What is explicitly NOT in this price?

This is the question most homeowners never ask, and it is the highest-yield one on this page. A proposal without an exclusions list is not a scope of work — it's an estimate wearing a suit.

A good contractor will answer this readily and specifically, because they've been surprised before and they'd rather tell you now than argue later. A vague answer here predicts a difficult project.

5 · What can’t you know until demo?

Some things genuinely cannot be priced from a walkthrough. Nobody is hiding the ball; the information is behind drywall.

• Subfloor condition — rot around a toilet flange or tub is the most common finding in any bathroom demo.
• Whether the floor is level — the difference between a skim coat and self-leveling underlayment is real money, and slabs are often out of level.
• What's actually in the wall — undersized supply lines, no vent, old wiring that has to come up to code once you touch it.
• Substrate type — moving a drain in a concrete slab means saw-cutting, trenching and re-pouring. In a wood-framed floor you work between the joists. Same request, very different cost.

The answer you want is yes, in writing, before the work happens. Get that agreement before it's needed rather than during.

6 · How do change orders work here?

Change orders aren't a red flag. Change orders that arrive as a surprise on the final invoice are.

Also worth asking what happens to the schedule. A change order that adds three days of cure time for self-leveling underlayment costs you time as well as money.

7 · What’s the sequence, and what holds it up?

Understanding the order of operations tells you whether a contractor has actually planned the job.

• Blocking goes in before drywall. If you want grab bars — now or in ten years — the wood has to be in the wall before it's closed up. This is cheap now and expensive later.
• Waterproofing gets inspected before tile. If tile is going on before anyone looks at the pan, that's worth a conversation.
• Materials with long lead times — tile, custom vanities, and glass enclosures can hold up a job for weeks.

8 · License, insurance, and who’s actually on site

Standard, but ask for it in a form you can verify rather than take on faith.

• License number — look it up with your state or city licensing board yourself. It takes two minutes and status changes.
• Certificate of insurance — general liability and workers' comp, sent directly from their insurer, not a photocopy. If someone is hurt on your property and there's no comp coverage, that can become your problem.
• Who is actually doing the work — employees or subs? Either is fine. Knowing which tells you who to talk to when there's a question.

9 · Payment schedule and lien waivers

A payment schedule should track completed work, not the calendar.

• A large deposit before anything is ordered deserves an explanation. Materials deposits are normal; half the job up front generally isn't.
• Tie payments to milestones you can see — demo complete, rough-in inspected, tile set, punch list closed.
• Ask about lien waivers. If a general contractor is paid and doesn't pay a sub, that sub can, in many states, place a lien on your property. Conditional lien waivers at each payment protect you from paying twice.

The lien waiver question in particular signals that you've done this before, and it tends to change the tone of the conversation in a useful way.

10 · Where our estimates fit in this

We're not doing your work and we haven't seen your house. Our calculators give you a general range built from published regional cost data, including contractor overhead and a contingency — which is why our figures often read higher than calculators that leave those out.

Use the number to walk in informed: to know roughly what range is reasonable, to recognize a bid that's far outside it in either direction, and to have the vocabulary for the conversation. Then let the contractor who can actually see your subfloor tell you what it costs.