After the seemingly ridiculous bid we got on the water meter installation the other day (which did allow us to get our permits), we had another company come out to give us another bid on the work (South Carroll Backhoe, Inc).
Not only was the bid for the utility work a good bit less, but we also had them give us a bid on plumbing ground work (running the sewer and water lines from the street to the property). The price they gave us for that work was about half of what we were looking at from most of the plumbers we had contacted.
Here was the bid:
- Utility/meter work: $2,930
- Ground work (sewer and main water line): $2,380
We’ll likely have them come in to do the utility/meter work prior to demo, and then have them come out after the foundation work to run the water and sewer lines.
EDIT: While I would have been perfectly happy letting South Carroll Backhoe do the Ground Work (as indicated above), my plumbing company requested to do it themselves to increase efficiency and reduce risk of miscommunication. So, ultimately, I decided to let the plumbing company handle this.
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Thanks, J, for all this information. This is a terrific contribution on your part to consumer education, especially your details about the processes you are going through (and hoops jumping through) to GC your own construction project. We plan on renovating our old farmhouse in VA in the next two years or so, and this information will be invaluable. One question – how did you go about deciding whom to ask to submit bids? Angies List? Friends in the business? Consumer Checkbook? Internet searches? Best wishes on continued success!
Thanks Kevin!
For bids, we relied on other investors, recommendations from local investor groups/members and even just doing Internet searches to determine which companies were well respected and seemed well-established in the area. Trying to optimize for both quality, speed and cost is tough, so we got LOTS of bids and did a lot of reference checking and due diligence on the contractors.