It sounds like getting an estimate from another contractor might be good. I've found that deals that sound confusing often don't turn very good--at least for me the purchaser. I concluded long ago that often it’s not my understanding that’s the problem.

I know that in the city, contractor estimates (if you could even get them) often were highly variable even from the same company. It just depended on how much a contractor wanted to work. There's usually a spread between the contractor's material prices and what they charge customers. If the work is very slow, the spread as well as labour rates will be cut just to keep busy. Some contractors will bid a job at loss during slow times just to keep a crew together. If the work is heavy, a contractor may bid high. If the bid is accepted and they're full up, they'll just sub-contract it. A person could end up with a start-up crew that barely knows how to lace up their boots.

At least in the city, people can get good deal by waiting for slack times to do work. It's hard to get a deal on a septic system during the summer and hard to get a roofing deal in the late fall. Around here, you have to know when the trucking guy does the Township work—he’ll tell you though.

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