Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless money was no object for me, I'd always get another bid or two. Otherwise I'd be too concerned to get ripped off since they know they probably have your business. If someone else comes in cheaper, you can talk to the one you know and ask him if he can match the other estimate.

Why should he/she have to match the other estimate ? How do you know that the other estimate is more accurate than the estimate from your trusted contractor ? You know when you ask him that you are going to piss him off - yes ? Oh, hi I have another estimate and as its lower I just assumed it was more accurate and wanted to know if you wanted the work for that price.

There goes the trusted contractor....

He doesn't have to do anything. We just recently did this and he wasn't pissed off at all, but came down with the price a bit. He was actually appreciative we gave him the feedback about the competition and told him we'd prefer to work with him. FWIW, both companies were equally reputable.

That is the lesson we've learned. It is good to know the market rate by getting multiple bids, but price isn't the only
Important thing. I want someone with good workers and who gets the job done on time and for what the bid was for.

Anonymous wrote:Unless money was no object for me, I'd always get another bid or two. Otherwise I'd be too concerned to get ripped off since they know they probably have your business. If someone else comes in cheaper, you can talk to the one you know and ask him if he can match the other estimate.

Why should he/she have to match the other estimate ? How do you know that the other estimate is more accurate than the estimate from your trusted contractor ? You know when you ask him that you are going to piss him off - yes ? Oh, hi I have another estimate and as its lower I just assumed it was more accurate and wanted to know if you wanted the work for that price.

There goes the trusted contractor....

Unless money was no object for me, I'd always get another bid or two. Otherwise I'd be too concerned to get ripped off since they know they probably have your business. If someone else comes in cheaper, you can talk to the one you know and ask him if he can match the other estimate.

We stuck with the contractor who did our bathroom when we renovated our kitchen (knowing that they also had a great track record with kitchens and Ikea in particular). Peace of mind and predictability are worth a lot. But I'd still get another bid or two just for reference.

Honestly? After dealing with a NIGHTMARE situation with a bad contractor- I would stick with a trusted one. Still get a bid - but having one you trust is golden.

Once you've worked with a contractor and know and trust him/her, do you get multiple bids on future jobs or just go with the known entity? We did a lot of work on our house when we first moved in. Since then, we've had our contractor come to help with other small things. Now, we're getting ready to take on a couple of big projects--add a bathroom, redo another bathroom, etc... Would you just go with the contractor you know and trust or would you get bids from multiple contractors? My instinct is to just stick with the guy we know/who knows our house, but I don't want to be stupid about the situation.