People do not want to hear the truth. When a homeowner and/or an architect gets bids to build or remodel a house, 99% of the time, the deciding factor on who gets the job is price. Who ever is cheapest, the old, "bottom line". It is assumed by the public that each contractor is equivalent in their quality, skill, knowledge, ability and thoroughness. The public assumes that no matter which contractor does the job it will be the same and so the basis of choice becomes price. In most cases, for a contractor to get the job, their quoted price has to be the lowest.
In this "bidding world", an honest builder cannot propose an honest price to do a project or they are out of the running.
The best qualified contractors know the ins and outs, the pitfalls, many of the "ifs, ands, and buts". The unqualified contractor simply does not know what it takes to do the job, they leave out details, so they are naturally lower priced.
When contractors bid plans produced by designers/architects and multiple bids being taken, the rule is; bid the plan/spec not what you know. If a contractor bids what he knows, their price will be higher than if they bid what is spec'd. Even if the contractor knows that items must be done, a successful bidder cannot add it to the quote.
Once a contractor is "awarded" the job, then any change, discussion of change, perception of change or addition will produce change orders to raise the price.
The "spec" (that which is specified) is never complete and the spec always changes, therefore the price will always go up. You cannot change the spec without paying for that change in bid type work.
A very old Contractors proverb about bidding construction projects is: "He who makes the most mistakes, Wins!" The more complete and thorough the estimate, the higher the price. The higher the price, the lower the probability of "Winning" the bid.
Another reason why projects escalate in price is a change in scope. The project got bigger. The owner added this or that. The architect added or changed something. The Contractor finds things that need to be done/fixed that were unforeseen.
The four most expensive words in the construction industry are: "While you are here."
In 35 plus years in the business, I have never met a contractor or carpenter that said that they could not "do it all" and that they did nothing but "quality work". It is not true. In these last 35 years I have only met and know a handful that could even come close to qualifying.
The best contractors should never be the lowest priced. The smartest homeowner should not take the lowest estimate. They should spend their time finding the best contractor who will do their best to estimate a fair, thorough and complete budget for their project.
Which would you rather have?
A. Be told that the project will cost $98,000.00 and get billed for $95,000.00.
or
B. Be told that the project will cost $52,000.00, then find out that this and that are not included or not budgeted high enough, and the final bill is $105,000.00.
I know the truth can hurt upfront. When project scope really does not change much, but the price does, it is uncomfortable for all parties and can become a wild and bumpy ride.
No one that has been in business for 20 or 30 years wants anything more than to be fair, fair to their clients and fair to themselves. They did not stay in business by being dishonest.