A homeowner in a typical mid-size kitchen remodel gets three bids. One contractor quotes $34,000. Another quotes $48,000. A third comes in at $57,000, for what looks on paper like the same 180-square-foot kitchen with the same cabinet layout and the same appliance package. This happens constantly, and it’s not because one contractor is ripping someone off and another is doing honest work. The gap almost always comes down to what’s written into the bid, not what’s missing from it.
Material Allowances Are Doing More Work Than You Think
Most bids include an “allowance” for cabinets, countertops, flooring, and fixtures, a dollar figure the contractor budgets for materials you haven’t picked out yet. A low bid might carry a cabinet allowance of $8,000 for the whole kitchen. A higher bid might carry $16,000 for the same square footage. Neither number is wrong, but they produce very different kitchens.
Check these specific line items on any bid:
- Cabinet allowance per linear foot (stock cabinets run roughly $100 to $300 per linear foot installed, semi-custom runs $300 to $650, full custom can exceed $1,200)
- Countertop allowance per square foot (laminate around $25 to $40, quartz $55 to $90, natural stone $60 to $120 or more)
- Flooring allowance per square foot, including underlayment and installation labor
- Plumbing and electrical fixture allowances, since a $60 faucet and a $400 faucet both “satisfy” a vague line that just says “faucet”
If a bid doesn’t list these numbers individually, call the contractor and ask for them in writing. A bid that just says “cabinets and countertops: $22,000” is hiding the information you need to compare it against another bid.
Labor Rates and Crew Structure Change the Math
Two contractors can pay their lead carpenter the same hourly rate and still produce wildly different labor totals. The difference usually comes from who’s doing the work. A contractor who subcontracts plumbing, electrical, and tile work to three separate outside companies pays each of those subs their own markup, on top of the general contractor’s markup. A contractor who keeps plumbers and electricians on staff, or who has long-standing relationships with subs and negotiates volume pricing, can often shave 10% to 20% off the labor side of the same job.
Overhead matters too. A contractor running a lean operation out of a truck and a storage unit has lower fixed costs than one with a showroom, a design staff, and a dedicated project manager assigned to every job. Both can do quality work. The one with more overhead usually bids higher because that overhead has to get paid somehow, and it gets distributed across every project on the books.
Scope Creep Hides in What Isn’t Written Down
The biggest source of bid confusion isn’t materials or labor rates. It’s scope. One bid might include moving a wall outlet, patching drywall after demo, hauling away old cabinets, and a dumpster rental. Another bid might assume the homeowner handles disposal and patches the drywall themselves, because those items were never explicitly discussed. Neither bid is dishonest, but if you’re comparing them side by side without reading the fine print, you’re comparing two different projects that happen to share a price tag format.
Ask every bidding contractor to confirm, in writing, whether these are included:
- Permit fees and who pulls the permit (a kitchen remodel with electrical and plumbing changes commonly requires permits costing $150 to $800 depending on the municipality)
- Demolition and debris removal, including dumpster rental
- Drywall patching and paint touch-up after the main work is done
- Any structural changes, like removing a wall, which may require an engineer’s review separate from the remodel contract
- Appliance delivery, installation, and disposal of old appliances
Timeline and Payment Schedule Tell You Something Too
A bid that promises a six-week kitchen remodel for less money than competitors promising ten weeks is worth a second look. Faster timelines sometimes mean a larger crew and tighter scheduling, which is legitimate. They can also mean corners get cut on sequencing, like installing flooring before plumbing rough-in is fully inspected, which leads to rework later.
Look at the payment schedule as closely as the total price. A standard structure breaks payments into stages tied to completed work: a deposit of 10% to 20% at signing, a payment at material delivery, a payment at rough-in completion (framing, plumbing, electrical before walls close up), and a final payment at substantial completion with a holdback of 5% to 10% until a punch list is finished. A contractor asking for 50% or more upfront, with no clear milestone payments after that, is a red flag regardless of how competitive the total number looks.
How to Actually Compare the Bids You Have
Build a simple spreadsheet with rows for each major cost category: demolition, cabinets, countertops, flooring, plumbing, electrical, appliances, permits, cleanup, and contingency. Fill in what each contractor quoted for each row, even if you have to call and ask them to break down a lump sum. Any contractor unwilling to itemize a bid when asked directly is telling you something about how they’ll handle change orders mid-project.
Once the categories line up, the real spread between bids usually shrinks. A $20,000 gap often turns into a $6,000 gap once you’ve equalized the material allowances and confirmed both bids include the same scope of demolition, permitting, and cleanup. The remaining difference is where you evaluate reputation, references, and how each contractor communicated during the bidding process itself.
Before signing with anyone, ask each bidding contractor for two references from jobs completed in the last twelve months, and actually call them. Ask the reference whether the final price matched the bid, and if not, by how much and why.
Related articles: Repairing or Installing a Sub Floor – Tips for Sub Flooring Repair · Tracing a Ceiling Water Stain to Its Source and Repairing It for Good · A Seasonal Home Maintenance Checklist That Prevents Expensive Repairs