It is a fair question, and one we get asked often: why should you pay for a quote when the builder down the road will give you one for nothing? The honest answer is that the two things are not the same document, and the difference usually shows up halfway through the build when it is far too late to do anything about it.
This is an explanation of what a preliminary tender actually involves, why a genuinely accurate construction price cannot be produced for free, and how to compare builders in a way that protects you.
What a Free Quote Usually Is
A free quote is an estimate. Someone walks the site, takes some measurements, applies a rate per square metre, adds a margin and sends you a number. It takes an hour or two. For a simple, well-defined job that is often perfectly adequate.
The problem is that a renovation or an extension is rarely well-defined at the point you are asking for a price. Nobody yet knows what is behind the wall, whether the slab is level, what the electrical switchboard can carry, whether the roof structure can take a second storey, or which of your selections are actually available at the price assumed. A free quote handles all of that uncertainty with a single word: allowances.
Allowances Are Where Cheap Quotes Become Expensive
An allowance is a placeholder. The contract says the builder has allowed, for example, $8,000 for tiling, $4,000 for tapware and fixtures, or $6,000 for electrical. If the real cost comes in higher, and it very often does, the difference becomes a variation and you pay it.
This is the single most common reason Gold Coast homeowners end up tens of thousands over budget on a job that started as the cheapest quote they received. Nothing improper has happened. The builder priced what they were given, which was an assumption rather than a scope.
A quote built on allowances is not a price. It is a starting position.
What a Preliminary Tender Involves
A preliminary tender replaces the assumptions with actual information. For a typical renovation or extension, preparing one means:
- Reviewing the plans and the existing structure properly, including what is realistic to change and what is not
- Documenting the scope of works in enough detail that every trade is pricing the same job
- Going out to the relevant trades and suppliers for current pricing, rather than applying last year's rates
- Identifying the things that catch projects out: asbestos in pre-1990 homes, drainage and fall, switchboard capacity, engineering requirements, council and approval obligations
- Pricing the actual selections you want, not a generic allowance for a category
That is days of work involving several other businesses, not an hour with a tape measure. It is also the work that makes a fixed price possible, because you cannot commit to a number you have not investigated.
Why We Charge For It
We charge a preliminary tender fee for projects that need detailed pricing for two reasons.
The first is simply that the work has a real cost. Trades and suppliers spend time preparing pricing, and so do we. A builder giving that away for free is either not doing it, or recovering it inside the margin on the jobs they win, which means the clients who proceed are subsidising everyone who did not.
The second reason matters more to you. Charging for it means we can afford to do it properly. We are not trying to produce a number fast enough to stay ahead of a dozen other enquiries. We are producing a price we are prepared to stand behind and put in a fixed-price contract.
If you proceed with us for the construction works, the preliminary tender fee is credited toward your project deposit. If you do not, you still own a properly scoped and itemised document that tells you what your project genuinely costs, which is useful whoever you build with.
How to Compare Builders Properly
If you are holding several prices for the same job and they are a long way apart, the gap is almost never the builder's margin. It is scope. Before you compare the bottom line, compare these:
- How many allowances are in it? Every allowance is a number that can move. Count them.
- Is the licence current? Check the builder on the QBCC register yourself. It takes a minute and it tells you whether they carry home warranty insurance.
- Who is actually running the site? Ask who you will be dealing with day to day, and whether that is the same person quoting you.
- What is excluded? The exclusions list is more informative than the inclusions list.
- Is it a fixed-price contract? For work over $3,300 in Queensland a written contract is a legal requirement, and over $20,000 a maximum 5% deposit applies.
The Short Version
A free quote costs you nothing up front and can cost you a great deal later. A preliminary tender costs something up front, is credited if you build with us, and means the number you sign is the number you pay.
We are a QBCC licensed builder (licence 15371883) working across the Gold Coast, and you deal with Matt and Sam directly rather than a salesperson. If you are weighing up a renovation, extension or new build and you want a price you can actually rely on, get in touch and we will talk you through what your project involves before anything is committed.
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