General contractors aren't usually trying to mislead you. Most of them are experienced professionals who put real effort into their bids. But every bid has assumptions, exclusions, and qualifications baked into it that don't always make it into the conversation before a contract gets signed. And the ones that don't surface until construction is underway tend to be expensive.

Knowing what to look for before you award a contract is one of the most valuable skills an owner can develop.

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Exclusions Are Where the Real Story Is

Every GC bid has a scope of work attached to it. What's actually in the bid is important, but what's excluded is often more important. Contractors routinely exclude items that are technically part of the project but were left out of their number for one reason or another. Sometimes it's because the drawings weren't clear. Sometimes it's because the allowance they used was lower than what the work will actually cost. Sometimes it's because they made a judgment call about what the owner would actually want.

Those exclusions don't disappear when you sign the contract. They come back as change orders, often at a point in the project where you have very little leverage to push back.

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Allowances Are Often Placeholder Numbers

One of the most common ways scope gaps sneak through is through allowances. Line items where the contractor uses an estimated number because the actual cost isn't determined yet. Allowances are a normal part of construction bidding, but they're also where a lot of wishful thinking lives.

If one contractor carries a $15,000 allowance for flooring and another carries $40,000, that's not necessarily a sign that the first contractor is more efficient. It might mean they underestimated, and you'll be getting a change order for the difference once the actual material is selected. Spotting those discrepancies before award, and asking the right questions about them, is what separates a thorough bid review from just looking at the bottom line.

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The Clarifications Section Matters More Than Most People Think

Most GC bids include a clarifications or qualifications section. It's often several pages long, written in dense language, and placed at the back of the proposal where it's easy to skip. That section is where contractors document the assumptions they made, the items they excluded, and the conditions under which their price is valid.

Reading it carefully isn't fun. But it's where you find out that the contractor assumed a specific structural condition that may or may not be accurate, or that their price is contingent on a project start date that's already passed, or that they excluded a trade package that everyone assumed was included.

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You Don't Have to Be a Construction Expert to Ask Good Questions

A lot of owners feel like they're at a disadvantage when reviewing bids because they don't have a construction background. That's understandable, but some of the most important questions in a bid review aren't technical. They're straightforward.

Why is this number significantly lower than the others? What's included in this allowance and how was it calculated? What happens to the price if the start date moves? What's excluded from this scope? Those questions don't require deep construction knowledge. They require a process that makes the discrepancies visible enough to ask about them in the first place.

The GCs who give you straight answers to those questions are the ones worth working with. The ones who can't explain their numbers clearly before the project starts aren't going to get clearer once they're on the job.

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