Independent repair-estimate guidance
How to Review a Contractor Estimate Before Approving Work
Review the document in layers: identity, scope, quantities, price, assumptions, exclusions, timing, and responsibility. Keep quoted facts separate from your questions.
1. Verify the proposal identity
Confirm the contractor, property, date, version, and contact details so you are reviewing the intended proposal.
2. Rewrite the scope in plain English
Summarize only what the estimate states. Mark vague phrases and missing quantities instead of interpreting them generously.
3. Reconcile the numbers
Check whether line items, allowances, discounts, taxes, deposits, and totals reconcile. Ask about any unexplained difference.
4. List exclusions and unknowns
Separate explicit exclusions from information that is simply absent. Those are different issues and should be questioned differently.
5. Prepare decision questions
Ask what changes the price, who approves changes, what evidence supports allowances, what completion means, and what warranties are actually written.
Educational, document-based information only. This is not an onsite inspection or legal, engineering, insurance, code-compliance, mechanical, or contracting advice. Missing information is identified rather than guessed.