The same job description, word for word, to every company you ask.
3 quotes only line up when 3 companies priced the same work. This document holds the work still. You send everyone one job text, one include list, and one reply format. Fill it in here, print it, or download it. Keep it with the bids it brings back.
Scope brief
Write the job once, so every contractor you ask is pricing the same list.
How this works, and what it does not tell you
How this works
Fill in the boxes below. The page joins them with the standard include lines printed further down. Out comes one plain-text document. It runs in your browser. Your answers stay on this device only. Nothing goes to Coastal SD Pros or to any contractor. You send the brief yourself.
What it does not tell you
It does not price your job. It does not know which companies are free. It does not judge a bid or a business. It cannot make a company answer you. It does one thing: it keeps the job text from drifting between the first call and the third. That drift is the top reason 3 numbers will not line up.
There is a guided version of this document. Get three comparable quotes asks for a plumbing job type. It drops that job's own include list into the text for you. Use it when the job is plumbing and you want the words picked for you. Use this page when you want a blank that fits any trade. This page also logs which company got the brief, and when.
JavaScript is off, so this page cannot build the text for you. You lose nothing. Every line the brief would hold is printed on this page. In print, the form below becomes a blank paper document with boxes you can write in. Press Ctrl+P, or Cmd+P on a Mac. Then fill it in by hand.
Nothing built yet. Fill in the job and press Build my scope brief.
The brief you send Same words to every bidder
Paste this into an email or a text. Send the same text to every company. Change a word between bidders, and the bids stop lining up.
Please price every line below, in writing
These are questions, not findings. Coastal SD Pros is not telling you what your job costs or needs. The list just makes every bidder answer the same things. Then a gap between two prices traces to scope, not to guesswork. This block goes into your brief unchanged.
- Permits: who applies, who pays the fees, and who is named on them as contractor of record.
- Debris haul-off and every dump fee — in the total, or billed on top.
- Site cover, moving your things out of the work area, and the final cleaning.
- Patching, sanding and painting anything you open, back to the finish it has now.
- Removing and dumping the old unit or material, including every layer that must come out.
- Brand, model number, grade and finish of every material and every piece of equipment in the bid.
- Labor split out by phase or trade, with materials shown on their own, not one lump sum.
- Which parts of the job go to subcontractors, and each one's company name.
- The written steps for pricing and approving a change once work has started.
- Material allowances listed on their own, so I can see which items are still open.
- How many people are on site, and how many work days the job should take.
- The deposit: what it pays for, in writing, and the payment schedule set against work completed.
- The warranty on your labor and the maker's warranty on the materials, stated as two things.
- Anything you are leaving out, named line by line.
Every bid should also state
This block goes into the brief unchanged, whatever the trade. It keeps every bid in the same shape. Every bid answers the same questions in the same order.
- The total price, with labor and materials shown on their own, not as one lump sum.
- The company name, the license number the bid is issued under, and who will be on site.
- The start window and how many days the work takes.
- Payment tied to work completed, and what the deposit pays for.
- How change orders get priced and approved, in writing, before the extra work starts.
- Labor warranty and maker's warranty, stated as two things.
- The insurance the company carries, named policy by policy.
- Whether any part of the job goes to subcontractors, and to whom.
- Cleanup and haul-away: in the price, or not.
- How long the price stays good.
Workers' comp is not general liability insurance. A bid that names workers' comp alone tells you nothing about liability cover. Ask for both by name.
I am asking more than one company to price this exact list. Every company receives this same brief, word for word, so the prices can be compared line against line. Please reply in writing rather than over the phone.
Sending it
- Pick the companies yourself. The Oceanside and Vista registries list dated public records. The license record page shows you how to read a record before you let anyone into the house.
- Send the same brief to each one. Do not tighten the words for one company and loosen them for the next.
- Ask for the reply in writing. A price read out on the phone cannot be compared to anything.
- Write each company and date into the record above. Then you know who has had it and who is late.
- When the written bids arrive, line them up on the bid comparison sheet.
Important. Coastal SD Pros is a Roscoe Equity LLC publication and homeowner information service. Editorial decisions are independent of advertising and Roscoe Site Pro client status. It is not a contractor, regulator, insurer, law firm or emergency service. This page is general information, not legal advice. It is not a contract or any part of one. Rules and public records change. Confirm anything that matters on CSLB's own pages before signing.
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