Just wondering and I thought I'd ask the experts. I always have to get 2 or 3 quotes before having work approved and I am starting to get push back from the general contractors and today someone told me he'd do it for $30 and refund me if he got the job.

I totally understand his position that he does multiple quotes and doesn't get the job, but I can't incur the expense when I am not the one that's going to decide whether he gets the work or not. I actually feel bad asking for three quotes, but i always let all vendors know that the bank requires it. I was also thinking that it might be helpful to tell the vendors that don't get the job what the winning bid was for thier future reference.

I don't think telling the contractors what the winning bid was would help. It might even unknowingly influence prices. Imagine you tell the contractors that they lost the bid and the price was lower. Ex Contractor number 1 bid 450, Contractor number 2 bid 530, and contractor number 3 bid 400. Well, if you told contractor number 1 and 2 that the winning bid was 400 then next time when I similar job comes it might be something like this. Contractor number 1 400, contractor number 2 375 and contractor number 3 405. You see how you might unknowingly drive the prices down. I don't know if this is even making sense. It is late as I write this. LOL

I never charge for preservation work. Rehab work is a different story; a single bid could take hours to do. If the contractor you're using is starting to charge, just tell him you can no longer us his services. I'm sure his tune will change quick, unless this is a guy that's written 20 bids for you and hasn't seen a job yet. Then you should cut him a check for the service he provides you.

There's nothing wrong with telling the losing contractors the amount of the winning bid. A good contractor knows what he needs out of every job. It's helpful to know if someone out there is really undercutting you.

In honesty, for the area I am in one of the reasons that have caused some General Contractors and PP Contractors to charge for bids is due to the demands of Asset Management Companies. In clarity some Asset Managers require the Realtor to have bids for repairs when the property is assigned and/or when they submit their CMA. Also, if the Realtor is seeking to have certain items repaired to render the property more marketable or seeking a price reduction the Asset Manager requests bids.

It has been my experience that the majority of the time the Owner/Asset Managing Co. does not have any intention of investing any more money by conducting repairs. It appears they just want bids to place in the file to justify the sales price and/or document the condition of the asset.

Other actions which have caused this is some Realtors using their “friends and family” to conduct all their preservation work, which is more lucrative like rekeys, trashouts, lawn maintenance etc. They do not give any work to the bidder and never had any intention to give them any other work. They just want a bid knowing there is a strong possibility the Owner is not going to conduct the repairs and have no empathy for the time it took to prepare and submit the bid.

I do not fault the Realtor in the first example and feel for them because the Asset Manager is placing them in that position and they are trying to fulfill their requirements. As I have read in this forum it does not seem like some asset managers have a clue or really care what they expose the Realtor to by tasking them to get bids. In the second example I do fault the Realtor. Realtors that have been in the business for awhile know how to cultivate a network of Contractors, do not use family and friends and know how to swing at some point work to the bidder to offset their time and money in providing FREE bids.

Short Story (true) to hopefully make my point…. A REO queen in my area requested several times for repair bids on properties they were managing. I conducted the bids as requested and never heard back from them until they needed another bid. This went on for a period of time and I started to check and realized none of the work had been completed. Also, I found out that the Realtor utilized her husband and step-son for all the preservation work on her assignments. So, I made me a list of about 10 houses and called them and gave them the list and requested that they make appointments and show me the homes. They were agreeable until I told them that unlike them I wanted to be upfront, I wanted them to take their time, gas and effort to show me the homes but if and when I decided to buy one I was going to give my business to my aunt Maggie. Well, as expected I got the speech of how their time is money and that was not fair for them to spend their time and me take my business elsewhere etc. I then replied, isn’t that exactly what you are doing?

I have a rubbish removal business in NNJ and never charge for an estimate. But I do get upset when I give and estimate and am told by the owner that someone else bid 25-40% less than me.
The last time it happened, I asked the homeowner if the person bidding 25%less was licensed and insured? I explained why it was important and actually did get the job.

Thanks all for your input. This is a great forum. I am always up front with the GC's and it sounds like that's the best I can do. I am also tracking all the bids so if someone is giving me a lot of bids and not getting the work, I can talk to him/her then. The best case for me would be to have two or three reliable GC's that each get enough work to make it worth thier time also. We'll see if it works out or not. :-)

I have had Fannie Mae agree to pay a nominal charge (I think it was a not to exceed $100) for a general contractor bid cover all repair needs on a property. They will NOT entertain multiple bids from all the different trades, only a total of all that from a general contractor.

This is all good information. I actually have just started trying to get into the PP business. I love real estate and have bought and sold propertys as an investor, I had a real estate license but have never worked in that field. I am a builder, mainly large projects(airports, Goverment buildings etc..) and honestly business is slow. I have seen a real need for quality services in this area. By talking to friends, reading these blogs I see a lot of frustrations that could be remedied by a quality one stop shop so to speak, but when I try to talk to people in the industry its hard to get people to tell you exactaly what they need. My goal is to put together a group of professionals to handle all the needs in this area and to provide quality work in a timely and cost effective manner. A plumber simply cant come out and do a winterization for what the banks want to pay but if someone comes out to do all the work then it could be benificial to both partys. I just havent gotten any concrete answers to where the bids need to be. I have even thought about offering a price match to my bids but then you have to worry about people taking advantage of that as well. Any ideas? Please help