Last updated October 28, 2026

How to bid remodeling jobs

What a remodel bid has to say, a worked bathroom remodel price with allowances, the dumpster and site protection lines everyone forgets, and the progress payments general contractors use.

A remodel is the hardest bid in residential work because half of it is things the customer has not chosen yet. Tile, fixtures, counters, lighting. The bid that wins is the one that handles that honestly: a firm price for the work, allowances for the finishes, and a plain sentence about how changes are priced. The bid that loses is the one with a single round number and a hope.

What a remodel bid has to answer

The scope by phase: demo, rough plumbing and electrical, drywall, tile, fixtures, paint, punch. Each as a line the customer can read.
Allowances for what is not chosen, by item and dollar amount: tile at $6 a foot, vanity at $600, faucet at $250. Over the allowance, the customer pays the difference.
What is excluded: permits beyond the one you pull, structural surprises, mold, anything behind the walls you cannot see.
Dumpster, site protection, daily cleanup, and where the family uses the bathroom during the job. The items customers assume and contractors forget to write.
How changes are priced: a written change order before the work, every time.

How to price it

Example numbers for a hall bathroom remodel, same layout, new tub, tile surround, tile floor, vanity, toilet, fan, paint, in a typical market. Yours will differ.

Demo and disposal: two days and a dumpster, $1,400.
Plumbing sub: new valve, tub, toilet set, $1,800.
Electrical sub: fan, GFCI, vanity light, $700.
Tile labor: surround and floor, $2,600. Tile material on allowance, $900.
Drywall, cement board, paint: $1,300.
Fixtures on allowance: vanity $600, faucet $250, toilet $300, light $150.
Your labor for the rest, supervision, and the permit: $1,500.
Total: about $11,500 with allowances. The margin on a remodel comes from your markup on subs and material, usually 15 to 25 percent, and it has to be in the number before you send it.

Kitchens and additions follow the same shape with more phases and bigger allowances. The rule holds: firm price for the work, allowances for the choices, change orders for the surprises.

Where remodel bids go wrong

No allowances. The customer picked $14-a-foot tile and the bid said tile was included.
Site protection and the dumpster were not written, and the customer was shocked at a roll-off in the driveway and dust on the stairs.
A rotten subfloor appeared on day two and there was no sentence on the bid about surprises behind the walls.
Changes were agreed in the hallway and never written, and the final invoice was a surprise on both sides.

A finished remodel bid, line by line

Four sample general contractor estimates: bathroom remodel, kitchen remodel, room addition, and water damage repair. The general contractor proposal template is the blank version with the phase and allowance layout. For the scope section, see how to write a scope of work.

Deposit and progress payments

Remodels are paid in stages tied to milestones you can both see: a deposit at signing, a payment at rough-in inspection, a payment at tile or cabinets, and the balance at punch list. Ten percent at signing with the rest spread over milestones is a common shape; on a short job, a third, a third, a third. Write the milestones on the bid so nobody has to guess when the next check is due. Keep a change order log on every job and attach it to the final invoice.

Getting more remodel jobs

Remodel customers are choosing who they will live with for three weeks. The bid with phases, allowances, and a change order sentence reads as the contractor who has done this before and will not surprise them. Send it within two days of the walkthrough, with photos from their own house on it. Follow up at three days and at a week. Finished-job photos with the review request are the best marketing a remodeler has.

BidWriter Pro writes the phased bid from your notes with allowances and options on it, and the customer signs and pays the deposit from their phone. $29 a month, 30 days free.

Questions contractors ask

How do I bid a remodel when the customer has not picked finishes?

Allowances. Put each unchosen item on the bid with a dollar allowance. If they choose above it, they pay the difference; below it, they get the credit. The work itself is a firm price.

What markup should a general contractor put on subs?

Fifteen to twenty-five percent on subcontractor and material cost is common for small residential remodels. It covers your supervision, the risk you carry, and the callbacks. Build it in before you send the bid.

How should remodel payments be scheduled?

A deposit at signing, then payments at milestones the customer can see: rough-in passed, tile or cabinets set, punch list done. Write the milestones and amounts on the bid.

Write a general contractor bid from your notes

Type the job the way you would text it. It comes back as a finished estimate in about five seconds, in your words. No account.

Type a job the way you would text it

Only what you type goes on the estimate. Nothing gets added.

No account needed to try it.

30 days free, then $29 a month. No card to start.

Free, no account: estimate checker, job price calculator, markup vs margin, hourly rate, and 84 sample estimates.