We are in the process of getting bids to gut a main bathroom - in our rental/vacation condo that is a flight/18 hour drive from here. It's not small but also not big enough to be easy to figure out layout, especially with immovable toilet and door.
We've contacted five people about bids.
* One never called back
* One came, barely asked any questions about what we wanted, threw out a price, and got back to us in a day or two with a totally 'vanilla' bid - no layouts, allowances for materials, scope of work. Very reasonably priced but...bad vibe in general/not our style.
* One came. Small company. Like a lot a about them, although still unclear to me if she's a licensed contractor. We do know they use licensed plumbers and electricians. (If we proceed I could ask for license - leave that out for now but just as background.) Asked good questions about what we wanted. Thought they would be best of the 'at the time' three. She kept pushing about the importance of meeting with her to pick out finishes, she would guide me, does design for a lot of people etc. I was going to try to get down there in January but realized how expensive it would be (condo is rented out, it's season, I'm probably not comfortable flying etc). We were there over break so I asked if it was possible she could meet with me then. "Usually don't do this til bid accepted/don't like people stealing my designs/etc but...I'll make an exception". I met with her - only to find out that she doesn't do her own CAD - someone at the store where we met does it. While we did pick out finishes, and I like them, I found them all -it wasn't like she had pulled starting points. The cabinets are stock - I'm not crazy about the navy, and a couple other picky things - although think I'm being picky. Have been going back and forth with her last couple days. "Going to be much more than I thought/this is now high end/don't want to put more work in if you're not going to commit". Net - my spidey sense says this will be an issue. (Note - we never told her price range. High end of what she thinks it will be is 10% over what I thought going in...)
* Found last one after first three had come out. Bigger company, has all their own trades. Truly custom cabinets - can pick the paint etc. She did first cut of CAD (no mechanical/electric - just layout) while she was onsite, and sent two options today. It's not perfect but it's good - and more importantly DH likes it. (He's willing to change a little from what he's used to but not a lot - that's another post. . Bid is high end of what number three threw out. I think we *may* be a number, but also think more likely to get done in a reasonable time frame. Found them on Houzz - ton of five star reviews which I like - especially since we won't be able to check their work often in person.
SO - with that long preamble - if we don't choose #3, and we're leaning toward not, I had agreed to pay her for 'additional design time". She chose to have the prelim CAD done (no mechanicals/electric - just layout) - which I still think should be part of the bid and am not inclined to pay for. She did spend 2.5 hours with me - partially because i had to find everything myself it took awhile. How much do you think that time is worth? Am I wrong to not pay for her to pay 'the guy' to do the CAD, which from what I saw was MAYBE 30 minutes of work?
Lastly - if you're still here...if you've done 13x8 or close bathroom, with a full gut (take out bathtub, put in larger shower etc) - about how much did you pay? I'm still a LITTLE surprised how high it is as materials we picked aren't bad - $3.30 sq ft shower tile, $100 sq ft quartz, $16 1.5 sq ft shower floor tile, $4.25 sq ft flooring.
Sorry for the novel but appreciate your input, in advance!