[HarryD]

Milt,

You should change a fair price for services rendered. Generally that means that you will not be the lowest bidder but be able to offer the best value.

I know when I let my contracts, I lok at the dollars but I also consider my experience witht he contractor. I generally prefer to pay a bit extra in exchange for a contractor who does not nickle and dime me with change orders to try to makeup for the profit he should have included to begin with.

In a recent job, contractor A was $10,000 (7% of total project) less than contractor B. Contractor B had a reputation of very few unneccesary change orders and very few repair call backs. Contractor A always had a huge list of change orders and we often had call backs for repairs. We selected Contractor B. During the job, we ran into some unexpected problems due to some hidden features neither I nor the contractor had anticipated. It required some addtional material, a delay while we waited and an extra bit of labor. I never saw a change order. Also, when we started up the systems, they worked properly the first time. Was he worth the premium?