You Wouldn't Ask a Restaurant for Free Drinks

Lately I keep seeing videos and comments online that treat a contractor making a profit like it's something to be suspicious of. I get where some of it comes from. Building or renovating is a big expense, and people have heard their share of horror stories. But somewhere along the way, "make sure the contractor isn't making money" started to sound like a reasonable thing to ask for. It isn't, and it works against the very thing clients want.

Think about a restaurant. You wouldn't sit down, order a big dinner, and tell the owner that since you're already spending so much, the drinks should be free. Nobody would say that. Everyone understands the restaurant has to pay for the food, the staff, the rent, and the lights, and still have something left over to keep the doors open. Nobody expects them to work for nothing just because the check is large.

A construction company works the same way. The price of a project covers the crews on the job, the supervision and scheduling, the insurance, the permits, the equipment, the vehicles, the office, and the people who answer the phone when something comes up three years later. Profit is what's left after all of that, and it's what keeps the company here for the next project and the next warranty call.

We've seen this play out firsthand. On a large luxury project, we had a client who got upset about the cost of change orders. These were changes the client themselves asked for, extra scope added to the project after it started. They fought us on the price of every addition, and at one point they were angry that we were asking for more money to complete work that wasn't in the original agreement. But extra work takes materials, labor, and time, just like the original work did. Asking to be paid for it isn't greed. It's the same as the restaurant charging for the extra course you decided to order halfway through dinner.

Most clients tell us they want a reputable, quality contractor, one who shows up, finishes the job, stands behind the work, and is still around if something needs attention down the road. The only way to be that kind of contractor is to run a healthy business. A contractor squeezed down to zero margin is a contractor who has to cut corners somewhere: a cheaper sub, a shortcut on a detail, a crew pulled off to cover another job, or worse, a business that closes and leaves the project half done.

None of this means you shouldn't ask questions. You should. A good contractor welcomes them. Ask for a clear scope and a clear price. Ask how changes are handled, who will be on site, and what the schedule looks like. Compare bids, but compare what's actually included in each one, because the lowest number isn't always the lowest cost once the job is underway. Fair pricing and a fair profit should sit side by side, and a contractor who is open about both is one worth trusting.