When you've got two or three quotes sitting in front of you for the same project, the temptation is to look at the bottom line and pick the cheapest. I get it — that's a lot of zeros to compare. But the bottom line is almost never telling the full story. To compare quotes properly, you need to understand two terms that pop up everywhere in this industry: prime costs and provisional sums.
A prime cost is an allowance set aside for a fitting or finish you haven't chosen yet. Taps, ovens, light fittings, tiles, door furniture — that sort of thing. The builder pops in a dollar figure based on a standard item. When you eventually pick what you want, if it costs more than the allowance, you pay the difference plus the builder's margin. If it costs less, you save.
A provisional sum is similar but for work where the cost can't be pinned down up front — site cut, piering, removing rock, that kind of thing. The builder makes an educated guess based on what they know, and the actual cost gets reconciled when the work is done.
Now here's where the trap is. If Builder A has put a generous, realistic prime cost of $5,000 on a kitchen tapware allowance and Builder B has put $1,500, Builder B's quote will look thousands of dollars cheaper. But the moment you walk into the showroom and choose the same taps you had in mind, Builder B's number balloons. Same trick happens with site costs, retaining walls and rainwater tanks.
So when you compare quotes, line them up item by item. Where Builder A allows for something and Builder B doesn't, ask Builder B straight out — is that included? If so, where, and how much did you allow? You're entitled to that detail.
A best-practice builder keeps prime costs and provisional sums to a minimum and uses realistic numbers for the ones that remain. That's how you end up at the end of the build with no nasty surprises.
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