Home Remodeling Tips
Allowances and Change Orders, Explained Without the Jargon
May 6, 20266 min read
Allowances and change orders are where honest projects go over budget and dishonest ones make their margin.
An allowance is a placeholder, not a price
If a proposal allows $8,000 for tile on a project that needs $14,000 of tile, the bid is not lower — it is incomplete. Ask for allowances that were priced from actual showroom quotes for materials you have already seen.
Change orders should be boring
Every change gets a written scope, a price, a schedule impact, and a signature before work proceeds. Verbal changes are how final invoices become arguments.
The contingency conversation
On homes built before 1990 we recommend holding five to ten percent aside for what is behind the walls: failed cast iron, undersized service, or rot at an exterior wall.
The takeaway
Fix the selections, and the price fixes itself.
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