Two renovation quotes, 400,000 apart: where the difference really sits

Part two · HDi answers

The straight answer

Almost always, a gap like yours exists because the two quotations are not pricing the same job, not because one contractor is greedy: put both on the same scope, the same allowances and the same VAT basis and most of the 400,000 normally disappears. In order of how often it explains the gap, it hides in work left out of the cheaper quote, in low allowances for things you have not chosen yet, in a lower specification behind lines that read the same, in VAT and fees shown in one and not the other, and in who actually does the work.

So neither number is the truth yet. The cheap one is not safe to sign until it has answered the eleven questions at the end of this guide in writing. And you can bring the expensive one down, but only by changing the scope or the specification, not by asking for the same job for less.

Where 400,000 usually comes from

Here is an illustration of how a gap of this size breaks down when the two quotations are laid side by side. The figures are an example of a five-bedroom villa refit; yours will differ, but the categories will not.

Notice what is not in the table: profit. In most pairs we are shown, the honest difference in margin between two established firms is small compared with the difference in what they have priced. The two-page quote is not cheaper. It is shorter.

First: are they quoting the same scope?

Lay the two side by side and count the sections, not the money. Even with one set of drawings, contractors price what they think the drawings mean, and a two-page quote gives no way of checking. You will nearly always find one of these:

• A whole section missing. No ceilings, no painting, no electrical, no air conditioning. Not always dishonest; sometimes it was not clear on the drawing, so it was not priced.
• Strip-out and making good left out. The cheaper quote assumes the villa is handed over empty and ready. Somebody has to strip it, and somebody has to pay for the skips.
• Protection, waste and cleaning missing. Floor protection, debris removal, a builder's clean. Small lines that are always done and often not priced.
• Approvals missing. On Jumeirah Islands that means a Nakheel NOC and a Trakhees permit for anything that moves services. If no line says who prepares the drawings and submits them, assume you will be paying somebody else later. Renovation approvals in Dubai explains what your scope needs.

Read the exclusions page before the prices page. If there is no exclusions page, ask for one in writing. It is the most informative page any contractor will give you.

Second: PC sums and provisional sums

These two phrases explain more of the gap between quotes, and more of the arguments afterwards, than anything else.

A PC sum, or prime cost sum

An allowance for something you have not chosen yet: tiles, sanitaryware, appliances, light fittings, ironmongery. "Floor tile, PC sum AED 60 per square metre" means that when you choose a tile, you pay the difference between AED 60 and its real price.

Porcelain floor tile alone runs from about AED 60 to 180 per square metre to supply, before laying. A contractor who allows AED 60 across 350 square metres of floor has a quotation more than AED 40,000 lower than one who allows AED 180, for an identical building. Do the same with five bathrooms of sanitaryware and the lighting, and you have found a large slice of your gap. Compare the allowances before you compare the totals.

A provisional sum

An allowance for work whose extent nobody can know until it is opened up: a drainage repair, a rotten screed, rewiring. It is re-measured and re-priced when the wall comes off. A quotation with no provisional sums on an older villa is not braver, it has just not told you about the risk.

Third: what is inside the rate

Two quotes say "supply and install kitchen joinery". One means 18 mm moisture-resistant board, soft-close hinges and runners from a named maker, a proper back panel, edging on all four sides and a worktop templated after the cabinets are fitted. The other means 16 mm standard board, a stapled back, basic hinges and a worktop cut to the drawing. Both lines read the same. The difference is whether the kitchen still works in ten years.

Ask for the specification against every joinery line:

• Carcass board, its thickness and grade, and whether it is moisture resistant near water
• Door material and finish, and whether the edges are banded on all four sides
• Hinge and runner make, and whether they are soft-close
• Whether backs are fitted properly or stapled on
• Worktop material, thickness, and who templates it and when
• Where it is made, and whether that is the same company that installs it

The same applies to every trade: tile adhesive and waterproofing, the make of the air-conditioning units, the number of sockets and lighting points. A short quote has hidden all of this inside a heading.

Fourth: VAT, preliminaries and the basis of the number

Check that both numbers are on the same basis. VAT in the UAE is 5 per cent, and on AED 760,000 that is AED 38,000 before anything else. Then look for the preliminaries: site supervision, insurance, temporary power and water, scaffolding, protection, project management. On our own jobs these are flat job rates shown as lines, not percentages buried in other rates. If a quotation has no preliminaries at all, they have not been removed. They have been moved somewhere you will meet them later.

Fifth: who is actually doing the work

A main contractor who subcontracts the joinery, the air conditioning and the stone is pricing their margin on top of each subcontractor's margin. That is how much of the market works, and it is not wrong. But it explains part of a gap in one direction or the other, and it tells you who to call when a door does not close.

Ask one question: which parts of this will your own people do, and which are subcontracted, to whom? The answer reorganises the whole comparison.

Sixth: the payment schedule and retention

Two quotes at the same total are not the same deal.

• Payments. A large deposit for bespoke joinery is normal, because a factory buys board and worktops for your job. A large deposit for the whole villa, with nothing yet bought, is a different proposition, and it is what your friend lost forty per cent to.
• Retention. In UAE construction it is common for 5 to 10 per cent to be held back, with part released at handover and the rest when the defects period ends. A quote with no retention and nothing held back at the end leaves you no leverage at snagging.
• Changes. Are the rates for variations agreed now, or decided when you ask? The second always costs more.
• Defects. How long will defects be put right for free? Twelve months for building work is the usual minimum.

The warning signs on a cheap quote

• A lump sum per room with no quantities, so nothing can be checked
• No exclusions page, or one that excludes most of what you thought you were buying
• No approvals line, and "we handle all that" when asked
• No programme, or a start date before any NOC could exist
• A large deposit for the whole job before any material is bought
• Allowances well below what the things you have described actually cost
• No trade licence number, no insurance certificate, no live site you can visit

Any one of these is a question. Three or more is your answer.

Eleven questions that make two quotes comparable

1. Which drawing revision did you price?
2. What is excluded? Please give me the exclusions in writing.
3. What are the PC sums and provisional sums, and what do they total?
4. Are strip-out, protection, waste removal and the final clean included?
5. Who prepares and submits the approvals, and are the fees included?
6. What board, edging, hinges, runners and worktops are in the joinery rate?
7. Which parts do your own staff do, and which are subcontracted?
8. Is VAT included, and what are the preliminaries?
9. What is the programme, and what happens if it overruns?
10. What is the payment schedule, and is there retention?
11. How are changes priced, and how long is the defects period?

Send the same eleven to both. The answers will usually close most of the gap on their own, and the contractor who answers them properly and quickly is telling you something about how the job will run.

Your questions, answered one by one

Why is one 400,000 higher?

Because, almost certainly, it has priced more of the job, with more realistic allowances and a stated specification. Ask the cheaper contractor to price the same scope and allowances, and see how far the gap closes.

Which one is telling the truth?

Neither number, yet. The detailed one is easier to check, which is a point in its favour. The short one may be fine, but nobody can tell until it is broken down.

Can we negotiate the expensive one down?

Yes, honestly, by changing what you are buying: keep a bathroom layout, choose a different worktop, phase the loose furniture, reuse the air-conditioning units if they are sound. Asking for the same job for 400,000 less only moves the cut somewhere you cannot see it.

Is the cheap one safe?

Only once it has answered the eleven questions in writing, shows no more than one of the warning signs, and has a payment schedule where every payment matches work done or material bought for you.

How HDi quotes

We price after the site measure, never off a brochure range. Our quotation is a clear, itemised quote for the agreed design: every cabinet, finish, appliance and trade, so you know exactly what you are paying for and can lay it beside anyone else's line by line. Where a figure is an allowance rather than a fixed price, the line says so.

The joinery is made in our own Dubai Production City factory and fitted by our own installers, so the specification behind a kitchen or wardrobe line is ours to state and ours to stand behind. We hold trade licence 1298938 with the Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism, carry Contractor's All Risks insurance including third-party liability on every project, and our team prepares the drawings and the submissions to Nakheel, Trakhees, Emaar and the DDA. The fit-out carries a one-year warranty from handover and our handmade cabinetry three to five years depending on the finishes.

Before work starts you receive your schedule from our portal, with the milestones and when each payment falls due, so the payment terms are as visible as the price. As a guide, our bespoke kitchens start from AED 40,000 and go up to AED 140,000 for premium ranges, apartment renovations start from AED 200,000, and a full custom six-bedroom villa, including approvals, joinery and construction, from AED 1.5 million. What a renovation costs in Dubai sets out where the money goes.

It starts with the initial design consultation, AED 5,000 and credited in full against your project when you approve it. It covers the site measure, the concept layout and the first 3D visuals.

Holding two quotations that do not add up? Book a consultation or call 050 578 1086, and we will measure your home, price the same scope line by line and show you exactly where the difference sits.