Also called: like-for-like comparison, comparable quotes, comparable bids.
Most bid comparisons are not apples-to-apples and are described as though they were. If each contractor wrote their own scope, the totals differ because the work differs — the comparison is measuring the proposals, not the prices.
There are two ways to get there. Either issue one scope to every bidder before they price it, or level the bids afterwards by reconciling each one back to a common basis. The first is far less work and far more reliable.
A true like-for-like comparison also fixes the non-price terms: the same schedule, the same warranty period, the same materials grade, the same payment structure.
Why it matters
It is the whole point of getting multiple bids. Three prices for three different jobs tell you nothing about who is expensive, and the decision defaults to gut feeling or to whoever quoted lowest.
Related terms
- Bid leveling — Bid leveling is the process of adjusting competing contractor bids onto a common basis so their prices can be compared directly — adding in what one bidder excluded, stripping out what another included, until every number covers the same work.
- Scope of work — A scope of work is the written, itemised description of exactly what a contractor will do on a job — the tasks, the materials, the quantities and the conditions. It is what a price is a price for.
- Exclusion — An exclusion is work a contractor has explicitly stated their price does not cover. Exclusions are a legitimate and normal part of a bid — the danger is not that they exist, but that they are easy to miss.
- Three-bid rule — The three-bid rule is the common practice — and, for many property managers and HOA boards, a written policy — of collecting at least three competing bids before awarding work above a certain value.
Quotrium drafts the scope, sends it to the contractors you pick, and scores every bid against it line by line. See how it works.