Day 33 of the 100-day build, Fort Lauderdale. Slab poured, block going up. This is the job most of you watched.
I've been a licensed general contractor in South Florida for 21 years. Send me your plans, the bid and the contract. We get on a call for 90 minutes and I show you what the job should cost, what the contractor left off, and which lines are going to turn into change orders. Then I write it all up so you have it.
Most people get two or three bids and pick the cheapest one that doesn't scare them. I understand why. But I've been on the other side of that table for two decades, and I can tell you the low bid usually isn't low. It's just incomplete. The difference shows up after your deposit clears, one change order at a time.
Sounds fine until you go pick tile. The allowance was built to keep the bid number down, not to buy the tile you're going to want. Whatever you go over gets billed back to you with the contractor's markup on top. Same with cabinets, plumbing fixtures, lighting, countertops.
Permit fees. Engineering. The dumpster. The panel upgrade the electrician is going to say you need. Paint. "By others." Nobody reads that part, and the contractor knows it. The bid was never for the whole job.
40% down before anybody shows up. No finish date. No lien releases with the draws. A one-line warranty. Change orders "as needed." The contract decides who pays when something goes wrong on the job, and if you didn't write it, it's you.
I'm not coming to your house and I'm not going to try to sell you anything after the call. You send me paper, I read it the way I'd read a sub's bid on one of my own jobs, and we talk.
Fill out the form at the bottom. I'll reply the same day with a payment link and a couple of times to talk. Then email me the plans, photos, the bid, the contract, any change orders, whatever the contractor has sent you. Don't clean it up. I want to see it the way you got it.
Today90 minutes on Zoom. I go down the bid line by line and tell you what each piece should cost. Then we go through the contract. You ask me anything you want. I record it and send you the video, because you're not going to remember all of it and neither would I.
Within 5 business daysA report with the should-cost by trade, what's missing and what it'll cost when it shows up, what to change in the contract, and the questions to email your contractor before you sign. Written so you can hand it to him.
3 business days after the callIt's the same kind of document I build when I'm checking a subcontractor's number on my own projects. Line items and clause references. Not a vibe.
New house, addition, kitchen, the whole thing gutted. You've got a bid or two and a contractor who seems nice, and no way to know if the number is right. This is most of the people who call me.
Flips, rentals, small multifamily. Your whole margin is in the buyout. A bad bid isn't an inconvenience, it's the deal.
Restaurants, retail, medical, office build-outs. Landlord deadlines, hood suppression, fire sprinklers, and bids that somehow leave out all the expensive parts.
Same review at every level, a 90-minute call and the written report. Bigger jobs just have more trades, more paper, and more places for money to disappear, so they take me longer.
Paid before the call. Cancel before the call and you get a full refund. Card, bank transfer or Zelle.
I've been a licensed GC in South Florida for 21 years. Ground-up houses, additions, restaurants, medical and retail build-outs, multifamily, and condo work in buildings where you sign in at the front desk and the elevator guy walks you up. I've estimated hundreds of jobs, bought out the subs, fought change orders from both sides of the table, and closed out the permits.
Somewhere along the way I started posting the real numbers from real jobs, and now about a hundred thousand people watch. This is that, one on one, about your project.
One thing I want to be clear about: I'm not trying to get your job. I take on a handful of projects a year and they don't come from these calls. I don't get paid by any contractor to recommend them. You get a licensed GC reading your paperwork with no reason to tell you anything but the truth.
Look me up at myfloridalicense.com, license CGC1509042Yes. Photos, a sketch on a napkin, the contractor's scope and the bid are enough for me to check the pricing and the contract. If the job really needs drawings and nobody has drawn any, that's finding number one.
No. I don't come to the property. I'm reading documents: the bid, the plans, the contract. If what you actually need is a home inspector, a structural engineer or a code inspection, I'll say so in the report.
No, and you don't want me to. The report gives you the questions to send him and tells you what a good answer sounds like. It goes better for you when it's you asking.
No. If you ask me to after the review, I'll turn it down. That's the whole reason the review is worth paying for.
Bids and contracts work the same way everywhere. Allowances, exclusions, draw schedules, missing scope. I'll go through all of it. My pricing knowledge is South Florida, so for other markets I'll flag which numbers you should check locally.
No. If you're mid-job and the change orders have started, the call turns into a change order and draw review: what's legit, what isn't, and how to keep the rest of the job from getting away from you.
Cancel any time before the call and you get the whole fee back. Once we've had the call, it's earned.
Some people ask me to keep checking draws, change orders and the schedule through construction. Yes, that's a thing. Ask me on the call.
I'll get back to you the same business day with the payment link and a couple of times to talk. Nothing gets charged until you decide to pay.
