Is it appropriate to try and negotiate a lower price? Of course the guy I like and has the best recommendations is the most expensive.....frankly close to double than other bid.

Yes negotiate. He will either say yes or no.

I do the "I want to hire you, but you're higher than my other bids. What's the best you can do?"

Nothing wrong with asking. Tell them they are higher and see what they will do. Odds are if they are double the price, they already know they are higher than other bids you may be getting.

I don't know if you gave a list of specifications, selections, etc. but I have found when I am way off on a bid, we aren't bidding apples to apples. I am a GC, mostly do remodels. The last two I bid against someone on, I was a bit higher. But I was bidding as I would based on other comparable remodels. For example, frameless shower glass enclosure (other contractor had the cheapest, short stick stall enclosure with chrome finish), faucet and fixture selections, entry granite pricing (cheaper builder grade vs a higher grade, or 2cm vs 4 cm edges), the full scope of work (the other contractor left items out of the scope of work that he and the homeowner had discussed. I don't know how he would address that later. Tell them "it wasn't in the bid"?)

If you didn't provide a written scope of work with selections, I'd start there to make sure they are all actually bidding the same items.

I tell people I am not the cheapest, and if they want the cheapest, I am not their person. Doing the job right, accounting for time properly, including call backs, etc., insurance coverages, etc. all cost money. I want to bit it where I know I am covered on the subcontractor end of things, materials, my incidentals, profit and overhead and warranty work. Guys with tighter margins are harder to get back to the job because they've already lost money or it's not worth their time to go back and do more work, despite what should be expected of a contractor to stand behind their work.

good info thank you. i never thought warranty of work.

If you want to use that guy you could simply lay out your 'must haves' and your budget and ask him to make recommendations on how that can happen.

I did that recently and we ended up working together. He was able to identify/delete some of the larger price drivers that weren't on my 'must have' list.

Maybe he knows he has the best recommendations, and is priced accordingly

Why should the best guy be same price as a so-so guy?

I think some of y'all are overthinking this. What y'all are recommending sounds logical, but it doesn't sound necessary (at least to me) . I like to keep things simple. Just tell the guy you really like him, but at this point you can't justify his higher price, and ask him if they have any wiggle room. If they want the job he will most likely come down on price. If the contractor is confident he can win the job without lowering his price, or if he doesn't really want the job, he will say no, and then you'll have to decide if it's worth it. If it were me, I would also ask him in person. It's harder to tell someone, " no, I won't lower my price" when you were face-to-face rather than on the telephone.

And to answer the very initial question, yes it is appropriate. I'm in sales, and I have customers ask me on a daily basis if I can lower my prices. It's just business.

approximately what is the amount i should expect to pay per sq foot for a remodel.

i know it depends on the quality of the products i use - but just generally speaking.

It also depends quite a bit on what area you are remodeling. Big open living rooms are cheaper than bathrooms. Are you dressing up finishes, updating the space, total gut remodel, etc.

yippee2 said:

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approximately what is the amount i should expect to pay per sq foot for a remodel.

i know it depends on the quality of the products i use - but just generally speaking.

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I don't know if there's any meaningful way to even generalize.

I'm getting a remodel done now, and I can't come up with anything that I could give you that would mean anything.... I think because each remodel is going to vary so much.

We are a commercial GC, but... Everything is negotiable.

yippee2 said:

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approximately what is the amount i should expect to pay per sq foot for a remodel.

i know it depends on the quality of the products i use - but just generally speaking.

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Also depends on the state of your home, if anything needs to be remediated, what kind of changes you're making, ratio of wall square footage you for square footage, etc.

yippee2 said:

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approximately what is the amount i should expect to pay per sq foot for a remodel.

i know it depends on the quality of the products i use - but just generally speaking.

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The following link might be of some assistance to get you an idea depending on the job, etc...

Remodeling Calculator - Remodeling Costs for 2017