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First, narrower your potential bidders to reputable companies in your area.  If the company has been doing business in your area for a while, they have built a reputation that can be tracked and researched.  Pick three or four companies that have a solid track record.  Getting eight bids is a waste of time.  As a contractor, I see a customer who is getting eight bids tells me they are just looking for the lowest price and are not interested in the quality of work.  I will not spend much time on this type of customer.

Second, know what you want.  If you’re not sure, ask a lot of questions.  Any good contractor will be happy to answer any questions a customer might have.  It’s in the contractor’s best interest to have a knowledgeable customer making an informed decision.

Third, have contractors bid on the same set of specifications of work to be done.  Ask four contractors what needs to be done to the driveway and you will get four different answers with four different prices.  One set of specifications will insure that each company is bidding on the same thing and the prices should be consistent.

Fourth, look at the bids.  All the bids should be in the same price range.  If three bids are clustered together and the fourth is very low, something is wrong.  Either the contractor didn’t understand what needed to be done or they are cutting corners.  It’s not uncommon for some contractors with very low bids to come back with an ”unforeseen” problem and want extra money.  The end result could mean spending more money than all the bids quoted.  If the bids are close in price, it tells you that each contractor is looking at the project the same way.

Finally, choose a contractor.  If you followed the above steps, you will have several quality bids by reputable contractors.  You have the luxury of picking the best company for you based not only on price, but quality of work.  The final product will be what you needed for the best price.