My dad told me 'always round up' on estimates and I thought he was old school

He used to say add 15% to any material cost because things always come up, and I laughed it off for years. Then last March I bid a bathroom rough-in on a house in Decatur without that buffer and ate $400 in unexpected copper fittings. Anyone else have advice from an older relative that you ignored and later wished you hadn't?

3 comments

3 Comments

fisher.jessica3h ago

My buddy Mike ignored his grandpa's rule about always getting a signed change order before doing extra work. He was doing a kitchen reno in Tucker and the homeowner asked him to move one outlet over a few inches while the wall was open. Seemed small at the time, so he just did it. Then the homeowner asked for another move, then another. By the end of the week he had done about 8 extra hours of work with zero paperwork. The homeowner refused to pay for any of it because there was nothing in writing. Mike ate the whole thing, about $600 in labor. He still brings it up every time we grab a beer.

noahwood7h ago

That 15% rule has saved me more times than I want to admit. Now I just round everything up to the nearest hundred and call it a day.

webb.hannah1h ago

Figured that one out the hard way myself. Six hundred bucks is a tough lesson but he won't forget it.