Most homeowners sign renovation contracts without knowing what to look for. A licensed General Contractor built this guide, and this service, so you do not have to figure it out alone. Every bid is reviewed against the same forensic standard a licensed GC uses, line by line, with current market rates for your ZIP, anywhere in the country. You get back a Bid Defense Memo, a short report that shows you exactly what to question before you sign.
No bid required. Just your email. Takes 20 seconds. 20 of 20 spots left this month for personal follow-up after you read it.
Already have a bid? See plans →$6,800 caught on a $42,000 kitchen remodel bid, a tile and fixture allowance set far below what the spec actually costs, flagged before the homeowner signed. The same review works for any US market.
$60,000 caught on a $287,450 Upper West Side gut renovation, line items that did not reconcile with the stated contract total. The corrected bid came back $41,000 lower. Reviewing bids regularly? See CostCheckGPT Pro →
Bid verification built into underwriting, an independent line by line review of the contractor budget before you fund. Talk to us about lender and capital partner workflows →
| Stated Kitchen Bid | $42,000 |
| Tile + Fixture Allowance | $4,200 |
| Realistic for the Spec | +$6,800 short |
| Stated Contract Total | $287,450 |
| Sum of Line Items | $227,450 |
| Unexplained Gap | $60,000 (20.87%) |
An independent, line by line review of the contractor budget before you release funds: math, scope, allowances, and market rates, benchmarked by ZIP anywhere in the US.
Talk to us about underwritingSeven checks, one memo. Every Bid Defense Memo covers all of the following.
No meetings. No spreadsheets. Upload your bid and see exactly what to question.
Send the contractor's bid PDF through our intake form. Takes 90 seconds. We need the bid, your project ZIP, and the contract total.
Your bid is checked against a licensed GC's forensic standard: the math, scope normalization, license verification, and market calibration, benchmarked to your ZIP, anywhere in the country.
Delivered in 12 hours. A clear Go, Caution, or Stop verdict, with the dollar figure. It's yours to forward to your contractor. One homeowner used theirs to get $18K off.
A 22-year-veteran contractor handed my client a bid for a 1,100 SF Upper West Side gut renovation. Professional presentation. Clean referral from the neighbor. Stated contract total: $287,450.
The line items summed to $227,450. A $60,000 gap. 20.87% of contract value. With no explanation.
When I flagged it, the contractor said "it's covered in overhead." Demo was already a separate line item on page 2. That wasn't an answer. That was a retroactive explanation.
My client forwarded the Bid Defense Memo to the contractor that afternoon. The corrected bid came back $41,000 lower by 4pm.
"Experience doesn't fix arithmetic."
| Stated Contract Total | $287,450 |
| Sum of Line Items | $227,450 |
| Unexplained Gap | $60,000 (20.87%) |
Scope normalization changes the math. Here's the $28,000 hiding in a "general allowance" line.
| Contractor | Stated Bid | Normalized Bid | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contractor A | $94,500 | $94,500 | $0 |
| Contractor B | $118,000 | $118,000 | $0 |
| Contractor C | $79,800 | $97,800 – $107,800 | +$18K–$28K |
Contractor C had a $10,000 "general allowance" that itemized to $18K–$28K in real scope.
Budget overruns and contractor disputes are common, not rare. Three data points from public sources:
Autodesk summarizes KPMG research indicating that only 31% of construction projects came within 10% of budget over a recent three-year period.
Source: Autodesk / KPMG ↗NYC states that home improvement contractors performing work costing more than $200 must have a DCWP license. Yet not all bids include a verifiable license number.
Source: NYC 311 / DCWP ↗Cost overruns, change orders, permit issues, and payment disputes are among the most common sources of construction disputes for homeowners and investors.
Source: Ansbacher Law ↗Most people just need one bid checked. One corrected line item usually covers the cost.
For investors and agents who review contractor bids often.
Built on a licensed GC's forensic standard. Serving investors and agents across the United States, benchmarked by ZIP.
An independent review with no stake in your project, built on a licensed GC's method.
If your review doesn't surface at least one thing worth raising with your contractor, you pay nothing.
Reviewing bids every month? See CostCheckGPT Pro →
I'm Richard Golding, a licensed General Contractor with more than 20 years building and renovating across New York and California. I've sat across from too many people about to sign a bid with a $40,000, $60,000, or $100,000 problem buried in it that no one was going to catch until the work was half done. I built CostCheckGPT so every review on this platform runs on the same forensic standard I bring to bid analysis, line by line, anywhere in the country. My licenses in two of the toughest construction markets in the country are your proof the method holds up: NYC Build Remodel, DCWP HIC #2135146, and California Construction & Remodeling Experts, CSLB B #1130438.
Deep-dive pages on specific topics.
Get the free guide, or upload your bid and get your memo in 12 hours. Know exactly what to question before you sign.
Get the Free Guide20 of 20 spots left this month for personal follow-up after you read it.