Subcontractor Reality Check

The Real Reason GCs Say You’re 20–30% High — And What Subcontractors Can Actually Do About It

If you’re a subcontractor and you’ve been told you’re “20–30% over budget,” you’re not alone. In fact, if you’ve been in construction long enough, you’ve heard it so often that it almost feels automatic.

Let’s break down the real reasons this keeps happening — and more importantly, what subcontractors can do to protect themselves without racing to the bottom.

Most GC “budgets” are not grounded in finished construction documents. They’re often:

• Conceptual
• Based on outdated historical data
• Built before drawings are complete
• Reverse engineered to meet an owner’s expectations

In other words, the budget is often a political number, not a construction number.

So when your estimate comes in higher, the assumption is that you missed something — when in reality, you’re the first person in the chain to price the job honestly.

Incomplete plans are not neutral. They create risk. And in most bid environments, that risk silently rolls downhill.

Look at most sets and you’ll find:

• Missing assemblies
• Conflicting details
• Vague scopes
• Undefined means and methods

Every unanswered question becomes something you’re assumed to own.

GCs rarely line up bids by scope completeness. They line them up by total price.

That means:

• Missed scope looks like efficiency
• Underpricing looks like competence
• Reality looks expensive

If another subcontractor missed 10–15% of the scope, you instantly become “20–30% high” — even if you’re the only one who caught everything.

Correct is rarely cheapest — and cheapest is rarely correct.

“Can you sharpen your pencil?” almost never means correcting an error.

It usually means:

• Remove contingency
• Eat escalation
• Assume perfect conditions
• Finance risk for the project

You’re being asked to subsidize uncertainty so the GC can hold their number.

If the only way to win is to lose later, it’s not a win.

You price real construction:

• Actual labor productivity
• Supervision
• Mobilization
• Coordination time
• Schedule compression
• Warranty exposure

They price a fantasy:

• Perfect sequencing
• No rework
• No RFIs
• No changes
• No delays

Those two realities never match — but you’re blamed when they collide.

Hope is not a construction strategy.

Subs who are slow, overextended, or cash-starved often:

• Cut margins
• Ignore risk
• Plan to “figure it out later”

Seasoned subcontractors don’t do that anymore — because they’ve already paid that tuition.

Being selective is not arrogance — it’s survival.

GCs love:

• Lump sum pricing
• No questions
• No change orders
• Full coordination
• Full liability

What they don’t love is paying for all that responsibility.

So when you price turnkey correctly, you’re labeled “high.”

Turnkey without compensation is just liability in disguise.

If you’ve:

• Lost money
• Been blamed for design errors
• Eaten scope creep
• Worked unpaid extras

You now price differently.

That’s not inflation.
That’s experience.

Check your scope — once

Check your assumptions — once

Then stop apologizing for being accurate