Found out my Red Deer contractor was charging 30% more than the going rate

I was looking over my basement Reno invoices last night and decided to check some numbers. Turns out my guy in Red Deer was billing me $95 an hour for framing when most outfits are around $70. Found this on a local builders trade site after digging around. How do you guys even vet pricing without getting burned like this?

2 comments

2 Comments

xena_jackson13d ago

The guys at my local lumber yard in Airdrie told me the same thing when I was getting quotes for a fence. Did you ever ask your contractor why he was charging that much after you found out? I'm curious if he gave you some excuse about better materials or faster work or just shrugged it off.

carter.thea13d ago

My buddy in Edmonton got burned the same way on a kitchen reno and he ended up asking his lumber supplier for a heads up on fair rates. They told him straight up what the typical range was for different trades in central Alberta. I started doing the same with my local building supply place before I even hire anyone. Also helps to ask for a few quotes and compare line by line not just the total. If a contractor won't break down their hourly rate and materials cost separately thats a red flag. The other thing is join a local home reno Facebook group and ask people what they paid for similar work people are usually pretty open about numbers there.