Had a talk with a framer in Lethbridge that made me reconsider how I bid jobs

I was out on a site near Lethbridge last month, swapping stories with an older framer during lunch. He told me he never gives a flat price for any job over 10 grand because he lost $4,000 on a house back in 2018 when lumber prices shot up. He said he learned the hard way that locking in a number without a material escalation clause is just gambling. That conversation stuck with me because I have been doing small residential work and always give a firm quote upfront. Now I am wondering if I should start adding a clause for material price changes. Has anyone else run into trouble with fixed bids on bigger projects?

2 comments

2 Comments

smith.matthew26d ago

That story about losing $4,000 on a house in 2018 really hits home. I had a similar hard lesson on a renovation back in 2021 when steel studs doubled on me and I ate the whole difference.

king.jordan26d ago

My buddy Tyler from Brooks tried a fixed bid on a custom garage last year, and the OSB went up 30 bucks a sheet right after he gave them the number. He figured he'd just eat it since @smith.matthew knows how that goes, and he ended up losing almost $2,800 on the lumber alone. Now he adds a clause that says anything over a 5% material increase gets passed along, and he told me it's saved him twice already on smaller trim jobs since then.