Why does nobody talk about reading the spec sheet before you quote a job

Zara Reed · 2026-10-09T19:10:03.21109+00:00

I quoted a garage pad pour in Red Deer last month at $9,200 and figured I was right in the pocket. The homeowner handed me the engineered drawings and I skimmed them, saw 4 inch slab, and sent the number off. Two days later my concrete guy asked why I priced 25 MPa when the drawing called for 32 MPa with air entrainment and a 6 inch thickened edge. I had to eat $1,850 out of my own pocket because I didn't read page 3 of a 14 page set. I have been framing and doing small pours for 11 years and I got lazy because most of my jobs never came with an engineer's stamp. Now I read every page out loud in the truck before I send a quote, even the notes nobody looks at. So my question for the guys here is how do you handle it when the drawings show up after the verbal number is already out there, do you go back to the client or just eat it?

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Why does nobody talk about reading the spec sheet before you quote a job | Alberta Contractors - Guest Forum