When selecting a roofing partner for your next commercial roofing project, it’s beneficial to seek multiple bids and be selective about which partner you choose to work with. But when every bid looks, sounds, and feels different, how do you know which bid is best for your project? 

Here are 7 tips you can use to help you better compare your project bids:

1. Seek bids from multiple potential roofing partners

Receiving bids from multiple potential roofing partners is beneficial because this variety can provide you with enough options to get the expertise and quality you need. Typically, you want to try and get three to four bids. If you have less than three bids, you might not have enough options to be selective when choosing your roofing partner. Then, with too many bids, you may have so much information to compare that you aren’t able to make a selection as easily because you’re trying to evaluate many potential partners. It’s all about finding the right balance when seeking bids for your next commercial roofing project. 

2. Provide a detailed and thorough scope of work ahead of time

Providing a detailed and thorough scope of the work you are seeking in your RFP (request for proposal) can help your potential roofing partners better understand your property’s unique needs. If you’re unsure of what your scope of work is, you can always consult with an experienced industry professional to make sure the information you share is accurate. To provide potential commercial roofing partners with more details, especially when they are preparing to bid on your project, you can also allow them to ask you questions about your roof or perform on-site evaluations.

3. Qualify your bidding partners and examine previous projects

Qualifying your bidding roofing partners can help you avoid making assumptions about them and the quality of work they produce based on what you already know. By researching and taking the time to review potential partners for your project, you can gain additional insights to help you make your selection. You can even ask potential partners to share previous work they’ve done on other similar projects with you. Doing this will allow you to see the quality of work and better understand what types of processes they might use on your project.

If you’re not sure what you should be looking for in potential partners or the specific needs of your building and the best ways to address them, you can always consult with professionals who specialize in commercial roofing. This can help you gain more insights into what you should look for in potential roofing partners, to ensure you select an expert to work on your project. Making sure you’re doing everything you can to work with an industry expert for your commercial roofing project is especially important because if a challenge arises, they may be more likely to have actionable solutions to help resolve the issue.

4. Consider everything that each partner offers, including warranties

Considering everything that each partner offers is critical to ensure that you understand their similarities and differences. This might entail examining the differences in the services they plan to offer for your roof, or the cost they’re quoting you. It’s also crucial to make sure to take the time to look at the type of warranty each roofing partner offers, because if something goes wrong after installation you may pay the price without a good warranty. The three warranties you’ll typically see are:

• Material Only Warranty
• Labor and Material Warranty
• Labor, Material, and Workmanship Warranty

Each of them offers a different level of coverage, which may impact the long-term cost of your roof. So, in addition to considering the obvious factors like services or costs, it’s also important to make sure you know what type of warranty you’re getting.

<<< Learn more about commercial roofing warranties

5. Ask questions and get clarification

Once all of your bids have been submitted and you’ve begun reviewing them, you can create a list of questions you have for each roofing partner. With your list of questions, you can schedule meetings with each bidder to make sure you understand the quote and their rationale around how they got to the price. You can also use this time to ensure the contractor has answered all of your questions about how they plan to handle your project and the results they plan to produce. This can help you can glean all the information and clarification you need to make your final selection.

6. Remember your budget

In the final stages of your comparison process, it’s important to think about where each bid falls in your pre-determined budget. Doing this can help you make sure your company is not going to go way over budget with an upcoming project or determine how to reallocate money to the budget if necessary. Without taking your budget into consideration, you may end up running into problems later on during your project.

7. Select your commercial roofing partner

When making your final selection, it’s important to examine the facts and information each potential roofing partner has provided. If there are questions you still have, get those answered before choosing your winning bid. Making sure you have all the facts and can easily compare pros and cons is critical because the last thing you want is to have your project retouched after completion. Doing this may require some patience, but in the end, you’ll get the expected results you want.

Interested in working with White Hat for your next project?

Our team of commercial roofing professionals is always happy to help you evaluate the needs of your roof or assist you with your next project. If you’d like to connect with a member of our team, send us a message on our contact form or call us at 937.909.9030. We’re always happy to help you with your commercial roofing needs.