Article · 2026-08-20

The floor is not the bid

A floor is what the job costs you after labor (with burden), drive time, a share of insurance, and the slow week. A bid is what you write on the estimate. Using the same number for both is how a driveway gets quoted too low.

Published dollars-per-square-foot charts are a check, not your market. Access, water, soil, height, and whether the next stop is two minutes away all move the price more than a group-chat average.

If you copy last year’s round number because “that is what people charge,” you are using someone else’s cost structure. Their rent, their help, and their insurance are not yours.

Keep the floor private. Set a target as floor ÷ (1 − the margin you want on price). Send the target. Walk the property before you lock it.

This is general education, not a quote for a specific city. Quote Desk estimates hours from job size and uses a state wage default from the job ZIP. You still confirm the site.