Should you get multiple bids before hiring a contractor? It’s one of the most common pieces of advice passed around in home improvement circles, and like most blanket advice, the honest answer is more nuanced than a simple yes or no. Getting multiple bids makes sense in some situations and adds unnecessary complexity in others. Here’s a straight answer for Cache Valley homeowners trying to figure out the right approach before a remodeling project.
The Logical Case for Multiple Bids
Logically, getting multiple bids makes sense. Two or three bids gives you a reference point. It helps you understand what the market looks like for your specific scope of work. It gives you something to compare before committing to a number that represents a significant investment.
If price is your primary motivator, if the bottom line is what drives your decision more than anything else, then get as many bids as you want. More bids means more data and eventually you’ll find the lowest price available in your market. There’s nothing wrong with that approach if price is genuinely the deciding factor.
For larger or more complex projects like a home addition or a full home renovation, getting multiple bids also gives you exposure to different approaches and scopes, which can be genuinely useful in helping you understand what the project actually involves before you commit.
When Multiple Bids Aren’t Always Necessary
Here’s where most of the conventional wisdom falls short.
Some of the smoothest projects I’ve run were with clients who called because they had already done their homework. They’d checked the license on Utah DOPL, read the reviews, verified the insurance, looked at the website and social media, and seen enough completed work to know they wanted to move forward. By the time they called, trust was already established. We clicked, the scope came together quickly, and the project ran cleanly from start to finish.
If you’ve done that kind of research and identified a contractor who checks every box (license, insurance, web presence, communication, verified track record) you don’t necessarily need to put them through a bidding competition against contractors you haven’t vetted as thoroughly. That process doesn’t always add value. Sometimes it just adds time and noise. The inverse is just as useful to know, and we listed the red flags when hiring a remodeling contractor.
The goal was never to collect the most bids. The goal was always to find the right contractor. If you are still at that stage, our guide on how to choose the right remodeling contractor in Utah covers what to weigh.
If You Do Get Multiple Bids: Compare Apples to Apples
If you do get multiple bids, the most important thing to understand is that the bottom line number is not what you’re comparing.
You’re comparing what’s included.
A bid that comes in lower than the others isn’t automatically a better deal. It might be lower because the contractor missed scope items they didn’t fully understand. It might be lower because they’re planning to use lower grade materials. It might be lower because they underpriced it and will run out of margin partway through the project, which is when corner cutting starts.
Go through each bid line by line. What phases are covered? What trades are included? What materials are specified? What’s explicitly excluded? Only when you understand what’s actually in each bid can you make a meaningful comparison. A lower number that’s missing half the scope is a problem that has not surfaced yet.
This is one of the reasons a detailed scope of work matters so much before bidding even begins. When every contractor is bidding on the exact same defined scope, comparison becomes meaningful. When they’re all interpreting an ambiguous request differently, you end up comparing numbers that don’t actually represent the same project.
The Downside of Shopping Too Many Bids
There’s a real downside to collecting too many bids that most homeowners don’t anticipate, and it’s worth being honest about.
You can psych yourself out of the project entirely.
When you talk to five or six contractors you’re going to hear prices, approaches and opinions that vary more than you would expect about what the project needs and how it should be done. That much conflicting information can be genuinely paralyzing. I’ve seen homeowners who started the process enthusiastic and confident end up too overwhelmed to pull the trigger on anything, not because no good option existed, but because too many options created confusion.
The other practical downside is timeline. Every contractor has their own availability for site visits. Every bid takes time to prepare properly and time to review carefully. If your project is time sensitive, the weeks spent collecting five bids might have been better spent vetting one or two strong candidates thoroughly and moving forward.
More bids doesn’t always mean more clarity. Sometimes it means more noise.
The Honest Recommendation
Here’s how I’d actually approach it.
Do your research first. Check licenses on Utah DOPL. Read reviews carefully, not just the star rating but what people actually wrote and what patterns appear across multiple reviews. Verify insurance is active and current. Look at web presence and completed work. Narrow the field before you start collecting bids.
If after doing that research you have one contractor who clearly stands out, meaning they check every box and their communication, track record, and process align with what you’re looking for, you don’t necessarily need to run a formal bidding competition just to feel like you did your due diligence. Especially on a smaller or more defined scope, moving forward with confidence can serve you better than adding weeks to the process collecting bids from contractors you’re less certain about.
If after research you have two or three contractors who all look equally strong on paper, then absolutely get bids from all of them and compare carefully using the apples to apples framework above.
And if price is your primary motivator, get as many bids as you need to feel confident you’re getting a fair number.
