Use the questions below to test the offer rather than treating either the lowest or highest number as a verdict on the contractor.
Ask what produces the saving
Invite the contractor to explain the main differences from the other offers. Ask whether the saving comes from a different design, finish, scope or programme, or from its price for exactly the same work. Request a revised comparison against the shared brief and record any remaining questions before acceptance.
Compare the proposed final specification, not just the initial estimate. Ask the bidder to identify every product still awaiting selection and to price your chosen alternative. Beside each allowance, record the decision needed and request confirmation of the effect on the quoted total before signing.
Look at the whole financial exposure
Consider the amount payable before useful work is completed, as well as the total. For expensive goods stored away from site, ask what identification, ownership evidence and insurance protect your payment. RICS warns that off-site materials require particular attention and that a vesting document is not automatically equivalent to reliable security. [1]
For your own comparison, record the proposed advance, the deliverable against that payment and the balance expected at later stages. Ask for omitted work to be priced separately. Keep an explicit 'unpriced' column rather than entering zero where no contractor has yet offered a price.
Safety and competence still apply
Do not accept the removal of necessary safety arrangements as a saving. The principal contractor's CDM duties include construction-phase planning, coordination, welfare arrangements and controlling unauthorised access. Those duties are not optional because the project has a tight budget. [2]
Likewise, seek evidence that the proposed team is competent for the work rather than assuming all bidders have equivalent capability. England's building regulations require competence appropriate to the duties undertaken. [3]
Resolve uncertainty before committing
Ask the preferred contractor to provide a revised written scope covering the disputed or missing items. Check references and any claimed scheme membership directly. Citizens Advice recommends checking the trader and previous work, rather than relying on an attractive advertisement or recommendation alone. [4]
Use the clarified offer to make the decision. There is no reliable universal price gap that proves a quote is “too cheap”, and a more expensive quote is not itself evidence of a better outcome. The objective is a price for an understood project, with understood responsibilities.