When evaluating quotes for your next residential or commercial steel project, don’t be too quick to disregard the higher priced quote.

Especially if there’s a significant price difference. There’s usually a reason why one steel supplier is charging more, and it usually doesn’t have anything to do with their desire to make more money.

It’s all too common to go for the absolute lowest quote possible, however when there’s a significant price difference between steel quotations, this should be seen as a red flag and not a good deal.

Strangely low quotes cost big money

Competitive profit margins applied in the residential building industry will not produce large price variances.

This means that if a quote comes back which is significantly cheaper than others you’ve received for your steel project, it’s likely that the cost reduction is caused by some kind of an estimation error, or it could even signal potential logistics issues which will cause many more delays and problems for your project.

“The more expensive quote could actually save you money, delays and frustration.”

In our experience we’ve often found that large price differences generally mean that some important design detail or material has been overlooked or incorrectly applied.

An order placed on a questionable quote exposes you as the customer to the risk of insufficient and or incorrect material supply.

This in turn can cause costly delays in material rectification supply and delivery which we all know has a significant domino effect on all other aspects of your construction project.

Conclusion

It’s always a smart idea to look closely at the quotes you receive especially in the steel industry when production and supply needs to meet very specific requirements.

Paying close attention to what is contained within the quote, and not just the total will mean you’ll have a much greater chance of avoiding expensive delays caused by incorrect fabrication and supply of your steel and other materials.