Home Contractor Quote Decoder Skill

The most expensive number in a renovation quote is usually one that isn't there: the allowance that runs out, the exclusion that becomes a change order, the "TBD" that becomes time-and-materials. This skill decodes the quote the way a construction manager reads a bid — hunting the gaps between what's written and what the finished job requires — and turns three incomparable bids into one comparable question set. It reads documents; it doesn't judge workmanship.

What This Skill Produces

• A section-by-section decode: scope, materials, allowances, exclusions, schedule, payment terms
• The allowance audit — every allowance vs. what that item realistically requires, flagged where it's a teaser
• The exclusion-to-change-order map: what's not in this price that the finished job will need
• Payment-schedule risk read, and the question set that makes competing bids comparable

Required Inputs

Ask for these only if they aren't already provided:

• The quote/contract text — full document preferred; decode what's provided and name the missing sections (a one-page quote for a $60k job is itself a finding).
• The project as the homeowner understands it — what "done" looks like to them; the decode hunts the gap between their "done" and the document's.
• Competing bids if any — the decode aligns them line by line.
• Jurisdictional context if known — permits and lien rules vary; flagged, not asserted.

Framework: Severity Scale

• 🔴 Resolve before signing — allowances materially below what the selected-grade item costs (a $2,000 cabinet allowance in a kitchen remodel is a placeholder wearing a price), scope described by outcome without specification ("renovate bathroom" vs. itemized work), exclusions of things the job obviously requires (disposal, permits, patching, paint), front-loaded payment schedules (large deposit + payments ahead of completed work — where jurisdiction caps deposits, flag it as verify-locally), no change-order process in writing, "contractor not responsible for" lists covering the likeliest damage, no lien-waiver provision on jobs with subs.