Fixed Price Contracting: The Well-Marked Trail to Construction Certainty

This is the fourth and final episode of the Contracting Methods series. If you've been following along since Episode 55, you now have a complete education in the two primary ways residential construction gets contracted—cost plus and fixed price. Today we're walking the fixed price path from proposal to punch list.

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What Fixed Price Actually Means

Fixed price contracting means one number locked in exchange for a defined scope of work. The contractor carries the risk, you carry the certainty. You might see this called by three different names on proposals: fixed price, lump sum, or stipulated sum. All three mean the same thing.

The contractor prices four buckets (labor, materials, subcontractors, equipment), applies their profit and overhead, and hands you back a single number. The principle: the price only changes if you change something. If the contractor underestimates framing labor, that's their problem. If lumber goes up under pure fixed price, that's their problem. If a subcontractor falls through, that's their problem. So long as you don't change plans, specs, or scope, the number doesn't move.

Here's where homeowners get tripped up: three contractors bid your project. Two come back cost plus with estimates of $600K. One comes back fixed price at $750K. The homeowner says fixed price is $150K more expensive. Wrong comparison. The cost plus number is an estimate with no ceiling. The fixed price number is a contract—capped and locked. The fixed price contractor has to build in contingency for unknowns and they're absorbing risk you'd otherwise carry. That contingency shows up in the number. On most well-documented projects, the fixed price number comes in at or below where cost plus would have landed at completion.

The 4 Critical Components

Here's the most important thing in this entire four-episode series: three out of four components that make fixed price possible are about you and your design team, not about the contractor.

Component 1: A set of plans detailed and tailored to your desires. Not conceptual sketches. Construction documents with dimensions, sections, details, schedules. The plans are the contractor's eyes. If the plans are vague, the bid is vague or padded.

Component 2: Thorough specifications and detailed scope of work. Specs cover materials—every finished material, every fixture, every appliance by make and model. The scope of work covers what the contractor is and isn't doing. Without specs, the plan says "install tile." With specs, it says "install Daltile XYZ porcelain 12x24 in stack bond pattern with Schluter trim on Wedi backer with MAPEI thinset." The contractor prices exactly what you want. No guessing, no allowances, no surprises.

Component 3: A homeowner and design team willing to invest time and money. Detailed plans cost money. Specifications cost time—months of decisions before construction starts. Many homeowners want to skip this to start construction faster or save design fees. The shortcut closes the door on fixed price and undermines the project. You either invest the money and time upfront in design or you absorb the risk later in construction. Risk doesn't disappear, it just moves.

Component 4: A builder comfortable enough with your information to agree to fixed price. Even with perfect plans and specs, a builder may decline. In 2026, more residential builders are declining pure fixed price than ever before due to tariff uncertainty, lumber/steel volatility, and labor unpredictability. If three builders decline and one says yes, ask the two who declined what's missing. Their answer tells you whether the one who said yes is taking on real risk or planning to recover through change orders later.

How Payment Schedules Work

In fixed price contracts, money flows on milestone-based payment schedules, not continuous billing like cost plus. Milestones and values are written into the contract before you sign. In many states including California, this is required by law.

A typical structure: mobilization deposit (10-20%), foundation complete and inspected, framing complete and inspected, mechanical/electrical/plumbing rough inspected, drywall complete, trim and finishes. Every draw is verifiable and field-confirmed.

The schedule of values is the single most powerful protection you have. It divides the total contract price into line items by category of work. On a $750K contract: foundation $45K, framing $90K, mechanical $60K, and so on until line items sum to contract total. When the contractor submits a draw request, they bill against the schedule of values. You can see exactly what's being billed and exactly what's being completed.

Retainage—typically 5-10% of contract value—is held back until punch list completion. This is your leverage at the finish line. The contractor wants their last check, you want your punch list done. Retainage aligns those interests.

2026 Escalation Clause Reality

A material price escalation clause is a paragraph the contractor adds that says if certain materials go up more than a threshold percentage (usually 5-10%) after signing, the price gets adjusted. These clauses became widespread after 2020 and intensified through 2025-2026 with tariff volatility.

An escalation clause isn't a contractor gaming you. It's the market saying risk has a price and someone has to carry it. The question is how the risk is split. Ask three questions: (1) What's the threshold before it triggers? (2) Is it indexed to an objective measure like the Producer Price Index or to subjective supplier quotes? (3) Is there a cap on how much can pass through? Those answers tell you whether the clause is balanced or a one-way street.

Change Orders vs Extra Work Orders

A change order is when something in the original plans/specs gets changed. You decide the kitchen tile will be a different make and model. That's a change order. An extra work order is when something never in the original plans/specs gets added. You decide halfway through to install a security system never on the drawings. That's an extra work order.

Both require written documentation and your signature before work starts. No exceptions. The fastest way to break a contractor-homeowner relationship: the contractor performs extra work without an approved order, then hands you a $15K bill a month later. Your job is to enforce the discipline: no order signed by both of us, no work performed.

5 Questions to Decide Your Path

1. Do I have bandwidth to invest time during design? Months of decisions before ground breaks.

2. Am I willing to invest enough money with the design team for thorough documentation?

3. Am I okay prioritizing financial security over construction start date?

4. Is my contractor willing to enter fixed price based on my plans—and if not, do I understand why?

5. Do I have a good feeling about my contractor candidates, or am I just selecting the least expensive one?

If you answered yes to all five, fixed price is your path. If you answered no to one or two, revisit cost plus from Episodes 56-57. If you answered no to three or five, you have homework before you sign anything.

Related Episodes:

Episode 55: Cost Plus vs Fixed Price

Episode 56: Cost Plus — The Decide Episode

Episode 57: Cost Plus Billing

Episode 53: Building Your Bid Package

Episode 49: The Four Cost Buckets

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All right, hey everybody, welcome back. This is the fourth and final episode of our Contracting Methods series and what I think a lot of you have really been waiting for. So if you came in fresh, and a lot of you probably did, because this is a particular topic that gets a lot of traffic, here's a 60-second catch up so you're not lost.

Three episodes ago in Episode 55, I laid out the two forks in the trail. Cost plus on one side, fixed price on the other. The same destination, two completely different ways of getting there. And then in Episode 56 and 57, I took the cost plus path apart in detail. Episode 56 was the decide episode. What cost plus actually is, the three flavors, and the seven questions that tell you whether it's really a fit for you as a homeowner.

Then Episode 57 was the execute episode. How cost plus billing actually works day to day, the hybrid model that blends cost plus towards fixed price, and the architect as your project reviewer.

So today we're going to talk about the other fork in the road, fixed price contracting. And here's how I want you to think about fixed price. Cost plus is rappelling down a cliff. And fixed price is a well-marked trail with signs at every turn.

You can still get hurt on a well-marked trail, but the path is really, really visible. You know where you're going. You know what it costs to get there. And as long as you don't decide halfway up that you want to take a different trail, you're going to arrive where you plan to arrive. That's really what fixed price is all about.

So here's what we're going to be covering today. Five segments. First, what fixed price actually means in plain English. Second, the four components that make a fixed price contract even really possible. And here's the punchline I'll spoil for you right now. Three out of those four are about you, not about the contractor.

And then fifth, five questions that if you answer them honestly, will tell you whether fixed price is the right path for your project or whether you need to get back to cost plus. So get a notepad and let's dig in.

So what is a fixed price contract in plain English? Take everything we said about cost plus in Episode 56 and Episode 57, the open checkbook method, full transparency, you carry the risk, and then flip it. Fixed price says the contractor carries the risk, you carry the certainty, and the way you get there is one number locked at the top of the contract. That's it.

But let me give you the details. If you're reading contracts and proposals from three different contractors, you might see this called by three different names. Fixed price, lump sum, stipulated sum. All three mean the same thing. One number locked in exchange for a defined scope of work. And that is the most important aspect of even enabling you to even consider a fixed price contract. How good your plans and specs are. And that's what we're going to get into later.

Fixed price is the term most homeowners search for. Lump sum is the term older builders and architects often use. Stipulated sum is the term that shows up on industry documents, contract forms. Those are the industry standard contracts written by the American Institute of Architects for most cases. So if you see any of those three on a proposal, treat them as identical. They're the same contract type with a different name.

So how does the contractor arrive at one number? They take your plans, your specifications, and your scope of work, and they price out four buckets. Labor, materials, subcontractors, and equipment. And we covered those four buckets in detail back in Episode 49 and scattered about all of the previous episodes. But really we're talking about all the same four buckets.

Then they apply their profit and overhead on top. We call that P&O. And they hand you back a single number.

Now here's the difference from cost plus. In a cost plus contract, you see the P&O as a markup percentage on the bill every two weeks. In a fixed price contract, the P&O is baked into the number. You don't see it line by line. The contractor absorbs that visibility, but you get to absorb the certainty. You don't need to see receipts, you don't track invoices and budgets, you pay against a payment schedule, which I'll get into in segment three of this episode.

And here's the principle that runs through the entire contract. The price only changes if you change something.

So let me put a fine point on that because this is the principle the whole structure is built on. If the contractor underestimates the framing labor, that's their problem. If lumber goes up under pure fixed price, that's their problem. If a subcontractor falls through and they have to bring in a more expensive one, that's their problem. If material lead time stretches out, that's a schedule issue, not necessarily a cost issue. So long as you don't change the plans, you don't change the specs, and you don't change the scope, the number really doesn't move.

So here's where homeowners get tripped up. Three contractors bid your project. Two come back with cost plus with estimates of let's call it $600,000. One comes back fixed price at $750,000. And the homeowner looks at that and says fixed price is $150,000 more expensive. And that's not necessarily the best comparison. In fact, I'd even go as far as to say it's the wrong comparison.

The cost plus number is an estimate. No ceiling, no guarantee. The fixed price number is a contract. Capped and locked. So the fixed price contractor has to build in contingency for unknowns and they're absorbing risk you'd otherwise carry. And that contingency shows up in the number. And on most well-documented residential projects, the fixed price number comes in at or below where the cost plus would have landed at completion.

So a fixed price contractor will often provide you a much more comprehensive estimate and proposal because your plans and scope and specifications are well documented. And you can go back and listen to all my other episodes that really drive that point home.

And that's why a lot of people end up in trouble because they get enticed by the cost plus contract only to quickly realize that the price is going to continue to escalate as details are uncovered, lack of information is uncovered, lack of specifications are uncovered, and then change order after change order comes in.

I want to plant a seed here and we'll come back to it off and on throughout this entire podcast. So a fixed price bid almost always looks higher at proposal time and almost always costs less at the finish line.

So that's what fixed price is. But here's where most homeowners get this next part wrong. They think fixed price is something the contractor delivers. It really isn't. Fixed price is something you and your design team make possible, and the contractor either accepts your invitation or they don't. Let me show you how those four components work.

So I want to spend the heart of today's episode on what I call the four critical components. And these are the four things that have to be in place for a fixed price contract to really even exist for both sides, frankly.

These are the four things that have to be in place for a fixed price contract to really even exist. If even one of these is missing, your contractor is either going to refuse to fix price your job or they're going to fix price it and pad it so heavily it stops even being competitive.

What I want you to notice, and this is the most important thing in this entire four-episode series, is that three out of four components are about you and your design team, not about the contractor. The contractor is the last step in the chain. So let me walk these through.

Component number one. A set of plans tailored and detailed to your desires. And notice the word detailed. Not generic, not borrowed, not we'll figure it out in the field. Detailed. Tailored means designed for your project, your lot, your program, your priorities. Not pulled off of a plans website. Detailed means dimensions, sections, details, schedules, construction documents. Not conceptual sketches.

The plans are the contractor's eyes. If the plans are vague, the bid is vague or padded, and the contractor will protect themselves against what they really can't see. And if a contractor is willing to fix price off of vague plans, ask yourself why. Either they're absorbing a lot of risk you're gonna pay for in contingencies or they're planning to recover that risk through change orders later. Neither is really good for you.

Component number two. Thorough specifications and a detailed scope of work document. The specs and the scope of work are what's not on the plans. The plans show you where. The specs and scope of work tell you what. Specs cover materials. Every finished material, every plumbing fixture, every appliance, every lighting fixture by make, model, where possible. All of the material specifications for the project.

Just think about it. Your flooring, your baseboards, your cabinetry, your countertops, your backsplashes, your interior doors, your interior trim. It just goes on and on and on. And that's where I talked about in my work breakdown structure and how we organize all of these materials and decisions so that you as a homeowner can get covered. Make sure you've got all your decisions made and you can align your budgets and estimates by that work breakdown structure and you can go back and find that episode as well.

The scope of work document covers what the contractor is and isn't doing and just as importantly what materials they're providing versus what you're providing. So let me give you a concrete example. Let's just say, I don't know, a master bathroom remodel.

Without specs, the plan might say install tile. With the specs, the plans may say install Daltile, XYZ porcelain, 12 by 24, in a stack bond pattern with Schluter trim on Wedi backer with MAPEI thin set. These are technical terms and product terms that you or your architect can develop.

Without these specs the contractor really does guess. They put in a tile allowance. They install whatever fits the allowance. You might love it. You might hate it. If you hate it, that's a change order. It sounds dumb, but ultimately you will be picking out the material. But the key here is have you picked it out early enough for them to be able to assign a value to it so that you can avail and take advantage of fixed price contracting.

So with specs, the contractor prices exactly what you want. No guessing, no allowances, no surprises.

So back in Episode 53, the bid package episode I talked about, I walked you through exactly what should be in a bid set. Plans, specs, scope of work, options, alternates, allowances. That's what you hand to the contractors. Episode 53 is what makes fixed price possible. And if you didn't catch that one, you might want to go back to it at this point. Or just remember to go back to it after this episode if you're thinking about going down the fixed price path.

Component number three. A homeowner and a design team willing to invest the time and money to deliver thorough information. Notice this is the third component of four, and it's the one that decides whether the first two components really even happen.

So detailed plans cost money. Architects and designers don't deliver thorough construction documents in a budget package. You have to invest in that level of detail. And we're talking real design fees, not the bare minimum.

And specifications cost time. Selecting every material, every fixture, every appliance by make and model is a project of its own. It's months of decisions before construction starts. And this is where the design team comes involved, which could be a combination of your architect and your interior designer. And those responsibilities can get separated so the architect can focus on the design of the structure and the more holistic, higher-level look and the interior designer can get into what color grout you want, for example.

And a lot of homeowners want to skip this. They want to start construction faster. They want to save the design fees. They want to boast about how little they spent on their design fees, how they're going to act as their own interior designer. And a lot of people take a shortcut here. The shortcut not only does it close the door on fixed price, but it already undermines the quality of the project and the experience for you as a homeowner.

So here's the trade I want you to understand. You either invest the money and time up front in design or you absorb the risk later in construction. Risk doesn't disappear, it just moves. And it usually moves from a place where you can manage it, the design phase, to a place where you can't, the middle of construction.

And many builders will only fix price your job if you allow them to attach a material price escalation clause. And we'll cover that a little bit later.

If three builders look at your plans and all three decline fixed price, the issue might not be the builders. It might be the plans. So go back to your design team and find out what's missing. If one builder fixed prices it and two decline, ask the two who declined what's missing. Their answer will tell you whether the one who said yes is taking on a real risk or just willing to recover later through change orders. And that second case is a contractor you should really be careful with.

All right. And keep in mind that in earlier episodes during the design process, I spoke about how having an early conversation with your architect about the type of contract that you may want to engage with contractors on. And now hopefully that you're empowered with this information, you can actually intelligently ask those questions, which will influence or could influence, I should say, the mindset of the design professional, the level of details that are provided, the overall quality of plans and specifications.

I mean, in principle, that should always be done, regardless of the type of contract that you're thinking about doing. But unfortunately, it doesn't always happen. And the less it happens, the more vulnerable you are as a homeowner with your contracts. So I just want to drive that point home, and you can go back and look at the past design process episodes about that and learn just a little bit more.

All right, let me circle back to where I started this segment. So components one, two, and three are about you and your design team. Only component four is about the contractor. So three out of four. The contract you get is determined long before that contractor walks in.

All right, so you've done the work. You've detailed the plans, let's say. You've got the specs. You've invested. Contractors come back with fixed price bids. You picked one. Now, how does the money actually flow? Because in a fixed price contract, the payment schedule really isn't an optional thing. In many states, California is one, it's required by law.

So in a cost plus contract, the money flows continuously. You get a bill every couple of weeks, you review the receipts, you write the check. Episode 57 covered this in detail. In a fixed price contract, the money flows differently. You don't pay against receipts, you pay against milestones. And the milestones and how each one is valued are written into the contract before you sign it.

In many states, having a fixed price payment schedule in the contract is required by law. And that's not me being cautious. That's the state legislature saying, this protects homeowners, and we're going to require it.

And so why does this matter? There's three reasons why this matters. One, it prevents what's called front loading. Front loading is when a contractor takes a huge deposit and then becomes unmotivated to finish. Two, it prevents backloading. Backloading is when a contractor underbills, runs out of cash, and walks off the job before completion. And three, it gives both parties a predictable rhythm. So the contractor knows when the cash is coming, you know when the check is going, and nobody is guessing.

So let me walk you through what a typical fixed price payment schedule looks like on a custom home or major remodel project. There are different ways to really structure this, but the most protective version, the version I recommend, ties every draw to a verifiable construction milestone.

So an industry typical structure looks something like this. Mobilization deposit. This could be 10 to 20% of contract value to cover initial materials, permits, and scheduling, usually paid at signing or shortly thereafter. Now, you gotta be really careful here because there are many states, and I think California, no, I don't think, I know, California is one of them, you have to look at how much a contractor really can require upfront before they actually arrive to your job site. Once they mobilize to the job site and they're on the job working, that's a different story. But you want to be careful how much money is paid to a contractor before any mobilization occurs.

So another example is foundation complete and inspection passed. That's the next draw. Framing complete and inspection passed. Next draw. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing rough inspected. That's the next draw. Drywall's completed. Trim and finishes. I mean, that's a really high-level look. On many projects that I've done, it could be anywhere from 20 to 30 progress payments that are tied to specific milestones when things are completed.

So every draw can be verifiable. Every draw is field confirmed. There is no, I think we're at 50%. Either the framing inspection is signed off or it isn't. Either rough-ins are inspected or they aren't. The bar is really, really clear.

And here's the part most homeowners have never really heard of. And it's the single most powerful protection you have inside a fixed price contract and really any contract. It's a schedule of values. So if your contractor hasn't offered you one, you should ask for it.

And here's what it is. A schedule of values divides the total contract price into line items by category of work. Does that sound familiar from my previous episodes? The foundation, framing, roofing, plumbing, etc. So on a $750,000 contract, the schedule of values might show foundation at $45,000, framing at $90,000, mechanical at $60,000, and so on down the line until the line items sum to the contract total.

Now when the contractor submits a draw request, they bill against the schedule of values. Foundation 100% complete, $45,000 due. Framing 100% complete, $90,000 due, et cetera. You can see exactly what's being billed, and you can see exactly what's being completed. Either you agree, or you go walk the site and find out why.

A payment schedule without a schedule of values is just calendar dates with money attached. With a schedule of values, you've got verifiable progress with the money attached. And the schedule of values is industry standard on even the standard AIA contract forms, American Institute of Architects. There's standard contract forms out there. And it's one of the single most underused protections by residential homeowners. And most don't know to ask for it. So now you do.

Before I get into a little bit more detail on that, one of the things that really drives this values, this category of values, is the actual construction schedule. So we have the schedule of values, but then we actually have the construction schedule itself, which is the progression of all the tasks and events in the project from the day you start to the day you finish.

So a lot of contractors that are well managed and know how to manage a project have generated a detailed project schedule that is shared with you and should be shared with you at the time of contract signing. And then that empowers them to be able to flag the certain milestones of each of the progression of the project and relate those directly to the values for those completed tasks. So keep that in mind. Be looking for a project schedule, not schedule of values, a project schedule, construction schedule that directly correlates with the values that they're asking for in their payment schedule.

There's one other piece of information here about the progress payments and that's called retainage. Retainage is, could be, and every contractor is gonna do this a little bit differently. But retainage is a 5% value of every draw or one chunk at the end that you hold back until the punch list is done and the final walkthrough is complete. Retainage is really your leverage at the finish line. The contractor wants their last check, you want your punch list done. Retainage aligns those interests from both sides.

So industry typical retainage on residential fixed price is 5 to 10% of the contract value released after substantial completion is verified and the punch list is really signed off. The retainage is really the difference between paid in full and finished.

A material price escalation clause is a paragraph the contractor adds to a fixed price contract that says, if certain materials go up more than a certain percentage after we sign, the price gets adjusted. It is essentially a release valve on the pure fixed price principle.

So how do these clauses usually work? The contractor absorbs the first 5% or 10% of material price increases and anything above that gets passed through to you with documentation. And some clauses list specific materials such as lumber, steel, copper, sometimes even concrete. And others apply broadly to quote unquote covered materials. And some reference an objective index like the Producer Price Index, others reference supplier quotes.

The most protective clause for you the homeowner is one that's indexed to an objective measure like the PPI. And it removes subjectivity from this little trigger that can pop up on you.

So let me be clear about something. An escalation clause is not a contractor trying to game you. It's the market telling you that the risk has a price and someone has to carry it. So the question is, how is the risk really split?

And if you see an escalation clause in your contract, ask three questions. One, what's the threshold before it triggers? 5%, 10%? Two, is it indexed to an objective measure or to subjective supplier quotes? And three, is there a cap on how much can pass through to you? Those three answers tell you whether the escalation clause is balanced or whether it's a one-way street where you absorb all the upside risk.

Now the second thing every fixed price contract has, and one I've always handled a particular way in my own business, the change order and what I separately call the extra work order. So most contracts roll those two into one. And I split them apart, and let me tell you why.

A change order is when something that was in the original plans and specs gets changed. So you decide the kitchen tile is going to be a different make and model than what's on the plans and the specs. That's a change order. The origin is on you.

An extra work order is when something that was never in the original plans or specs gets added. You decide halfway through to install a security system that was never on the drawings. That's an extra work order. The origin is also on you, but the work is genuinely new scope.

So why do I split them? Because the conversation is really different. A change order is a substitution. Replace A with B, here's the delta. Usually a relatively clean math problem. An extra work order is an addition. A plus B, here's the new cost. Which usually has labor implications, schedule implications, and sometimes coordination implications with other trades.

So both require written documentation and your signature before the work starts. There really shouldn't be exceptions on that. And here's where I've seen more contractor-homeowner relationships break than anywhere else in my career. The contractor performs extra work without an approved order. They don't bring it up. They keep moving. And then a month later they hand you a bill for $15,000 of work you didn't approve.

So why does this really happen? Two reasons. One, contractors are people for the most part. They want to keep the momentum on site, not stop and write up an order. Two, and this is the real one, contractors hate confrontation. Asking for an order means having the cost conversation up front. So they do the work and they just hope you'll accept the bill at the end.

And your job is to enforce the discipline. No order signed by both of us, no work performed, and no exceptions. And even on small items, this should apply. I realize in reality when things are going, you could interject an intermediate step where there at least is some written communication such as, this is what it's going to be. Do you accept? Yes. And you say, yes, you've acknowledged and agreed. And they'll back it up with a formal change order or extra work order later to formalize the agreement that you have, but still in writing. So all in all, this isn't being a difficult homeowner. This is honoring the contract you both signed.

So a handshake feels nice. A signed order is what you'll have in your hand when you don't agree on what the handshake covered.

So here are the five questions I want you to actually answer for yourself.

Question one. Do I have the bandwidth to invest a sizable percentage of my time during the design process? Months of decisions, selections, and meetings before a single shovel hits the ground.

Question two. Am I willing to mitigate risk by investing enough money with the design team to let them document my project thoroughly? Meaning, real construction documents, not concepts.

Question three. Am I okay prioritizing my financial security over the construction start date? Meaning, I'd rather start later with certainty than start sooner with risk.

And question four. Is my contractor willing to enter into a fixed price contract based on my plans and specifications, and if they're not, do I really understand why?

Question five. Do I have a good feeling about my contractor candidates, or am I just selecting the least expensive one?

If you answered yes to all five, fixed price is your path. If you answered no to question one or question two, fixed price probably isn't gonna be possible for you. You need to revisit cost plus from Episode 56 and 57. If you answered no to questions three or five, you have homework to do before you sign anything.

All right, so we've walked the trail, both forks, four episodes, one body of work here. And you know more about contracting methods than probably 95% of homeowners have ever learned before they sign.

So let me close this out. Here's what we've covered today. Fixed price means one number, locked in, in exchange for a defined scope of work. It requires four components. Detailed plans, thorough specifications, a homeowner and a design team willing to invest, and a builder comfortable enough to agree. And three of the four are on your side of the table.

And the money flows on a milestone-based payment schedule governed by a schedule of values, driven by the construction schedule, with possibly a 5 to 10% retainage held until the punch list completion.

For those of you who are planning a project or planning to plan a project right now and want a structured way to work through these decisions, head over to buildquest.co and reserve your spot for beta testing of my BuildQuest software platform that I'm building just for you and your design professionals and your construction professionals. We're walking homeowners through exactly this kind of decision step by step.

And if this series has been helpful to you, do me a favor, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever else you're listening to it. Because what happens with the reviews is it's not just for me, it's for helping the platform surface these episodes more, ranking them higher, so the other homeowners that are interested in the same topics are actually able to find them frankly.

And share this episode with a friend who's planning a project and you can subscribe to the YouTube channel, The Awakened Homeowner, and you can always email me at wwreid@theawakenedhomeowner.com. That's R-E-I-D.

I think next week, in Episode 59, I'm gonna dive into understanding contracts themselves, which is a segment in the book that I've been wanting to elaborate on a lot. We'll get into change orders and extra work orders in detail, who you contract with, and all of those components.

So as always, I'm Bill Reid, Your Home Building Coach, and my mission is to enlighten, empower, and protect you. So let's go make it happen.