Solicit bids from 3-5 Renton whole-house remodel GCs

Before you read any bids: the empirical reality

Industry surveys are consistent: more than one in three homeowners (37% per Houzz's 2025 U.S. Renovation Trends Study) end up spending more than they planned, versus 35% who finish on budget and just 3% under. Older houses hide more unknowns than new-build, finish-stage upgrades compound late, and corrections from the inspector add line items nobody priced into the bid.

Practical implication: budget the lump-sum bid + 10–20% contingency, separately. Don't fold the contingency into your project envelope and then "use it up" buying finish upgrades — that's how the contingency disappears and the real overrun arrives. Treat it as an untouched reserve for genuine unknowns (failed soils test, dry rot found at framing, code-correction work).

Before you write the RFP: are you carving out any trades?

If you're thinking about hiring one or two trades directly (appliances, finish hardware, post-CofO landscape) instead of running everything through the GC, read Splitting scope between your GC and trades you hire directly before you finalize the bid package. The choice affects what scope each GC bids on and what coordination terms you'll need in the contract.

Match GCs to your scope band

Your scope memo from feasibility step 0.3 tells you which band you're in:

• Band 2 (interior remodel, no addition, $150K–$300K). General residential remodelers; often small crews + subs.
• Band 3 (interior + small addition, $300K–$600K). Mid-sized residential GCs who do 3–8 projects a year at this scale.
• Band 4 (down-to-studs + larger addition, $550K–$1.0M). Larger residential GCs with project-management infrastructure for 12+ month builds.

Where to find good GCs

1. Recent permit history. The Renton CASSP portal (permitting.rentonwa.gov) lets you look up recent residential addition and alteration permits in your neighborhood. The contractor names that appear repeatedly are your local specialists.
2. Your designer's short list. Your designer has worked with several GCs and knows who's good to work with. Ask — the list is biased toward GCs who collaborate well, which is what you want.
3. Verify on L&I. Any GC you're considering gets a check on L&I Verify before you invite them to bid.

Aim for three to five bids. Three gives you a real comparison. Five gives you negotiating room.

Send everyone the same package

Every GC has to be bidding the same thing:

• The same permit-ready plan set (same sheets, same revision, same date).
• The same abatement scope (lead and asbestos report from step 0.5 attached).
• The same energy compliance scope (any retrofit work triggered by the WSEC analysis, called out as a separate line).
• The same allowance lines for finishes, cabinets, fixtures, appliances — same dollar amounts.
• The same exclusions stated up front.

Reading the bids

Bids on the same package typically cluster within 10–15% of each other. If one bid comes in 25%+ below the rest, walk it line-by-line. Almost always the gap is missing scope, not a more efficient builder.