Is 5-10% enough?
Contingency budgets vary according to project.
For a deck project, 5 to 10% should be enough.
A kitchen project will be higher, say 15% to 20%, especially if you order custom cabinets with glass.
A bathroom project without fancy glass diamond tiling, should have at least 10 to 25%.
If contingency means changing your mind and upgrading, or running into dry rot, these are unknowns. No limit.
If you have carefully selected all you cabinets, vanities, sinks, mirrors, lights, toilets, flooring tile, paint, etc. then you can plan on 10%.
20% if you’re remodeling.
20% should suffice any project. We normally ask for 20% over bid in verified funding in escrow for unforeseen costs if needed. However, if customer isn’t issuing changes drastically beyond original scope or nothing unforeseen, your contractor should be able to stay in the 0-10% buffer range max. Anything over I would say is bad estimating practices.
10% for most residential estimating. Any more than that, excluding change orders, to me is just bad estimating. There is unforeseen work, granted it happens, but most of the time there are tell tale signs during the initial estimate.
10% is a good estimate.
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20% for this project
To give a fair answer, you would need to tell us more about the project. For example, if you’re performing a remodel and say are only removing a wall, than it is up to the contractor to perform due diligence and determine at bid time, any concerns which may not be readily identifiable and inform you as the client of those concerns. Some examples would be, is there underground plumbing? Has the home or structure been previously remodeled? Was previous work permitted etc. Your answers as the buyer should determine how much contingency you need to prepare for.
For new construction, there are precautions you can take such as engineering surveys and title searches etc. which will help to mitigate some of the project risk. Communicate with your project team prior to construction to identify potential risks and then decide a budget based off the costs identified by a proper risk analysis. Hindsight is usually the most expensive education.
Typically, we request a standard contingency budget of 10% for our clients.
Good Morning,
Depending on the size and scope of your project, a safe contingency would be 10% to 20%.