Q: We want to remodel our kitchen and have collected estimates from remodeling contractors and a custom home builder who has turned from new home construction to remodeling. The builder was referred by friends who love the house he built for them a few years ago, but his bid is so much lower than all the remodeling specialists that we wonder if we should be concerned or just consider ourselves lucky for finding someone who happens to be more "hungry" than the others.

– Tom Piper, Rio Linda

A: There can be many reasons for differences in estimates, but if all the contractors bid on the same plans and specification list of materials and most are pretty close, there is good reason to wonder about a much lower bid. Ask yourself if it might be due to cutting corners or reducing quality, says Scott Nulton, president of Nulton Remodeling Services in Sacramento.

"Remodeling is quite a different process than new construction, requiring a broader set of special skills," he says. "My guess is that the low bid could reflect the fact that although most builders can construct beautiful new homes from the ground up with all new materials, they are not familiar with the subtleties and surprises that inevitability occur in a residential remodel.

"They're usually not used to the complexities of working on a site where the homeowners are living, either, and that can create a lot of frustration and disappointment for everyone involved," he says.

These days, new homes are usually built by a series of workers and subcontractors who specialize in performing a single task in the construction process, such as setting concrete forms, framing walls, hanging drywall or installing trim, then moving on to another job while a different specialist performs the next step in that house. While this system is effective for building new homes in the shortest time possible, Nulton says it doesn't work for remodeling projects.

"Due to timing and space restrictions, remodeling specialists must possess the skills to not only work with both rough and finish carpentry, but also electrical, plumbing, lath and plaster, drywall, tile setting, masonry, flooring, painting and roofing," he says.

They must be able to match existing materials, trims and textures so their work looks original to the building. And since they are often required to modify or build cabinets on the job site, they need to be knowledgeable about historic methods and materials.

Working conditions also differ drastically between new construction and remodeling projects. Most new construction is done on bare sites, where workers typically leave all the scraps, tile slurry, concrete slop, leftover mortar, drywall tape and mud on site until the project is complete. Only then does the landscape crew clean up the site before covering everything over with new landscaping.

"The remodeling specialist does not have the same liberty because most residential remodels are performed while the client is living in the house," Nulton says. "This puts a demand on the workers and subcontractors to minimize noise, clutter and dirt."

A remodeling specialist must often be aware of the people around the job site, be considerate of their feelings and remain positive. When an unforeseen condition crops up after a project is started, he must tactfully explain the situation to the homeowner and often negotiate a change order.

"Over the years, we have discovered faulty plumbing, electrical and framing, additions and remodels that were done without permits, and work that not only didn't meet code but was unsafe as well," he says. "It can be tough explaining why a job will cost more or take longer than we expected, but these things must be corrected before we can proceed."

Such was the case when Nulton Remodeling Services updated the kitchen and master bathroom of the 1,850-square-foot home of Steve and Sherri Noss in Orangevale. Other than a strangely placed wall at the end of the kitchen counter and a poorly constructed archway between the dining room and kitchen, there were no obvious red flags as to what lay beneath the surfaces. But the first of many surprises arose before the project even started.