Is it so hard to find a good contractor??

I am seriously annoyed right now.

About 2 weeks before Miss Flair started (so, about 15 September, or thereabouts) I contacted 3 firms to provide quotes on our office refit. Essentially, we have two options for creating a new office for me. One is to take over part of the conference room and build an office in there, and the other is to completely change the office around, making the current reception area a waiting room, the current waiting room a library, dividing my boss's current office in two and making one half the reception and one half my office, and moving him into his current lounge room (which he never uses).

The second option makes much better use of the floor space, but would involve convincing my boss to move to a smaller office. I justify that by saying the room he would be moving to is bigger than the space he currently utilises in his office (half of the office is just empty floor), but that doesn't mean I will convince him to move to a smaller office.

It also sounds like a lot more work, but in reality, we're just moving around most of the current furniture. The only difference between the first and second options is that the second option involves building some bookshelves, and also involves dismantling and rebuilding the current reception area. So essentially, I didn't think the two quotes would be all that different. Maybe the second one would be double the first at an absolute stretch. Especially taking into consideration the fact I have done all of the measurements myself, and drawn up very detailed floor plans, and a schedule of the works involved. Any companies quoting on the work just have to look at it and write down a price and send it back.

So, out of the three companies I contacted first, one didn't bother to respond. The second came to look at the office, and then quoted on something completely different, saying they couldn't provide an office to fit that space (because they only did pre-fab instead of custom, despite claiming to be custom). The third company came, inspected the premises, and then quoted on both options, however I couldn't understand their quote, as it didn't seem to match the schedule of works I had given them. The quote was also not itemised. I sent an email back on 6 October, but have had no response.

I then contacted another firm to give a quote, and they came out, looked at the office, and then sent through two quotes. The first quote was ok, but the quote for the second option was ridiculously overpriced. The quotes were also not itemised as I had requested. So I sent back an email asking them to itemise the quotes. My reason for this is not because I want to micromanage the project. If I accepted the quote and they began work, I wouldn't care what one particular part of the project cost, as long as the entire project came in at their budget. If a door cost $200 less than the quote, but a cupboard cost $200 more, I wouldn't care. I just want an itemised quote so I can revise my options if necessary. If it turns out one part of the design I have come up with is too expensive, then I can revise it. If I just have a total quote, I don't know what part of the project costs what. Makes sense to me.

In any event, the second quote was nearly 4 times the price of the first, and it didn't make any sense. When I saw the itemised quote, I knew what they had done. The first quote was fine, although on the itemised quote they sent through, they had changed the figures to make it slightly higher. Because the second option is pretty much the same as the first, just with the addition of book shelves and the dismantling/rebuilding of an existing reception area, they had to copy the figures across from the first option, but then try to make up the rest of the figures they had originally quoted me. They had obviously just thought to themselves at first, "Ok, let's just quote x on this second option" and didn't realise they would have to justify it. So what they did was copy across the figures for the identical items, and then divide the remainder between the rebuild of the reception area and the bookcases. Which meant the rebuilt reception area now cost more than what the entire new office cost, and three bookcases also now cost more than the entire new office.

Obviously, that doesn't make any sense. So I sent back an email asking them about it and asking if we could speak about cheaper bookshelves, or other options or something. I was not accusatory. I did not call them out on what they had done. I then get this email,

Thank you for the opportunity to quote on your project. At this stage, we are far too busy to be constantly revising and breaking down our quotes. We wish you the best with your project.

I couldn't believe it! They'd pulled out of the entire project because I had queried the discrepancies in their quote! How unprofessional! So I sent them back an email telling them as much, and that I would be "forwarding on my thoughts of their company to the other businesses I deal with."

I have since contacted another firm, and am hoping that this time, I will get some decent quotes. I'm annoyed this has dragged on so long. I just want an office built! I am currently sitting in the conference room when Miss Flair is in, and it's not a very ergonomic set up. I spend half my weekend recovering from sitting at an odd angle with a computer screen at the incorrect height.

Seriously, is it that hard to give a quote on some works? Especially when all the hard work has been done for you? Can anyone recommend any office outfitters?