Got a renovation quote? Don't sign it yet.
Have it independently checked before you commit.
Contractor quotations can look similar on the bottom line while containing very different scope, specifications, exclusions and allowances.
“If your quotation is good, we'll tell you.”
DBI Quote Check Report
- Executive assessment
- Quote structure and completeness
- Scope gaps and potential omissions
- Exclusions requiring attention
- Allowances and provisional sums
- Pricing items requiring clarification
Plus specification, payment terms, variation exposure, questions for your contractor and recommended next steps. See the full contents.
- 1You uploadYour contractor's quotation, plus drawings or a specification if you have them.
- 2DBI reviewsAn experienced professional reads it the way a contractor wrote it.
- 3You receive your reportA concise written assessment with the questions to send back.
- 4You decideSign, clarify, renegotiate or look elsewhere. It stays your decision.
The total is the last thing we look at.
Most of what decides the final cost of a renovation sits in the lines above the total, and in the lines that are not there.
Scope completeness
Whether the quotation actually covers the job you described, area by area and trade by trade.
Missing items
Work that any renovation of this type needs but that does not appear anywhere in the pricing.
Exclusions
What the contractor has said is not included, and what that is likely to mean for you later.
Allowances and provisional sums
Placeholder figures that can move once work begins, whether they look realistic, and whether they sit inside the total or outside it.
Pricing anomalies
Rates or lump sums that look unusually high, unusually low, or impossible to check as written.
Vague specifications
Descriptions loose enough that two very different products would both satisfy them.
Payment structure
How much you pay and when, compared with how much work will have been done by then, and whether the milestones can actually be verified.
Variation exposure
Where the wording leaves room for extra charges during construction.
Document consistency
Where you supply drawings or a specification, whether the quotation matches them, which revision was priced, and what happens to work that is drawn but not listed.
We also note any obvious technical or commercial concerns, and we write out the questions and clarifications worth raising with your contractor before you sign.
A concise, professional report. Yours to keep and to use.
The DBI Quote Check Report is written for a homeowner, not for another consultant. Each section is included where it applies to your quotation.
The classification describes the quality of the quotation and documents. It is not a rating of the contractor.
- Executive assessment
- Quote structure and completeness
- Scope gaps and potential omissions
- Exclusions requiring attention
- Allowances and provisional sums
- Pricing items requiring clarification
- Specification weaknesses
- Payment and commercial observations
- Potential variation exposure
- Questions to send back to the contractor
- Recommended next steps
One fixed fee, set by the size of the quotation.
The fee reflects how much there is to read. A larger quotation usually means more trades, more documents and more to cross-check. It is a fixed fee, not a percentage of your project, and it does not change with what we find. We confirm it in writing before we start.
We know the market. We just don't work for it.
Years inside Dubai fit-out and renovation are what make a review useful. We know how quotations are put together, what typically gets left out and what things tend to cost.
What matters is who we answer to. You pay us for an independent assessment. We earn no commission or referral fee from any contractor or supplier, whichever way the review comes out, so we have no reason to find fault with a sound quotation.
If your quotation is good, we'll tell you.
Dubai Marina apartment renovation
A homeowner approached DBI with an existing renovation quotation before committing. We reviewed it against the floor plan. This is some of what the review recorded.
The arithmetic, for the record, was correct. Every line and every total added up, which is exactly why the total on its own told the homeowner so little.
A desktop review of the documents supplied, without a site visit. Identifying details have been removed. Comments on contract terms are commercial observations, not legal advice.
A Quote Check is a professional review of the documents you send us. It is as good as those documents allow. It is not a site survey, a guarantee of your final construction cost or an assurance of how a contractor will perform, and no review can promise to catch every omission or future variation. What it does is put an experienced second reader between you and your signature.
Upload your quote
Send us the quotation and a few details. We reply within one business day to confirm the fixed fee and when your report will be ready. Nothing is charged by submitting this form.
Start with the free Strategy Session
Forty-five minutes on your budget, scope and next steps, before you speak to contractors. Book free →
Tender Intelligence™ compares them
Quote Check reads one quotation in depth. To put several side by side on a like-for-like basis, see Tender Intelligence™ →
Before you upload
What if my quotation turns out to be fine?
Then the report says so. We are paid the same fixed fee whatever we find, and we earn nothing from steering you towards or away from any contractor. A clear quotation is a good outcome, and it is worth knowing before you sign.
Will you tell me whether the price is fair?
We flag rates and lump sums that look out of line with what we would expect for the scope described, and items that cannot be assessed because they are not broken down. A Quote Check is not a full re-pricing of the project. If you want an independent budget built from measured quantities, that is what the Renovation Blueprint™ is for.
Do you contact my contractor?
No. The review is between you and DBI. You receive the questions worth asking and decide whether and how to raise them.
What do you need from me?
The quotation itself, in any format. Drawings, a finishes schedule or a written scope make the review considerably more useful because we can check the quotation against them, but they are not required.
How and when do I pay?
Nothing is charged when you upload. We look at what you have sent, confirm the fixed fee and the delivery date in writing, and only begin once you have agreed.
Is my quotation kept confidential?
Yes. Your documents are used only for your review. We do not share them with contractors, suppliers or anyone else.
Can a review guarantee there will be no extra costs later?
No, and anyone who promises that is overselling. A Quote Check reduces the risk by identifying what is unclear or missing in the documents before you commit. It cannot foresee site conditions or how a contractor will behave.
Read it properly once, before you sign.
DBI Quote Check, from AED 495. If your quotation is good, we'll tell you.