If you’ve ever collected multiple contractor bids and felt like you were comparing apples to oranges, you’re not alone. The biggest reason quotes don’t line up isn’t that contractors are being difficult—it’s that the project wasn’t defined clearly enough up front.
A clear RFP (Request for Proposal) protects you. It reduces assumptions, prevents surprise costs, and makes it possible to evaluate bids fairly.
The core problem: no RFP means assumptions
When a contractor is asked to “quote the job” without a clear scope, they have to fill in the blanks. That means each contractor is effectively quoting a different project.
- Contractor A may assume a premium solution with best-in-class equipment and extra labor for a clean installation.
- Contractor B may assume a mid-tier approach to hit a “reasonable” number.
- Contractor C may quote the bare minimum to come in lowest—then rely on change orders once the real requirements show up.
None of these quotes are truly wrong. They’re just based on different assumptions.
Why your quotes won’t align (and why that’s risky)
When bids don’t align, it becomes easy to make the wrong decision for the wrong reason.
- You can’t compare value because the scope and quality vary.
- You can’t predict the real total cost because missing items turn into add-ons.
- You increase the chance of change orders because the contractor priced what they thought you meant.
And the most common trap is choosing the lowest number—only to discover later that the low bid excluded key items you assumed were included.
Example: quoting a business video surveillance system
Video surveillance is a perfect example of how unclear requirements create wildly different proposals.
If you ask three companies to “quote cameras for our building,” you’ll likely get three different designs:
- One company may prioritize full coverage with overlapping camera views and higher-resolution cameras.
- Another may reduce camera count to control cost, leaving blind spots.
- Another may quote the minimum number of cameras with basic features just to win on price.
Then, once installation starts, you realize you need:
- Coverage in additional areas (shipping/receiving, parking, entrances, cash handling)
- Higher resolution for identification
- Night performance requirements
- Remote viewing and user permissions
- Retention requirements (how many days of video storage)
- Integration with access control or alarms
If those requirements weren’t in the RFP, they become change orders.
The hidden cost of the “lowest bid”
A low bid can mean one (or more) of these:
- Missing scope (items intentionally or unintentionally excluded)
- Inferior equipment (lower-grade cameras, recorders, or networking components)
- Inferior installation (poor cable management, improper terminations, lack of labeling, weak mounting, shortcuts)
- Work that doesn’t meet standards or quality expectations
In other words, the lowest number can turn into the highest total cost—especially when you factor in rework, downtime, and ongoing issues.
What a good RFP should include (so bids match)
You don’t need a 40-page document. You need clarity.
Include:
- Objectives
- What problem are you solving? (security, loss prevention, safety, compliance)
- Coverage requirements
- Areas that must be covered and any known blind spots to address
- Performance requirements
- Image quality expectations, night performance, identification needs
- Features
- Remote access, alerts, analytics, license plate capture, motion zones, etc.
- Retention and storage
- Required days of storage, cloud vs on-prem, export needs
- Installation expectations
- Cabling type, labeling, conduit requirements, patch panel expectations, workmanship standards
- Assumptions and exclusions
- Spell out what must be included and what can be optional line items
- Format for pricing
- Require line-item pricing and clear alternates (good/better/best if you want options)
The bottom line
If you want contractor quotes that align, you need a clear RFP. Without it, every contractor will make different assumptions, and you’ll end up comparing different solutions—not different prices.
Define the scope, define the expectations, and require consistent pricing formats. You’ll get bids that are easier to evaluate, fewer change orders, and a project that meets your standards the first time.
