One Number, No Asterisks: How Fixed-Price Design-Build Works
Why does one contractor quote $200,000 and the next quotes $130,000 for the same project? Are you bracing for the “that’ll be a change order” phone call halfway through?
What if you could know the real number before you ever signed?
In this post, you’ll learn how fixed-price design-build works, how it differs from bidding and cost-plus, and why it nearly eliminates surprise costs.
By the end, you’ll know why the price should be set before demo day, not discovered during it.
What Is Fixed-Price Design-Build?
Fixed-price design-build is a model in which one team designs and builds your project under a single agreement, committing to a single price for a fully defined scope before construction begins.
The price doesn’t change unless you change the scope.
Because the same team handles design and construction, the budget and the drawings are developed together, not in separate silos that collide once the work starts.
The Three Ways Contractors Price a Project
Most remodeling prices come in one of three forms. They are not the same, and the cheapest-looking one often isn’t.
| Pricing model | How it works | Who carries the risk |
| Time and materials | You pay actual labor and materials as you go, with no guaranteed total. | You do. |
| Cost-plus | You pay actual cost plus a set contractor fee. | Mostly you. |
| Fixed price | One agreed-upon number for a fully defined scope, set before the build. | The contractor. |
With time and materials, the final bill can land well past the estimate.
With fixed price, the number is locked, and the contractor is the one motivated to solve problems and find efficiencies, because overruns come out of their margin, not your wallet.
Why a Bid and an Opinion of Cost Aren’t the Same Thing
A bid is an offer of a price, and the whole game of bidding is to be the lowest number.
At Stately Design & Remodel, we don’t bid. We give an opinion on cost instead.
Early in the process, before selections are made, we provide a general budget so your design is built around a number you’re already comfortable with.
That’s the difference between chasing the lowest bid and designing toward a real budget.
A low bid on incomplete plans isn’t a deal.
It’s a setup for change orders later.
How Pricing Alongside the Design Kills the Surprises
Here’s the trap in the traditional model. You design first and price later.
That’s where sticker shock lives, and where “that wall can’t come out without more structure” turns into a change order after demolition.
When design and pricing happen together, structural questions, load-bearing walls, and feasibility get checked while the layout is still on paper, when a change costs a pencil eraser instead of a demo crew.
Material and selection decisions get locked early, too, so nothing stalls mid-build waiting on a finish.
The problems still exist.
We just find them in design, not in your living room.
How We Do It: The Pre-Construction Agreement and the SRS Tiers
This is the heart of how we work. We define your full scope and selections in a pre-construction agreement, then tie them to a fixed final price.
That agreement covers our design and estimating time, and if you build with us, it applies to your project cost.
Once every selection is locked, you get one number, and you move into construction knowing exactly what’s happening, what it costs, and what to expect.
We’ve organized this into three models we call Streamlined, Refined, and Stately.
- Streamlined is our fixed-price, fixed-scope path for kitchens and bathrooms, with curated selections and a price you can see before you call. Kitchens start at $65,000 and bathrooms at $57,000.
- Refined is a more personalized renovation that keeps the same structure and clarity, for projects that want flexibility without moving walls.
- Stately is the fully bespoke, design-build experience for whole-home renovations and additions, where we move load-bearing walls, relocate plumbing, and build from the ground up.
As our founder puts it, a true fixed price is a whole different concept, because almost nobody does it; the other approaches are just regular remodels.
What to Ask Any Firm That Says “Fixed Price”
Not every “fixed price” is fixed.
Ask the right questions, and you’ll see the difference fast.
Make sure the price is built on a complete, written scope, not a thin set of plans padded with allowances.
Ask whether labor is fully fixed or whether big line items like plumbing and electrical are left as allowances you’ll owe against later.
Ask who your single point of contact is once the work starts.
With us, that’s a dedicated project manager, the scope is fully defined before demo, and the number you sign is the number you pay unless you change the plan.
That’s the whole promise.
One number. No asterisks.
Skip the Change-Order Surprise with Stately Design & Renovation
We design and estimate together in a pre-construction agreement, then lock in a fixed price tied to your finalized selections, so the number is based on real decisions and only moves if you change the scope.
Ready for a price you can actually plan around? Fill out our contact form today or give us a call, and we’ll start the pre-construction phase, turning your scope and selections into a single fixed number with a dedicated project manager from day one.
