Every homeowner asks some version of the same question before they sign: what happens if this ends up costing more than the quote? Most contractors answer with a shrug — “material prices are unpredictable.” We answer with a number that doesn’t move: the price on your signed proposal is the price you pay. Period.

That’s not a slogan. It’s a real financial commitment, and it’s only possible because of how the price gets built before day one — not because of anything special about the number itself.

Why Most Renovation Quotes Aren’t What You Actually Pay

Ask anyone who’s lived through a renovation and you’ll hear the same story: the quote was one number, the final invoice was another. Here’s what usually causes it:

• ❌ A lowball number designed to win the bid — not to cover the job
• ❌ A vague, one-line quote where the gaps become “extras” once your kitchen is torn apart and you have no choice
• ❌ Materials priced at today’s cost with no plan for what happens if they move before the work is done
• ❌ Scope left loose enough that almost anything can get billed as “not included”

None of that is unusual. It’s just what happens when a price gets built to win a bid instead of to survive the job.

How We Build a Price That Can Survive Contact With Reality

A number that can carry a real financial guarantee has to be built differently from the start.

That planning is the entire guarantee — the same process we follow on every project we build. We’re not absorbing risk because we’re generous — we just did the math before we made the promise.

The Price Lock Guarantee, In Plain Terms

Your total price is written into your signed proposal, broken down line by line — every trade, every material, every step. If lumber jumps, if a supplier raises prices mid-job, if the labour takes longer than we planned, that’s ours to absorb, not your bill to cover.

There’s no “revised estimate” halfway through. The number you signed is the number you pay.

This is one piece of the Cornerstone Certainty Stack — the same set of written commitments that includes our $300/Day On-Time Guarantee.

What the Guarantee Doesn’t Cover — And Why That’s Honest, Not a Loophole

We’ll always be straight about the one thing that can change a locked price:

• ❌ A change you ask for partway through — upgrading a countertop, adding a pot filler, changing a finish you already chose. That’s new scope, handled through a written Change Order you approve before the work happens
• ❌ A genuinely concealed condition no one could see when we quoted — old wiring that isn’t to code, concealed water damage, a structural surprise. We stop, show you exactly what we found, and give you a price before any extra work or cost happens

What never changes the price is our side of it — our material costs, our labour, our time. That risk is ours to carry, not yours.

Won’t This Just Mean You Quote High to Protect Yourself?

No. We don’t inflate the number to build in a cushion — we price the actual job, in detail, because a vague one-line quote is exactly where surprise costs hide. A detailed, itemized proposal can look higher on paper than a vague low number. But it’s the number you’ll actually pay, and that’s usually the cheaper outcome in the end. We’d rather show you the real number up front than win the bid and make it up later.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s a Change Order, and when would I get one?

A Change Order is a short, written add-on to your contract for any work that wasn’t in the original plan — usually because you decided to upgrade or add something, or because we uncovered a hidden condition behind a wall. You see the cost and approve it in writing before that work starts. Nothing gets added to your bill without your say-so.

What if lumber or material prices go up after I sign?

That’s our problem, not yours. A fixed-price agreement means Cornerstone carries the risk of price spikes and labour overruns. Your price was locked when you signed, and a jump in our costs does not change it.

What about something hidden behind the walls?

Occasionally a renovation uncovers something no one could see when we quoted — old wiring that isn’t to code, concealed water damage, or similar. If that happens, we stop, show you exactly what we found, and give you a price to address it through a Change Order. You decide whether and how to proceed before any extra work or cost happens.

Why do other contractors’ quotes come in lower?

Sometimes because they’ve left things out that they plan to bill you for later, once you’re committed and the job is torn apart. A detailed, fixed price can look higher on paper than a vague low quote — but it’s the number you’ll actually pay, and that’s usually the cheaper outcome in the end. We’d rather show you the real number up front. We’ve written a longer breakdown of why we aren’t the cheapest option out there, if you want the full story.

Know Your Number Before You Start

A renovation is a big investment, and you deserve to know exactly what it costs before the first wall comes down. That’s the whole point of the Price Lock Guarantee — a detailed, fixed price you can plan around, backed by a company that carries the risk so you don’t have to.

You can see that same approach in the kitchen and bathroom renovations in our portfolio — every one of them built on a fixed, written number.