Should I take on a job outside my normal type of work?
Short answer
Only if you can price the unknown honestly and you have someone on the crew who's actually done it before. 'We'll figure it out' is how bids turn into losses.
The real question isn't interest, it's cost of the unknown
Taking on unfamiliar work isn't wrong, it's how you grow into new services. The risk is pricing it like work you know cold, when in reality you don't have the reference points to estimate labor hours or catch hidden problems the way you do on your bread-and-butter jobs.
Add a real contingency line, higher than you'd use on familiar work, specifically because you're estimating blind in places. If that contingency makes the bid uncompetitive, that's honest information, not a reason to shave it down.
Line up the expertise before you say yes
Bring in a sub or a consultant who's actually done this type of work, even just for a walkthrough before you bid, to sanity check your scope and price. Paying someone a few hundred dollars to review your estimate before you commit is far cheaper than learning the hard way mid-job.
Be honest with the customer that this is a newer area for you if it's a meaningfully unfamiliar scope. Most customers respect that more than finding out later that you were guessing the whole time.
Before saying yes to unfamiliar work
- 1.Identify exactly which parts of the scope you've done before versus haven't.
- 2.Get a sub or consultant with real experience in the unfamiliar part to review your scope and pricing before you bid.
- 3.Add a higher contingency line specifically for the unfamiliar portions, 15 to 20% instead of your normal 5 to 10%.
- 4.Decide in advance whether you'll tell the customer this is newer territory for you.
- 5.Set a walk-away price, if the honest number kills the deal, let it.
Where owners get this wrong
- Pricing unfamiliar work with your normal contingency because it feels similar enough.
- Saying yes to keep a customer happy without lining up real expertise first.
- Hiding the fact that it's new territory instead of being upfront about it.
Ask your version of this question
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