Without a good plan and specs the contractor is starting with the minimum that meets code. The customer shops by price and thinks it is a Ferrari he is paying for. Hey bad planning does not get a reward and the contractor is not unethical because he bid based on code and not a plan,
My Humble opinion.
It can be to the benefit of a contractor to show a bare bones pass inspection price and then up sell features according to the customers desires and budget but I don't think it is unethical to offer the bare bones where there is no plan or spec to bid on. I know customers can be pretty ignorant of codes and even budgets but how does a contractor become responsible for educating every customer? A good plan has no extras and a bad plan can cost the contractor regardless of extras.
I worked on a big job for Department of National Defence. There was a plan but it was so bad that there was 105 electrical change orders. OK you are thinking we should have made a killing but think of a building the size of a football field where ever time you organize a work flow the general stops work for a change order. Your crews are spending more time re-tasking and all the Foreman's time is spent getting the estimator information and trying to find any way to accomplish something that will get the job closer to a final. Change orders can have a huge impact on the orderly progress of a job. there are costs no estimator can fairly price so that the total impact is reflected in the change order price. On this project the plans were all but useless and even after all the change costs were factored in the company was $135,000 over costs. After some hard negotiation with an expert in change order impact the company managed to get $85,000 more out of the Federal Government but if you do the math the company wound up supporting the defence department to the tune of 50 grand. No one was given a civilian medal for this.
