John, you know my ethics. However, I feel that in order to even come close on the bids you almost need to bid the minimum. If you do more your price will be inflated even though you have gone to the trouble to provide more than minimums and have added value through intelligent design. Does the customer know that your price already includes most or all of the future extras from another contractor. I don't think so, unless you can instill upon them the benefit of using your services.
Providing a detailed estimate and taking the extra time to value engineer also costs you additional time that you may not recover if you do not get awarded the job.
I too have lost bids by adding what the customer was going to ask for but did not know enough to express during the bidding. I was called by the customer and asked why I was several thousand higher than the other bids. I took the time to explain that the others may only have someone that could only connect the dots doing the work and may have someone check there work vs me doing all the work. I also asked questions about furniture placement, extra switching etc. I also showed examples of the recessed fixture trims that were standard versus the cheap trim rings that allow you to see up into the housings. All these thing work against someone that wants to provide a decent product for the price given. Just another example of the old adage about quality while the low price is forgotten. OK, so I don't have that quote exactly right, but senoir moments happen.
