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How to Compare Insulation Quotes: The Ten-Line Grid That Puts Three Attic or Spray Foam Quotes Side by Side So the Cheap One Stops Looking Cheap
Insulation & Air Sealing
Three Insulation Quotes, Ten Lines, One Grid: How to Make Them Price the Same Attic Before You Pick the Cheap One
Three attic quotes come back at $3,400, $4,900 and $5,800 and the first thing everyone does is pick the middle one, on the theory that the cheap one is hiding something and the dear one is greedy. Sometimes. More often the three contractors measured three different attics, started from three different R-values, and two of them left out the air sealing. A quote is only cheap compared to another quote for the same job, and nobody writes the same job unless you make them. This page is the grid I use to read insulation quotes for the $99 review: ten lines, every quote filled in on every line, blanks treated as zero. It takes twenty minutes.
The ten lines
| Line | What the quote has to say | If it is blank |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Area | Square feet of attic floor, wall or roof, measured, with the number written down | Nobody measured. Measure it yourself: length times width of the house, less the garage if it is not heated. |
| 2. Existing R | What is there now, by product and depth in inches, with the R it converts to | The starting point for the price and the rebate band is a guess, and it will be guessed low. |
| 3. Target R | R-50 or R-60, as a number, with the finished depth in inches for that product | “Topped up” is not a target. R-50 cellulose is about 14 in.; R-60 about 16.5 in. |
| 4. Product | Blown cellulose, blown fibreglass, batts, closed-cell foam, open-cell foam, with the brand | The price per R differs by product and so does the settling. Fibreglass blows $0.25 a square foot more and settles less. |
| 5. Depth markers and coverage | Depth rulers stapled to the trusses, insulation carried over the top plates to the eaves, baffles keeping the soffits open | No way to check the depth after, and the plates, the coldest part of the ceiling, stay bare. |
| 6. Air sealing | Itemized: top plates, plumbing stack, wire penetrations, duct boots, pot light covers, bath fan, hatch gasket, with a price per square foot or a lump sum | It is not happening. This is the line the low quote drops. |
| 7. Baffles and the hatch | Baffles at every soffit bay, about $300; hatch insulated and weatherstripped, $150 to $250 | The blown insulation blocks the soffits and the hatch stays a 2 ft square hole in the R-60. |
| 8. Removal and contamination | Whether anything comes out, at what unit rate, and a written line that wet, mouldy, rodent-contaminated or vermiculite insulation stops the job and is priced after inspection | The crew finds the mouse nest on the day and either blows over it or hands you an invoice you never agreed to. |
| 9. Warranty and the paperwork | Workmanship warranty in years, WSIB clearance, liability insurance, and for foam the CUFCA installer card and the daily work sheet with lift thickness and density | Ask. A contractor who has them sends them in an hour. |
| 10. Rebate participation | Whether the contractor is on the Home Renovation Savings participating list, and the invoice format the program wants: starting R, finished R, area, HST | No rebate, however good the work. The list is closed to new contractors; ask, then check it yourself. |
The contractors section turns the same ten lines into contract language once you have picked a quote. The rebate page has line 10 in full.
Three real quotes on the grid
The attic: 1,200 sq ft, 1975 bungalow, about 6 in. of settled cellulose, R-20, two bath fans, eight pot lights, one hatch in the hall closet.
Quote A, $3,400. “Top up attic insulation to R-50, blown cellulose.” No area, no existing R, no depth, no air sealing, no baffles, no hatch. On the grid: 1,200 sq ft, R-20 to R-50 is 30 R-points at $0.065, $1.95, so $2,340 of insulation; the rest of the $3,400 is unexplained, and lines 5 through 8 are zero. Not on the participating list. The attic will be R-50 with the top plates bare, the soffits half blocked and eight pot lights pumping house air into it.
Quote B, $4,900. 1,200 sq ft measured; existing 6 in. cellulose, R-20; target R-60 with 16.5 in. finished depth and rulers; blown cellulose; baffles 48 bays; hatch weatherstripped and a foam box; air sealing “included”. Grid: 1,200 at $2.60, $3,120; baffles $300; hatch $350; that is $3,770, so “included” air sealing is carrying about $1,130, which is right for $1.00 a square foot but it is not itemized and the pot lights are not mentioned. Participating contractor, so up to $1,000 back if the house qualifies. Line 8 blank.
Quote C, $5,800. Same measurements as B. Air sealing itemized: top plates, stack, wires, two bath fan boots, eight airtight pot light covers at $45, $360, hatch gasket, 1,200 at $1.00, $1,200. Baffles $300, hatch $200. Contamination clause: wet, mouldy or vermiculite stops the job, rodent material removed at $3.00 a square foot if found, fog $300. Depth rulers, photos before and after, 5-year workmanship warranty, WSIB and insurance attached. Not a participating contractor. Grid: $3,120 + $1,200 + $360 + $300 + $200 is $5,180; the $620 over that is the contamination contingency and the margin, which he says so.
B and C are the same job within $900, and C has written down everything B is promising with “included”. A is a different job that happens to be in the same attic. The winner depends on line 10: if the house qualifies for the rebate, B with a request to itemize the sealing; if it does not, C, every time. The attic insulation cost calculator builds the comparison column in a minute, which is what I used to check all three.
The spray foam version of the grid
Foam quotes hide things in different places. Line 1 is the area of each surface separately, rim, wall, roof deck, not one total. Line 3 is thickness in inches per surface and the board feet that comes to, because 2 in. and 3 in. at $1.25 are $2.50 and $3.75 a square foot and a quote that says only “spray foam, $3,750” could be either. Line 4 is closed or open cell by name with the R per inch; open cell does not go on a basement wall or a roof deck in Ontario without a vapour retarder. Line 6 becomes masking, $150 to $500, and backing at $2.00 a square foot, both extras on the day if they are not on the paper.
Line 9 matters most: the CUFCA installer card with a photo, CAN/ULC S705.1 and S705.2 named, and the daily work sheet with lift thickness and density, because off-ratio foam or a lift sprayed too thick is a problem you find out about in February. And a line for the thermal barrier: any foam left exposed inside the living space needs 1/2 in. drywall or an intumescent coat at $1.25 to $2.00 a square foot, and a quote that leaves it off is leaving the fire code to you. The minimum charge, $900 to $1,500, belongs on the quote as its own line.
Reading the grid
- Fill in every blank yourself before comparing prices. Measure the attic, read the depth with a ruler, count the pot lights. A quote with blanks is priced on your ignorance.
- Price the insulation line alone on each quote at $0.065 per R-point per square foot. Whatever is left over is the extras, named or not. On Quote A it was $1,060 of nothing.
- Treat “included” as “unpriced”. Ask for it as a line. A contractor who will not itemize $1,200 of air sealing is not planning to spend a day on it.
- Weight line 6 above line 3. R-50 over a sealed ceiling beats R-60 over a leaky one, and the air sealing cannot be done after.
- Do not let the rebate choose the contractor by itself. Up to $1,000 is a lot; a bare top plate and a mouse nest under 16 in. of cellulose is more. Line 10 is a tie-breaker between two complete quotes, not a reason to accept an incomplete one.
- Walk away from any quote that prices vermiculite removal without a test, or proposes to blow over wet or mouldy material, or will insulate around knob-and-tube wiring. Those are not price differences.
Questions people ask
Why are my insulation quotes so different?
Because they are rarely pricing the same job. Different measured areas, different assumed starting R-values, and air sealing, baffles, hatch and removal present on one quote and absent on another. Put all three on the ten-line grid with blanks counted as zero and the spread usually closes to a few hundred dollars, or one quote drops out.
What should an attic insulation quote include?
Measured area, existing product and depth with its R, target R with the finished depth, product and brand, depth rulers and coverage over the plates, itemized air sealing, baffles, the hatch, a removal and contamination clause, the warranty with WSIB and insurance, and whether the contractor is a rebate participant.
Is the cheapest insulation quote usually bad?
Not always, but it is usually incomplete. The low quote most often drops the air sealing, which is the line that saves the most per dollar and cannot be added after the blow. Fill in the grid; if the cheap quote survives it, take it.
How do I compare spray foam quotes?
By surface, thickness and board feet, with closed or open cell named and the R per inch stated; masking and backing as lines; the minimum charge shown; the CUFCA installer card and daily density sheet promised; and the thermal barrier over any exposed foam priced. Two quotes for “spray foam” with one total each cannot be compared at all.
Build the comparison column first
The attic insulation cost calculator prices your attic on all ten lines at this site’s rates, which gives you the column every quote is read against. If three quotes are already on the kitchen table, the $99 review is me filling in the grid for you, with a written note on which lines each one is missing and which one I would sign.
Sources and further reading
- CUFCA Quality Assurance Program: Canadian Urethane Foam Contractors Association: certified installers with photo ID, licensed contractors, daily work sheets and the CAN/ULC S705 standards a spray foam job is held to.
- Home Renovation Savings: attic insulation without an assessment: the standalone attic rebate: starting and target R-values, caps, the participating-contractor rule and who is excluded.
- Your rights when starting home renovations or repairs: Ontario government: the 10-day cooling-off period, the written contract rule and estimates.
