Framing and Building System Quote Review ($99): A Builder Puts Your Framing, Truss, SIP, Log, Timber Frame or Modular Quotes on One Grid

Framing & Building SystemsIndependent review

Framing and Building System Quote Review: A Builder Reads Your Quotes Before You Sign

Up to three quotes on one grid, brought to the same level of completion, with a plain answer. No framer, supplier or factory behind it, and no commission on who you hire.

Three numbers for the same house: a $58,500 SIP package, a $96,000 framing quote and a $339,500 modular price. They look like a choice between cheap, middling and dear. They are not even the same thing. One is panels on a truck, one is a framed and sheathed shell, and one is most of a house that still needs a foundation, a crane and a hookup. The review puts every quote at the same level, prices what each one left out, and tells you which one to sign or what to ask first.

Reviews are done by an Ontario builder who has been building since 1979, with 300-plus houses behind him. He builds ICF houses, says so, and reads wood, SIP, log, timber and modular quotes on the same terms. Checked October 2026. Turnaround three business days.

What you get

Framing and Building System Quote Review
$99

Up to three quotes, or one quote plus your plans. HST added at checkout.

  • Every quote put on the same line-by-line grid, side by side
  • Each quote labelled by level: kit or materials, installed structure, closed-in shell, finished house, or house plus site
  • What each one leaves out, in dollars: the foundation, delivery and crane, erection labour, roof, windows, insulation, engineering, permits, site work
  • For framing: the square footage each framer used, what is in the lumber package, the trusses, beams and engineered floor, and who supplies them
  • For SIP, log, timber frame and modular packages: what the factory makes, what still has to be built on site, and who is responsible for the structural design
  • For a wall removal or beam: whether an engineer and a permit are in the price
  • The questions to send back to each company, and a plain answer: sign this one, go back to that one with these questions, or walk
Order the quote review

More than three quotes, or a full set of plans priced several ways, is quoted separately; email first. The review is not structural engineering, a design, an inspection or a permit drawing.

How it works

  1. Order. Pay by card on the Stripe page. HST is added at checkout; you get an emailed receipt and a page telling you exactly what to send.
  2. Send the paper. Reply to the receipt email with the quotes as PDFs or clear phone photos, the plans or a sketch with the main dimensions, and the result from the building system comparison, the framing cost calculator or the kit to finished house calculator if you ran one.
  3. Get the answer. Within three business days: the grid, the levels, the blanks priced, and the recommendation with the questions to send back.
  4. Use it. Send the questions, get the revised quotes, sign the right one. Often the cheap package turns out to be the expensive house once the crane, the erection crew and the roof are added back in.

What it is not

It is not a site visit, an engineering review or an inspection. Nobody comes to the house for $99, and nobody stamps anything. The quotes, the plans and your photos are what gets read. Beams, bracing, connections and anything outside the ordinary Part 9 tables belong to an engineer or a qualified designer, and only the building department inspects. If the paper shows something that needs a person first (a bearing wall coming out with no beam sized, a modular house with no foundation design, a kit with nobody named as responsible for the structure), the review says so and says who.

What the review looks for

  • A kit or package price being compared with a finished-house price as if they were the same thing.
  • Framing priced per square foot where each framer measured a different square footage.
  • “Trusses by others”, “beams by others” or “engineered floor by others” with no allowance anywhere.
  • A SIP or log package with no erection labour, no crane and no roof in the price.
  • A modular price with no foundation, delivery, crane, hookup or finishing on site.
  • A wall removal quote with no engineer, no permit and no posts or footings carried down to the foundation.
  • A deposit that is most of the factory price, paid before drawings are approved.

Before you order, the free version

The line-by-line grid is on the site and you can fill it in yourself. The kit vs finished house page, the hiring page and the framing inspection checklist cover most of what the review checks. If the grid answers it, keep your $99.

Questions people ask

Can you review just one quote?

Yes. One quote gets the same grid, checked against what a complete quote at that level should include, so you know what to ask before you sign it.

You build ICF. Will you just tell me to build ICF?

No. The review compares the quotes you send on the same terms. If the wood, SIP or log quote is the right one for your house and budget, that is what it will say. If you want an ICF price too, ask for it separately.

Will you tell me which framer or supplier to use?

I will tell you which quote is the one to sign, and why, and what to ask before you do. I do not keep a list of framers or factories to send you to and I do not take a commission. If the house is in Simcoe County, Muskoka or the Georgian Bay area and you want us to price the build, say so in the email.

Is the fee refundable?

If I cannot read what you send (illegible photos, a quote with no scope at all), I will say so before starting and refund it. Once the review is written, it is not.

Three pieces of paper, one answer

The grid, the levels and the questions, in three business days, for $99. Then sign the right one.

Order the quote review, $99Back to the section