Misquoted a 3-day rooftop unit swap, ended up chasing leaks all week

Had this beast of a commercial job last month, client wanted a full rooftop HVAC replacement on their warehouse. I quoted 3 days figuring the crane rental and duct mods would be straightforward, but day 2 hits and we're buried in refrigerant leaks from the old lines nobody mentioned were corroded. Crew's scrambling with gauges and torches while the client's breathing down our neck about downtime. Now i'm eating the overtime costs and rethinking my walk-through checklists. Anyone else get burned like this on big installs? How do you pad quotes without scaring off bids?

Always add 20% buffer for surprises like that, saved my ass more than once.

Hah, sounds like my nightmare with a split system in a tight attic last year. Quoted 4 hours, spent 12 chasing a phantom short in the thermostat wiring. Clients hate hearing 'unforseen issues' but it's the truth.

I use a detailed scope of work form now, makes 'em sign off on potential extras upfront. No more eating costs on my end.

Just laugh it off and bill for change orders. If they balk, walk -- plenty of fish.

On large jobs i break it into phases: demo, install, test. Quotes per phase keep things organized and limits the bleed-over time. Last rooftop i did, caught a mismatched flange early that way, avoided a full redo. Clients appreciate the transparency too, less arguments later. But yeah, corrosion's a killer -- always probe those linesets before quoting.

Misquotes suck, but i've turned a few into repeat biz by owning the delay and throwing in a free tune-up.

Walk-throughs are key, but clients lie about maintenance history every time.