Selections and allowances

The Selection Process

Selections are the materials and fixtures you choose for your home. Flooring, tile, cabinets, countertops, plumbing fixtures, lighting, appliances, and siding are common examples. Your choices shape how the finished space looks and works. Every selection affects your project cost; some can also affect the schedule.

We work on a fixed price, so once your contract is signed your construction cost doesn’t move with labor or material prices. Selections are one of the few areas where you directly control the final number.

Your proposal includes your full scope of work, your selections, your allowances, and a timeline for when each decision needs to be finalized.

For a selection that needs approval, here’s how it works in JobTread:

1. We post the proposed item with its price and allowance already filled in.
2. You get a notice that it’s ready to review.
3. You open the selection from the notice or from your JobTread project.
4. You compare the item, its allowance, and any amount above or below that allowance. The description tells you what the price includes.
5. If you have a question or want a different option, decline it with a note, or ask us before you approve.
6. When the details are right, follow the approval prompt and sign.
7. Your selection is locked in, and we can order it and schedule the install around it.

JobTread offers different ways to view your selections. Whichever view you use, review the item and its cost before you give written approval. A conversation about a finish is useful, and the recorded approval tells the crew which one to use.

Some materials need time for ordering, fabrication, and delivery, so late approvals can hold up the job. Once a delayed selection is approved, your schedule is reviewed and may change based on current trade availability. As a result, a two-week delay may affect the schedule for longer than two weeks.

Your Project Manager covers upcoming deadlines in your weekly meeting. Raise questions as soon as you spot them while there’s still time to settle the choice before it holds up work.

Allowances and Credits

An allowance is an amount set aside in your project price for an item you haven’t fully chosen yet. It gives you a working number while leaving room for the final decision. The allowance covers the material, applicable taxes, delivery, and installation labor where it applies. Your selection details and signed documents show exactly what’s included in each allowance. There are two types: labor-and-material allowances and material-only allowances.

If a selection title begins with “L&M” (labor and materials), its allowance covers the material and labor needed to install that selection. For example, installation costs can vary among handrails. After you choose a handrail, your Project Manager will review the installation cost with you and include it in the allowance for your approval.

If a selection title does not begin with “L&M,” its allowance covers the material only, and the standard installation cost is fixed. A light fixture mounted to a wall or ceiling in the standard way is one example: the allowance covers the fixture, and the standard installation cost is fixed. Some fixtures need extra installation labor, such as a fixture with hanging glass beads that takes extra time to assemble or a very heavy fixture that requires additional mounting considerations. Any extra installation labor is added to the allowance, and your Project Manager will review it with you before you approve the selection.

When your final selection costs more than its allowance, the difference is an overage. When it costs less, the unused allowance becomes a credit toward your project balance. JobTread shows the allowance beside the proposed item, so you see that difference before you approve.

An overage is added to your balance at your next scheduled billing date, and no formal change order is required. There’s no penalty for spending less.

Every overage and credit is documented and visible in JobTread.

Review the amount in JobTread and ask how it affects your balance before you sign if anything is unclear. Your signed agreement and current project documents govern how and when any adjustment is billed or credited.

Some allowances cover conditions nobody can fully define until work begins, like concealed water damage or structural work found after demolition. In those cases the allowance is a framework. Once the condition is visible, we document the scope and cost for your review, and the selection is approved like any other. If you see an allowance like this in your project, ask what’s known now, what’s still uncertain, and how the decision gets recorded once the work is defined.

Materials, Showrooms, and Vendors

Section 4.3 is a review draft.

One of the most common questions we get before a project starts is some version of this: I already found the faucet I want, can I just buy it myself?

You can. We’d rather you didn’t, and the reason is worth two minutes of your time.

Showrooms are where it gets real

Your Selections Coordinator will recommend showrooms and vendors for you to visit. A designer at the vendor will help you choose a selection. The vendor’s designer, or your own designer, will send the selection details to your Selections Coordinator, who will review them with your Project Manager to check that the selection will work for your project. This is where your ideas stop being pictures on a phone and turn into products you can see and touch.

Two faucets can look almost identical and still be different models, even within the same brand. Compare the full product name and model number, included components, installation requirements, and warranty. Your Selections Coordinator and the vendor can help you check those details before you approve.

The right fixture depends on how you’ll use the space, which features matter to you, and your budget. Our job is to explain the options so you can decide with your eyes open.

Why our vendor relationships matter to you

Builder pricing. We get builder discounts from several vendors. Your proposed selection price in JobTread shows how the item compares with your allowance before you approve.

Lead times. Our vendors know your planned install dates, so orders can be coordinated with the schedule.

Accountability. When we order it, we own it. If something arrives damaged or wrong, we deal with the vendor and you don’t.

Supply isn’t always predictable. When a product is delayed or discontinued, those same relationships usually let us source it somewhere else or propose a close substitute. If we propose a substitute, review the product, price, and any effect on timing before approving it.

Can you buy your own materials?

Yes. We recommend you don’t, and here’s what’s behind that.

Before anything gets ordered, we check every selection against the design, the specifications, and the most cost-effective way to install it. A vanity two inches too wide, a shower valve that doesn’t match its trim kit, or a tile that needs a different setting method can each cause a delay or rework on site.

When you supply the material, three things change. It may not match the plumbing, electrical, or rough-in specs. It may arrive late, incomplete, or damaged while the schedule waits. And returns and warranty claims run through you instead of through us.

We plan every trade around a day-by-day schedule, and one missing part can push back several trades behind it.

If you already own something you want to use, tell us early. Ask your Selections Coordinator or Project Development Manager about it during design rather than during demo, so we can check whether it works and plan around it. This comes up all the time and it works when we know in time.

Your selection tools

Your selections live in JobTread, where you review and approve them, see which decisions are due and when, and keep every document, photo, and approval in one place. We’ll also create a Matterport 3D scan of your existing space, which gives everyone working on your design accurate measurements to plan around. Section 5.1 covers the JobTread portal.

Your pre-construction meeting usually takes place on site about a month before construction. You’ll review the plan with your Project Manager and confirm your final selections. Long-lead items need approval earlier so they can be ordered in time.

Changing a selection after that point goes through the change order process. Ask your Project Manager to explain the required approval and any effect on cost or timing before making a change.

What we expect from our trade partners

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