What exactly am I paying for in the estimate?

Every Osta estimate provides comprehensive, itemized breakdown of all project costs, eliminating confusion about what's included and ensuring you understand exactly what you're paying for before work begins.

Estimate Components:

Labor Costs: Professional time required to complete your project, calculated based on complexity, technical requirements, and realistic time allocation. Our labor pricing reflects skilled, licensed professionals executing work to code standards with quality craftsmanship—not rushed installations by undertrained contractors cutting corners to maximize throughput.

Labor includes:

Materials: When Osta provides materials (rather than installing customer-supplied items), all components, fixtures, devices, wire, pipe, fittings, fasteners, and supplies are itemized with transparent pricing. You see exactly what's being installed and what it costs.

Material pricing includes our wholesale acquisition cost plus reasonable markup covering procurement, transportation, inventory management, and warranty fulfillment responsibilities. We don't inflate material costs as a hidden profit center—our business model relies on transparent pricing and long-term customer relationships, not deceptive billing practices.

For customer-supplied materials, the estimate clearly indicates this arrangement and adjusts labor pricing to account for additional handling requirements, compatibility verification, and warranty limitations.

Permits: When your project requires building permits (panel upgrades, service changes, structural modifications, gas line work), permit fees are itemized separately at the exact cost charged by your local building department. We don't markup permit costs—you pay what the city or county charges, plus our coordination services.

Permit management includes:

Inspection Coordination: For permitted work, we handle all inspection scheduling, pre-inspection preparation, inspector communication, correction of any noted deficiencies, and final approval documentation. This service is included in your quoted price—you're never charged extra for inspection-related activities.

One-Year Labor Warranty: Every Osta project includes a comprehensive one-year warranty covering all workmanship, installation quality, and labor. If anything related to our work fails during the warranty period, we return to repair it at no cost—no trip charges, no diagnostic fees, no hourly rates.

The warranty covers:

Manufacturer defects in equipment or materials are covered under manufacturer warranties, which we help coordinate and facilitate when needed.

Project Management: Scheduling coordination, customer communication, progress updates, timeline management, and quality oversight are included in every estimate. You're not charged separately for phone calls, appointment confirmations, or project coordination—these are fundamental service components.

What's NOT Included:

Changes to Scope: If you modify the project scope, request additional work, or we discover conditions requiring work beyond the original estimate, we provide a revised quote before proceeding. You approve any additional costs in advance—no surprise charges on final invoicing.

Pre-Existing Conditions: If we encounter code violations, unsafe installations, or deficiencies caused by previous work that must be corrected for code compliance, we document these conditions, explain correction requirements, and provide pricing for necessary remediation. You decide whether to proceed with corrections or limit scope to only the originally requested work (understanding this may limit what we can legally permit or complete).

Utility Company Charges: For panel upgrades or service changes requiring utility coordination, electric companies may charge separate fees for meter upgrades, service reconnection, or infrastructure modifications. These charges are billed directly by the utility company and are outside our control, though we coordinate the process and provide estimated costs during project planning.

Damage Repair Beyond Normal Scope: Our finishing work includes repairing, patching, and repainting areas affected by our installations. If your project requires extensive drywall repair, painting beyond affected areas, or restoration work unrelated to our installation access, additional finishing costs are quoted separately.

Comparison to Traditional Contractors:

Most home services contractors provide vague estimates with broad ranges, time-and-materials billing, or incomplete scope definitions that leave final costs uncertain. Common problems include:

Osta's fixed-price model eliminates these problems by transferring risk from you to us. We commit to a specific price, absorb cost overruns, and guarantee our work. This alignment of incentives ensures we profit through efficiency and quality rather than inflated billing and scope creep.