Section 1: The #1 Mistake — Comparing Sticker Price

The most common and costly mistake in paving bid evaluation is ranking bids by total price. A $95,000 bid is not automatically better than a $120,000 bid. The question is: what are you getting, for how long, and what will it cost to maintain?

The correct comparison metric is cost-per-year-of-useful-life:

Bid B "wins" at $120,000 — the most expensive option — because it delivers the lowest annual cost of ownership. Selecting Bid A would cost $2,833 more per year and deliver 8 fewer years of service life.

Section 2: The 4 Scope Items Most Bids Bury or Omit

Item 1: Base Repair

"As needed" is not a scope item — it's a blank check for change orders. A proper bid specifies what base work is assumed, at what square footage, and what the per-sqft adder is for additional work discovered during construction.

Item 2: ADA Work

Accessible stall restriping, slope confirmation, signage, and access aisle repair are frequently excluded from bids without notice. If ADA isn't mentioned, assume it's not included.

Ask directly: "Is this bid ADA-compliant for our lot?" If the contractor isn't sure, they haven't walked the lot carefully enough.

Item 3: Mobilization & Traffic Control

These are real costs often bundled invisibly into small lots or omitted entirely. For a parking lot under 20,000 sq ft, mobilization can represent 25–35% of the total project cost. It should be a line item.

Item 4: Tack Coat, Edge Milling, and Prep

Tack coat bonds new asphalt to existing layers. Edge milling creates a clean transition. These aren't optional — they're what makes the new surface adhere. Bids that don't mention prep work are either omitting it (a quality shortcut) or not explaining what's included.

Section 3: How to Calculate Cost-Per-Year-of-Useful-Life

1. Ask each contractor for their quoted useful life, in years, in writing.
2. Divide total bid price by quoted useful life.
3. Add estimated maintenance costs over that period (sealcoat every 3–5 years at ~$0.20–0.30/sqft, crack fill annually on active lots).
4. The bid with the lowest all-in annual cost is the best value — not the lowest sticker price.

Section 4: Red Flag Language to Watch For

These phrases, buried in contractor proposals, can significantly expand your liability or reduce your ability to enforce the contract:

• "At owner's risk" clauses buried in scope language
• "Material substitutions may occur at contractor's discretion" without approval rights — you may not get what you specified
• "Warranty void if lot is sealed within 90 days" — this conflicts with normal sealcoat timing recommendations (90–120 days)
• "Quantities are estimates and will be reconciled at completion" without a cap — this is an open-ended final price
• No specified start date, only "weather permitting" with no fallback timeline — projects without start dates don't have end dates
• "Subcontractors will perform specialty work" without naming them or confirming their insurance

Section 5: What a Good Warranty Clause Says

A real warranty covers:

• Material defects (wrong mix, delamination, cracking not caused by settlement or base failure)
• Workmanship defects (cold joints, improper compaction, grade errors)
• Minimum duration: 1 year for overlay/patch, 3–5 years for full repave
• Contact and response protocol for warranty claims

Ask for the warranty in writing before signing. If it's verbal, it doesn't exist.

Section 6: A Simple Bid Scoring Worksheet

Score each bid on 5 criteria (1–5 points each). Maximum score: 21 points.