BPO and Contractor Bids

[Curt Dumonceaux]

I am looking for some advice on contractors? Right now I have two primary contractors that I use to give me bids. Both of these companies are licensed general contractors. Do any of you use licensed contractors and do you discuss with them what exactly you're doing (trying to influence the BPO...). Our contractors do know what we are doing and why we need a bid. They sill work with us knowing they're not going to actually get a lot of the rehab work they're doing the bids for because we sell as is. We work around this by paying them a straight fee per bid.
Does anybody work this out another way? How much do you pay (if you don't mind sharing) Any other possible cost saving ideas that are still legit?
Thanks
Curt in Minnesota