It may start out at $800k but there could be other bidders who bid it up to $1.3- $1.5M.

Comparing bids would be a good way to do sanity checks on pricing, If they have portfolios they can show you, that will benefit you a lot as well

Avoid competition and bidding wars.

If they know you won and got it for less than their bid, I am not sure they will turn around and buy it from you for a 20k spread.

That being said, how does one go about getting architect plans for a home to get bids from contractors in a smart way?

i actually bid on a distressed MLS deal last month and got outbid.  

Whereas we have used him before on stuff we were thinking he would be well below the other bid..

'Queen of Mobile Homes' receiving death threats, her lawyer tells judge during court hearingChimene Van Gundy’s lawyer mentioned the menacing messages in a bid to close a court...

:) Its generally a good idea to know the condition of a property or level of expected repairs so you can anticipate those repairs and build them into your bid for the property.

Another example was when a shady seller's agent manufactured a magical ghost bidder, on a house that was just languishing, after we had a deal to get me to bid against myself on the house.