The removal quote decoder — is that bid complete, or just a number?
Two removal quotes for the same attic can differ by thousands — and the difference usually isn’t greed, it’s what each bid silently includes or skips. This tool scores any quote against what the industry’s own removal guidance says a complete job contains. Check what your quote actually mentions; the verdict tells you what to ask before signing.
Names the foam type and the removal method
Open-cell is hand-tool work; closed-cell is power tools. A bid that doesn't say which job it's pricing is guessing — or leaving room to re-price later.Prep and containment appear as their own line
Negative-pressure containment, register masking, dust control. Its absence from a cheap quote is information.States the residue standard in writing
"Scraped clean" and "ground to bare substrate" are different jobs at different prices — and chasing bare wood takes some wood with it.Includes debris haul-off and disposal
A full attic of foam is real volume. If disposal isn't in the bid, it's in a surprise later.Addresses what's embedded in the foam
Wiring, plumbing, ductwork — the guidance calls mapping these half the job. A bid that never asked what's in your foam never scoped your job.Covers the documentation you need (if a lender is involved)
If a lender or sale drove this, the completion paperwork IS the product. Check this box if it's covered — or if no lender is involved.Builds the price from measurable area
Square footage times scope should roughly explain the number. Published guides run $3–12/sq ft — a bid that can't show its area math can't be compared to anything.Check off what your quote mentions.
Tap each item the bid actually addresses — in writing, not "they mentioned it on the phone."
Why the checklist is the whole game
Homeowners comparing notes report quote spreads of nearly 4× for the same attic — and the spread lives in the silent assumptions, not the scraping. The industry’s own removal guidance spends more ink on preparation, containment, and disposal than on the removal itself (we decoded the whole manual here), and the published price ranges only mean something when two bids describe the same job (every number, sourced).
One honest note: a low score doesn’t always mean a bad crew — plenty of good tradespeople write thin paperwork. It means the job isn’t defined yet. The asks above turn a thin bid into a real one, and how a contractor reacts to being asked is its own useful information. If you’d rather have someone from our specialist directory quote it properly from the start, the form below is the shortcut.
Questions people actually ask
What should a spray foam removal quote include?
Seven things, itemized: the foam type and removal method, prep and containment as a line item, a written residue standard (scraped clean vs. bare substrate), debris disposal, protection for what's embedded in the foam, any lender documentation you need, and the price built from measurable area. A bare number with none of that isn't a quote — it's an opening position.
Why do removal quotes vary so much?
Because quotes silently assume different answers to the checklist on this page. Homeowners report quote spreads of nearly four times on the same attic — the variance lives in the unstated assumptions, and itemization drags them into daylight. The published ranges are on the cost page.
What's a fair price for spray foam removal?
Published 2026 guides put it at roughly $3–12 per square foot with $2,000–5,000 typical for a 1,000 sq ft attic — attributed figures, not ours. The decoder's job isn't naming your price; it's making sure the quotes you compare are describing the same job.