Why This Compares Two Real Numbers, Not One Verdict
Most advice about a struggling contractor relationship tells you what to feel or what to watch for. This tool does neither. It takes your contract value, your own honest estimate of how much work is actually done, and how much you have already paid — and lays out two separate price tags: what finishing looks like if you stay, and what finishing looks like if you switch.
The Reconciliation Bar
The first thing the calculator shows is a single bar split into three honest zones: money that is sunk and safe (paid, and backed by completed work), money that is at risk because it was paid ahead of the work delivered, and the remaining budget still to be spent either way. If your payments have moved faster than your project, that gap becomes its own highlighted number instead of hiding inside a bigger total.
The Dual-Track Timeline
Below the bar, two horizontal tracks show a rough, calendar-based projection for each path starting from today. The switch track includes a visibly separate search-and-mobilization gap before work resumes, because bringing in a new contractor is never instant. Dates are real calendar dates, not vague week counts.
Stay Total vs. Switch Total
The result never reduces to a single score. Two columns show the Stay total (your remaining contract scope, plus any delay cost you choose to add) and the Switch total (remaining scope with an adjustable takeover premium, plus the overpayment already at risk, plus any added delay). You control the premium slider yourself — there is no single verified industry figure for what a new contractor charges to take over someone else’s job, so the tool says that plainly instead of inventing a false citation.
Legal Standing, Kept Separate from the Money
A short set of neutral facts — not a score — reflects your contract type and your stated reason for considering a change. These never feed into the dollar totals above. They are here because they usually come up anyway once someone starts seriously weighing this decision.
This tool provides estimates for your own decision-making. It is not legal or financial advice.