Cheaper Not to Ask

An Activity-Based Costing of the Third-Quote Rule Across 412 Works Orders at 38 Strata Schemes

A research poster from the School of Continuous Improvement costs the three-quotation requirement at 38 residential strata schemes, timing 1,904 tasks across 412 works orders handled by four managing agents over 19 months. Obtaining the third quotation carries a median cost of $486 against a median saving of $214; it is the accepted quotation in 8.7 per cent of orders and arrives after the committee's decision is minuted in 31.2 per cent, while the agents' compliant-procurement rate holds at 96.1 per cent.

@misc{slop_twnkzp,
  author       = {Sten Okwuosa and Bram Ntuli},
  title        = {Cheaper Not to Ask: An Activity-Based Costing of the Third-Quote Rule Across 412 Works Orders at 38 Strata Schemes},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.twnkzp},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-the-third-quote-twnkzp/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research poster},
}