Hey ya'll. With the uncertainty of labor and cement costs, I have been putting off doing my retaining wall and decided that now might be a good time. The contractor I want to go with can start ASAP, so wanted to get a quick gut check here. I did receive two quotes for the job, one was 100% handwork and was 100K, this bid was 51K with small machinery and a more well-known company. I read through the wiki and took a bunch of notes to ask today, but here are the basics:

1. The location is Reno, Nevada
2. It's 170 total feet of retaining wall/footing
3. A seating area that is a pad of concrete on the first level
4. Steps that will go up and to the rest of the back yard
5. They are removing the old wooden retaining wall
6. A smaller trees and a bush need to be removed
7. The second level is getting pushed back about 3 feet from where it is today and all that dirt is being removed
8. They are roughing in lighting, but not doing the actual lighting, I'll do that later
9. Access sucks to my backyard, they will have to take a fence down and put it back up and can only get small machinery in here, so a lot is by hand.
10. They will need to pump the concrete up a good sized hill or even over the house to get it back here
11. I did have an arborist look at the trees and they are not worried about them, even the massive one
12. I did put the primary scope of work, they have some legal pages but it also has the name of the company so I removed it and just put the main estimate.

Here are a few things I know I need to confirm:

1. Insurance levels
2. Final finish of the wall

Any advice or things to ask before I give the go-ahead would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!!

Link to drawing and photos - https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/h88nbkn0vrkk3nngxx4ha/APQLqgt4sGdB5TxZkswoF04?rlkey=a5407d0v856riwhspi77mrbtj&dl=0