How to Win Your Next Construction Bid
Using a bid proposal template and three steps to bidding success
Winning a construction bid isn’t all about bringing the lowest price. Your business experience, networking skills, and quality craftsmanship all play a crucial role. But when it comes to getting your proposal ready, a professional appearance goes a long way. Here are the three steps that 1build pros suggest before you hit send on that bid package: Know where to bid, make sure your pricing is accurate, and use a professional bid proposal template.
Know where to bid
Not every project is the right fit. To make sure you aren’t wasting valuable time submitting bids for a project that is out of scope, consider these five questions.
- What is the size of the project?
- How much labor is needed?
- When will the work happen? Does it conflict with another project?
- What type of client issued the RFP?
- Can you execute with quality?
By considering this list, you will ensure that every project you bid makes sense for your business, and your bit-hit ratio will increase!
Get accurate with your numbers
When you are recycling old numbers from an old estimate, you risk not only losing to a more precise proposal, but also may risk under-bidding your labor and materials and losing money on your project. So stop guessing or using outdated paper books for construction estimating, and create your estimate with 1build, using our pricing database that is searchable by county. You can also use prebuilt assemblies and check in with the 1build pros if you have any questions about a specific material or calculation.
Plus, your finished 1build estimate can be exported to Excel or PDF, so it fits seamlessly into the rest of your branded proposal.
Use a bid proposal template that fits
Now that you are bidding the right project and have your 1build estimate, it’s time to get your proposal ready. The 1build team is here to support your business goals, not just your estimates, so we created this template specifically designed to help contractors, subcontractors, and project managers win the next project.
Categories included in the 1build bid proposal template:
- Bid Proposal Cover Sheet
- Bid Proposal Cover Letter
- Company Profile/Background
- Project Scope
- Existing Conditions & Concerns
- Work Schedule
- Equipment List & Assets
- Cost Estimate: Materials
- Cost Estimate: Labor
- Cost Estimate: Misc
- Payment Terms
- Supporting Documents
- Final Proposal
Simply download the template as a MS Word or PDF document, and in just a few minutes you’ll not only be able to increase the number of proposals you submit, but also increase the percentage of wins with your construction estimating team.
1build also developed a cost estimate template for Excel, so no matter the kind of project, you are ready to create an accurate and professional bid.
1build provides an easy-to-use integration with construction supplier catalogs and purchasing systems. Get access to millions of construction materials with our API today
