Bid and proposal preparation for contractors

What gets produced

Unit price bid schedules

Quantities structured to the bid item list as issued, in that list’s numbering and its units, so the form fills in directly and nothing is converted under pressure on the day.

Schedules of values

A breakdown that supports progress billing, split by phase or by building where the contract requires it, and reconciled to the contract sum.

Lump sum proposals

The scope, the inclusions and, more importantly, the exclusions, written so a reader knows exactly what they are buying and what they are not.

Priced options and alternates

Each carried as its own priced scope, add or deduct, so the owner can see what a decision costs rather than being handed a single number.

Means and methods narratives

Sequence, access, containment and the assumptions the price rests on, written to attach to the bid rather than to sit in a file.

Public works mechanics

This is where template estimating shops struggle, because they mostly price private work.

Document precedence, established first

Addenda over specifications over plans over the bid sheet, unless the documents say otherwise, in which case that governs. It is written down at the start rather than argued about later.

Separate prime contracts

Where the work is split into separate primes, the scope boundary is read from every set before anything is measured. Assuming the boundary is how a scope ends up carried by nobody.

Prevailing wage as a stated basis

The determination is named on the labour tab. When it is updated mid bid you can see exactly what moves.

Bond, insurance and mobilisation as bid items

Where the form carries them as priced items they are priced, not absorbed into overhead. A non responsive line is worse than a high one.

Addenda tracked, not absorbed

Each addendum is logged against the items it changes, so the final bid can be traced back through every revision.

Questions bidders actually ask