Construction Takeoff Software, AI or Outsourcing: How to Choose
Compare manual, on-screen, AI-assisted and outsourced takeoff with a six-check review list, a review-time worksheet and a decision table by bid volume.
Estimating Operations
Guides for the work around the estimate: finding bids, deciding whether to bid, reading the bid package, leveling subcontractor quotes, filling in owner forms and sending a proposal a general contractor can carry. Other guides help you decide how the work gets done, whether you keep estimating in house, buy software, run a bid desk or send takeoffs to an outside desk. Expect clocks, checklists, scorecards and worksheets you can copy and fill with your own numbers. The decision guides are written so the answer can be to keep the work in house. Written for owners, estimators and bid managers at general contractors and specialty subcontractors.
What a bid desk hands back
- One bid log with every date on it, in Excel or CSV you own
- Trade packages with a written scope boundary on each one
- A leveling sheet with a plug column and an exclusions column
Latest in Estimating Operations
Construction Bidding Software or a Bid Desk: What Each One Does
Sort eight bid-day tasks into what software handles and what needs a person. Work your own hours, then use a table by bids per month that includes software alone.
What Is in a Construction Bid Package, and How to Read It
See what a bid package holds, what each document controls, and how to run a completeness check and a contradiction log before anyone starts to measure.
Construction Bidding Websites: Where to Find Bids and What to Check
Sort bid sources by who posts the work, test any paid board against your last dozen bids, and screen every find in ten minutes before you spend takeoff hours.
In-House vs Outsourced Estimating: Worksheet, Scorecard, Back-Test
Compare your own takeoff hours with an outside quote, score any provider on eight checks and back-test it on a bid you already priced before you change anything.
Bid Proposal Template: Sections, Exclusions and Sample Wording
Copy a twelve-part bid proposal template, sample wording for exclusions and validity, a filled-in electrical scope letter and the ten checks a bid leveler runs.
Bid Leveling: Compare Sub Quotes That Do Not Cover the Same Scope
Put sub quotes on one scope before you pick a number. See a worked matrix where the low quote ends last, plugs priced from your own quantities, and sheet columns to copy.
How to Bid Construction Jobs: Run the Bid Desk as a System
A bid desk is a clock, a log and a few checks. Decide bid or no bid, control addenda, finish quantities in time, level sub quotes and read your win rate honestly.
BID DUE SOON?
Send the plans and get a fixed quote
24-96h from an approved quote, two-step QA, NDA signed on request.