Judge the work, not the sales page.
Every package on this shelf came off a job this desk actually priced. Project names, addresses and bid amounts are stripped out. The method, the markups and the assumptions sheet are exactly as they were delivered. Build a set that matches what you bid and it lands in your inbox.
What lands in your inbox
- The editable workbook, unlocked, with the formulas left in
- The color-coded plan markups the quantities were measured on
- The written assumptions, inclusions and exclusions sheet
- A cover note naming the drawing revision it was built against
Four ways to find the one that looks like your job.
The same catalog, re-shelved. By package if you know what kind of document you want, by trade if you bid one, by CSI division if that is how you think, by sector if you want to see the kind of work first. Nothing is hidden when you switch, only rearranged.
Tell us what you bid and we will build the set.
Full bid packages3
Every trade on the job, measured and priced, in one workbook with the markups behind it.
Single-trade takeoffs10
One trade, measured off the set. What a sub sends out when they only bid their own scope.
Material buy lists3
Procurement-ready quantities with waste and coverage applied, built so three vendors quote the same list.
Conceptual and budget estimates2
An early number off partial drawings, with the basis of the estimate written down.
Insurance claim scopes2
A room-by-room loss scope written to the carrier price list for the loss ZIP and month.
Prevailing wage bid packages2
The labor line built off a published determination, classification by classification.
Steel detailing sets2
Shop and erection drawings with the advance bill of material behind them.
CPM schedules2
A logic-driven baseline with the critical path and the float where you can see it.
Bid desk deliverables2
What an outsourced bid department hands back: leveled quotes, a bid board, a submitted package.
You have a live bid and a date. That is a better test than any sample.
Send the drawings and an estimator comes back with a fixed price and a delivery date scheduled against your bid date. Nothing is billed until you approve it in writing.
Four documents, and one of them is the one that matters.
Every package on the shelf holds the same four things, whatever the trade. Three of them are what most people expect. The third one is the one that tells you whether the other three can be trusted.
The workbook
Editable XLSX, one tab per trade with a roll-up on the front. Quantities carry their unit and the sheet they were measured from, and pricing sits on its own columns so a reader can strip it out and drop their own in.
The marked-up sheets
Color-coded PDFs with a legend on every sheet. Each color maps to a line in the workbook, so any total can be walked backwards to the drawing it came from without asking anybody a question.
The assumptions sheet
What was assumed, what was included and what was excluded, written per trade rather than as one page for the whole job. This is the tab that decides whether a package is honest, and it is the first one worth reading.
The delivery note
A short cover page: which drawing revision and which addenda the package was built against, who measured it, who checked it, and what would have to change if a later addendum lands.
What gets removed, and what deliberately does not.
A sample is only useful if it is the real document. It is only shareable if nobody can work out whose job it was. Those two things pull against each other, so the rule is narrow and it is the same every time.
Removed: the project name, the street address, the client and architect title blocks on every sheet, the submitted bid amount, and anything in a note that would identify the owner or the team. Sheet numbers stay, because a package that cannot cite its own sheets is not traceable.
Kept: every line item, every quantity, every unit, the measurement method, the assumptions sheet, the markup colors and the QA record. Historic pricing stays in the priced packages so the build-up is legible, and it is labeled as historic, because a number from another market and another year is a worked example and never a rate.
Nothing goes on this shelf without the client whose job it was agreeing to it. That is why the library grows slowly and why it will never be the biggest one on the internet. It is also why the packages in it are the real thing rather than a marketing mock-up.
Not sure which package answers your question?
Say what you bid and what you are trying to work out. An estimator picks the closest thing on the shelf, or tells you straight that we do not hold one.
Three minutes is enough to know whether a package is any good.
Most contractors open a sample, scan the total, and close it. That tells you nothing. Here is what an estimator does instead, and it works on any package from any desk, including this one.
Start at the assumptions sheet, not the total
The total is the least informative number in any package. The assumptions sheet is where a desk either tells you what it did not price or hides it. Read that first, then decide whether the total is describing your job or a smaller one.
Pick one line and chase it to the drawing
Take any quantity in the workbook, find its color on the marked-up sheet, and count it yourself. If that takes more than a minute, the package is not traceable, whoever produced it. This is the single fastest test of an estimating desk.
Check what is missing, not what is there
Anyone can list what they included. Look for the scopes a bid usually loses money on: hoisting, temporary protection, fire caulk, patching after other trades, restocking. Either they are in the package or they are named in the exclusions.
Five things to compare, whoever you are buying from.
Put a package from this shelf beside whatever you use now, in house or outsourced, and check the same five things on both. If the other one wins, that is worth knowing before a bid date rather than after one.
| Traceability | A total with no way back to the drawing it came from | Every quantity color-keyed to a labeled markup on a named sheet |
|---|---|---|
| Scope honesty | Exclusions implied by leaving things out | A written assumptions, inclusions and exclusions sheet per trade |
| Version control | No statement of which drawing revision was priced | Drawing revision and addenda log on the cover of every package |
| Who checked it | One pass, no reviewer named | Estimator self-check, then an independent second estimator, both named |
| What happens next | Silence after delivery | Revisions on unchanged scope included, direct line to the estimator |
A sample proves the format. Your own drawings prove the desk.
Upload a set, get a fixed quote and a delivery date in writing, and judge the package that comes back against the one you just downloaded.
What people ask before they hand over an email address.
Straight answers about where these came from, why the shelf is gated, and what you can do with what arrives.
You have seen the format.
Now put a real bid through it.
Send the drawings and your bid date. A fixed quote and a confirmed delivery date come back within business hours, and nothing is billed until you approve them.