Sick of losing bids? Do you want to start winning more construction bids?
Whether you have a full plate or room for more, you don’t ever want to find yourself in a position where you failed to win the bid on a project. Especially one with the potential to be high profit.
One question that you may be asking yourself afterwards is, “Why did my company lose the bid?” Understanding some common issues subcontractors experience when bidding (and losing) is the first step to turning it around. The second step? Knowing the solutions.
Common problem #1: Losing track of your bids
Subcontractors and Specialty Trades often have hundreds of bid invites coming in over the course of a month. They are all assigned to different people with a range of deadlines and it can be hard to keep track. If you lose visibility into where your team is at in their individual proposals, you could be missing an opportunity to share valuable information that could make their bids even more competitive.
Solution: Winning more construction bids using bid tracking software
Using construction bid tracking tools like Thunderbolt Pipeline to easily categorize by due date and estimator will keep you organized, but you can also take advantage of the many collaboration features to share information throughout your organization. Having it all in one place can really help streamline the first phase in the bidding process. In today’s busy world, winning more construction bids using Excel is unlikely – it’s inefficient and can lead to missed opportunities.
Common problem #2: Missing documentation
When you’re submitting a proposal, you need to have all required paperwork completed properly and on time. Any missing items could immediately disqualify you. If your documentation is stored in multiple places, or you have multiple hands working on it, it’s easy to miss important pieces.
Solution: Store documents in one common location
Working from a cloud-based technology will help to ensure nothing gets missed – no matter how many people may be working on a proposal. In Thunderbolt Pipeline, all files, notes, drawings, and plans can be saved on each job, so the team can feel confident that everything they need is all in one place. Thunderbolt Pipeline has email integration built-in so estimators can even save important emails and updates directly to the job.
Common problem #3: Missed Items at the Walk Through
Almost any large job will have a site walk-through opportunity prior to the bid date. If you find yourself returning to the office only to find that you didn’t take great notes, or even lost your notes – you could be in trouble. If you missed something at the walk-through, your bid could be cost prohibitive vs your competitor, even if you have great references, you’ll be sent directly to the bottom of their list.
Solution: Bring your iPad with you – and use the cloud
Many cloud-based technologies like Thunderbolt Pipeline will allow you to upload photos to the bid record in real-time from a job site using your phone or iPad. This helps you in two ways. First, you will have visuals saved in the bid record to refer to once you return to the office to work the bid costing. Second, tag the bid record to refer back the next time you have a similar project type to bid.
Common problem #4: You purposely just don’t bid…
Sounds obvious, right? You lost because you didn’t bid. But why didn’t you? Commonly, subcontractors will sit out on bids or jobs because they don’t think they can fit it in with their current workforce.
Solution: Greater visibility into your workforce
Thunderbolt’s resource planner will make sure you’re up to speed real-time on your workforce using unnamed resources to plan months in advance. With this technology, you can forecast and optimize your labor needs, properly plan ahead to hire the skilled workers you will need for the job, and know when to cut costs.
Don’t miss out on winning more construction bids. Investing in technology like Thunderbolt can help put your construction company on top – and keep you there.
