In Brief

  • Outline your enterprise technique. Be sure your bidding method helps your greatest objectives—be intentional about which tasks you go after.
  • Make your work quantifiable. Observe the variety of bids, challenge values, and relationship-building actions every month.
  • Use historic knowledge and trade requirements. Evaluate your win charges to trade averages: 10–20% for onerous bids, 30–50% for negotiated jobs.
  • Deal with price management and estimating accuracy. Frequently test your pricing, labor prices, and estimating course of.
  • Observe your time to finish bids. Discover the stability between working rapidly and preserving your bids correct.

Successful extra development jobs isn’t nearly sending out a number of bids. Measuring your efficiency and adjusting your methods helps you’re employed smarter and enhance win charges.

Jon Curry, Buyer Success Supervisor at ConstructConnect, has helped contractors everywhere in the nation win extra work by aligning their bidding course of with their enterprise objectives. Under are his high suggestions:

1. Outline Your Enterprise Technique First

An excellent bidding method begins with understanding the place you need your enterprise to go. Curry explains, “You wish to make sure that your bidding technique aligns with your enterprise objectives, not simply targeted on the numbers.” Earlier than deciding on tasks, ask your self: are we targeted on progress, getting into new markets, or strengthening our work in present ones?

Be sure each challenge you pursue strikes you towards these priorities. Curry provides, “Guarantee your method strikes your enterprise ahead, not simply retains you busy.”

You would possibly resolve to:

  • Enhance your bid quantity. That is useful if the purpose is to develop rapidly or enter new markets.
  • Choose tasks that suit your strengths. Specializing in jobs you do nicely might help increase win charges and create stronger relationships.

Join your bidding efforts to your total path, so that you make significant progress. Revisit your technique recurrently to make sure it displays your long-term aims. 

2. Make Your Work Quantifiable

As soon as your technique is obvious, set measurable objectives. As Curry explains, “I believe it’s actually crucial to ask your self, how will you make your work quantifiable? Should you had been considering of setting a purpose and also you envision it as a hierarchy, you have got your purpose on the high. (You) want to begin understanding what are the important thing metrics and the outcomes which can be going that will help you observe to that purpose.”

Curry suggests monitoring:

  • Variety of bids every week or month
  • Relationship-building outreach (calls/emails)
  • Common worth per bid
  • Bid success charge (wins out of complete bids)

For instance, for those who submit eight bids a month and win two—you’ve acquired a 25%-win charge. Monitoring your previous efficiency and evaluating it to trade requirements helps you see for those who’re on observe to succeed in your objectives—and makes it simpler to repair what’s not working.

3. Use Historic Information and Trade Requirements

Don’t depend on guesswork—let your personal knowledge and trade requirements information you. Curry says:

“You would take a look at historic knowledge that you’ve got already ready (by) going again into the backlog of tasks that you’ve got been engaged on. You would additionally take a look at trade requirements. They are saying a 10-to-20%-win charge is typical for onerous bid or, public aggressive work, and a 30-to-50%-win charge is widespread for negotiated or chosen bid work.”

In line with Curry, you must take into account reviewing:

  • Income by month or quarter
  • Win charges for several types of tasks
  • Developments within the tasks you do finest

This helps you strategize extra successfully, similar to rising your win charge or discovering extra of your best-fit jobs.

4. Deal with Price Management and Estimating Accuracy

Understanding your prices is crucial to sensible, worthwhile bidding. Curry encourages contractors to:

  • Frequently evaluate quotes to make sure your vendor pricing stays aggressive. Even in case you have trusted suppliers, it is vital to confirm their charges and worth.
  • Verify your labor charges and evaluate them with native averages.
  • Overview your estimating course of. Easy errors can change your pricing.

“In case your bids are too excessive as a result of your prices are off—even by a little bit bit—you’re going to lose out. But when your bids are too low, you would win a challenge and lose cash on it,” Curry factors out. Hold reviewing and enhancing your method.

5. Observe Your Time to Full Bids

Timing is vital. Curry warns, “If you’re working in your estimates and you are going (too rapidly), there is a chance for errors. You is also transferring (too slowly). This might undoubtedly hinder your capacity to be aggressive.”

  • Going too quick could cause errors or missed particulars.
  • Taking too lengthy can imply lacking submission deadlines, shedding alternatives to rivals who submit their bids sooner, or giving purchasers the impression that your crew is much less dependable or responsive. This could rapidly put you at a drawback when each minute counts.

Observe every step of your bid course of and search for methods to avoid wasting time with out shedding high quality.

Good Instruments to Improve Your Bidding Course of

These insights can really feel like loads to absorb, however bidding doesn’t should be a headache. ConstructConnect affords easy-to-use options that sort out the precise challenges Jon Curry highlights. The next instruments might help streamline your course of, cut back errors, and deal with successful the tasks that matter most to your crew:

  • ConstructConnect® Undertaking Intelligence: With the most important challenge database in North America, you have got a strong instrument at your fingertips that will help you rapidly establish, observe, and bid on the alternatives most probably to maneuver your bid ahead.
  • On-Display screen Takeoff®: Measure portions straight out of your digital plans, so you’ll be able to create fast and correct estimates with out guide math. This helps minimize down on errors and saves you time. When you’ve mastered On-Display screen Takeoff, you’ll be able to improve to Takeoff Enhance® for even sooner, AI-powered takeoffs.
  • Fast Bid®: This answer makes use of present vendor and materials pricing to maintain your bids correct and aggressive. With higher price knowledge, you’ll be able to enhance each your estimates and your earnings.

To see all or any these instruments in motion, get in contact with us to schedule a dwell demo.

You’ll find all the interview with Jon Curry right here: