Four enquiries, one school
A council puts a new primary school out to tender. Four main contractors are bidding and each sends you an enquiry for the groundworks. The drawings are mostly the same, but one contractor has a newer drainage revision, another has asked for an alternative foundation design, and each has its own form of tender, return date and subcontract terms. Your estimator prices it once, then adjusts it three times, in four spreadsheets.
Weeks later one contractor wins and asks you to confirm your price. Which spreadsheet was theirs, and which drawings was it based on?
Why duplicate enquiries are hard
Each enquiry arrives separately, from a different contractor, often with a different project name. Nobody spots at first that they are the same scheme. When they do, the differences between them are buried in documents. The base price and each variation live in separate files, and the link between them is in the estimator's head.
- Enquiries for one scheme arrive from several contractors with different names.
- Document sets and revisions differ slightly between enquiries.
- Each contractor's terms, exclusions and forms of tender differ.
- Base price and variations live in separate spreadsheets.
- Outcomes are not linked back to the scheme or contractor.
What duplicate pricing costs
Estimator time spent pricing the same work several times. Inconsistent prices to different contractors for the same scheme, which can come back to bite. Confusion about which drawings a price was based on when the winning contractor asks you to confirm. And no view of which main contractors you win with, or at what margin.
The tender register we build
- Each enquiry is logged with the contractor, return date, documents and terms.
- Enquiries are matched to schemes by site address, client and drawing references, and linked when they are the same scheme. A person confirms the link.
- Document sets are compared between enquiries, and differences in drawings, revisions and scope are listed.
- One base price is held for the scheme, and each contractor's return is built from it with its own adjustments, exclusions and terms.
- Each return records exactly which drawings and revisions it was based on.
- Returns are produced in each contractor's form of tender.
- Outcomes are recorded per contractor, with any feedback, so you see which contractors win work and how your price compared.
| Contractor | Documents | Differences from base | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contractor A | Base set | None | Returned |
| Contractor B | Newer drainage revision | Two runs changed | Returned, adjusted |
| Contractor C | Alternative foundations | Priced as option | Returned with option |
| Contractor D | Base set, different terms | Exclusions adjusted | Due Friday |
One scheme, one price, several returns
The scheme is priced once, and each contractor's return is a tracked variation. When a contractor wins and comes back to you, the exact basis of your price is on record. Your prices to different contractors are consistent, and differences are deliberate. And over time, you learn which main contractors are worth pricing for, based on how often they win and how your prices compare.
Your estimator also stops being the only person who knows how the four returns relate to each other. If they are off when the winning contractor rings, anyone in the office can open the scheme, see the base price, the adjustments made for that contractor and the drawings it was based on, and answer the question.
Do you price the same scheme more than once?
- You receive enquiries for the same scheme from several contractors.
- Each enquiry is priced in its own spreadsheet.
- You are unsure which drawings a price was based on.
- Prices to different contractors for the same job differ by accident.
- You do not track win rates by main contractor.