Belt Auction

Does anyone have some sort of system they use to bid construction jobs?

I have just started a remodeling company and don't want to overbid my way out of a job, but also want to bid high enough to make money at it. Thanks!

Public Comments

1. there are dozens, maybe hundreds of software programs available commercially that will auto-bid construction projects for you. some are very sophisticated/ powerful with lots of tiny details. others are more general with limited parameters for input. i have never used any of them. one that i found that looks decent is: http://www.digitalcanal.com/estimating.htm Happy Building
2. Well that's just it. Figure out how much it will cost you to do the job and add enough to make some money without being too greedy. There's always the chance someone will lowball you, but people don't always go with the lowest bidder. Give them a very detailed and realistic account of the work you will be doing and what you expect the materials to cost.
3. Go to http://rsmeans.com/ and use one of their estimating tools.
4. Start up companies can either purchase estimating software such as Timberline or Hard Dollar which have database driven bid templates and are considered two of the better ones or Master Builder which has a whole construction management operating system which works good for "remodel" contractors. But if you don't have any historical data to draw from, to assemble unit costs for bid items you'll probably want to utilize a site like www.rsmeans.com to assemble unit costs for items. But even those are risky because they are "Best case scenarios" Other than that it's common sense. It's requesting quotes from subs, and guessing how much personal labor will be required. All it is is educated guessing. You can either buy the knowledge in the form of software or educate youself with a site like RSMeans or you can use your experience in construction to help you estimate costs.