The process of construction contracts bidding (tendering) is one of the key administrative processes in the construction industry. Potentially hundreds of sub-contractors over multiple trades need to be managed correctly for each project, otherwise the project and the whole company may be exposed to major risks.
The following are 5 areas where a suitable construction software can cut your bid/tender management time by automating many of the usual manual processes:
-
Document Control
Construction documents tend to change between the start and the end of a project, especially with Design & Construct projects. If the sub-contractors who are pricing their segment of the work are not reliably informed of the latest variation in documents and plans, it can lead to contracts being awarded on out of date documents resulting in possible variation claims and reduced projected profit.
If you manage your documentation manually through email or cloud storage, ensure that 1 or 2 people are solely responsible for updating all project stakeholders, including the sub-contractors who require these updates for their bid/tender submissions.
The advantage of using a construction software is that you can completely automate the process of version control by simply updating the documents on the system. If done manually, updating and issuing 100 new documents could take hours. However, it should take less than 1 minute with the right construction software.
While it’s essential to keep project documentation current to avoid financial discrepancies and workflow disruptions, it is equally important to safeguard your business from unexpected financial burdens arising from such issues. This is where the likes of business insurance by ContractorNerd becomes indispensable, providing a safety net against the unpredictable dynamics of construction projects. This way, you can focus more on the efficient management of your projects and less on the potential financial fallout from information lapses.
-
Following Up
Sending out tender packages to sub-contractors can be a tedious task. Making sure that they received the trade packages and finding out if they will be submitting a quote consumes a huge amount of time and resources.
With a proper construction software, you will know when sub-contractors receive and download trade packages, whether they will be pricing, and you provide them with a portal to submit their quotations. Reminding sub-contractors about your upcoming deadlines can also be automated. This significantly reduces the amount of time you spend on the phone.
-
Email Submissions
When various people in your team are managing bid/tender packages by email, the only way for everyone to know if a submission is received is by direct conversations or forwarding of emails.
The problem is that emails can go missing, overlooked, unchecked, or deleted. Utilising a construction software will enable your teams to easily check all bidders progress and access all quote submissions within the software system.
-
Scope of Work / Updates
One of the main admin problems is receiving bid/tender submissions in an incorrect format. A good construction software allows you to specify the breakup of the scope of work on all bid/tender packages. This informs the sub-contractors how to break up their submissions and saves all parties valuable time.
As with document updates, scopes of work also tend to change. A construction software will enable you to automate the notifications of any changes to scopes of work to all active sub-contractors, and ensure that everyone is aware of any new documents and any changes to the scope of work they are pricing.
-
Accessing a network
There are always times where sub-contractors within your network are not able to price your project bids/tenders for one reason or another. With tight deadlines and the need to organise labour to the job site within the programme, an appropriate construction software can give you access to a network of registered sub-contractors to invite to express interest in your project. This will undoubtedly save you days of searching for and qualifying sub-contractors.
A software that has a pre-qualified network of sub-contractors is certainly a huge bonus for your project and gives you the opportunity to get in touch with companies that you may not have been aware of.
Conclusion
There is now a range of construction softwares available for bid/tender management. If you are still managing the bid/tender process through emails, you are likely to be spending a significant amount of time on manual admin. This process can be streamlined with a construction software at a fraction of the time and cost.
When choosing a new construction software, keep in mind how to limit the disruption to your business and make sure to request a free trial. Also look out for user friendly features that automate the document management process, allow for a clearly defined scope of work, track all trade packages automatically and gives you access to a pre-qualified network of sub-contractors.
