Skip to main content

Bidding from a budget spine

Audience: General contractors · 6 min

Prerequisites​

  • Takeoff quantities for the job
  • Sub bids on identical scope lines

Steps​

  1. Push takeoff quantities into the budget. Every line carries quantity, unit, and cost basis.
  2. Send subs the same scope lines. Bids arrive pre-structured for leveling.
  3. Level the bids: compare line by line, flag outliers, ask what the low bidder excluded.
  4. Set your bid from the leveled cost plus markup. The owner proposal inherits these lines.
  5. When scope changes, the change order references the same lines. No parallel books.

Done when​

  • Budget, sub bids, and owner proposal share one line structure