Comparing Subcontractor Bids — Scope, Spec, and Exclusions
Subcontractor bids for the “same” package routinely differ by 20–40% — mostly because they are not actually bidding the same thing.
Build a comparison sheet
One row per work element, one column per bidder. Enter each bidder’s price against each element. Blanks are the story — a missing line usually means an exclusion.
Normalise to a common basis
- Scope: add the cost of any element a bidder excluded (priced from the others, or your own estimate) to their total for comparison.
- Specification: if one bidder priced a cheaper alternative product, adjust to the specified item.
- Attendances: who provides power, water, scaffold, crane, hoisting, waste removal? Price the gaps.
- Preliminaries: some fold site costs into rates, some list them. Move to a common structure.
Read the qualifications
“Excludes rock excavation”, “based on continuous access”, “price firm for 30 days”, “excludes testing and commissioning” — each is a risk transferred back to you. List every qualification and price or reject it.
Beyond price
| Factor | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Capacity / current workload | Can they resource your programme? |
| Track record on similar work | Reduces performance risk |
| Financial standing | Guards against mid-contract failure |
| Programme fit | A cheap bid that starts 8 weeks late costs more |
Select and record
Choose the lowest normalised compliant bid. Record the comparison and the reasons — it is the audit trail if the award is questioned, and it feeds the bid summary.
EngEst Pro’s Subcontractors module logs multiple bids per trade, lets you record scope and exclusions, mark the winning bid, and rolls the selected subcontractor totals into the Bid Summary automatically.
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