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How to Compare Subcontractor Bids
How do I compare three subcontractor bids like for like, when the cheapest one has left out a line?
Send all bidders the same lines with the bill's quantities, then record each bid and never type a guess into a gap. Open Bids leaves out Wraycliffe's £172,140 because the shaft walls are unpriced; priced at the highest rate (£98.00), its figure is £197,620, only £11,960 below Lintmoor. Compute Leveling ranks Lintmoor (£209,580) first, so award it and write the reason. The app does not write the rates back to the bill (the order is £4,670 over the £204,910 allowance) and does not check exclusions, attendances or the programme.
We compare subcontractor bids for the same work package in OpenConstructionERP. Before looking at the totals, we check exclusions, missing scope and the assumptions behind each quotation.
You will produce
A levelled comparison of three dry lining bids and an award to Lintmoor at £209,580, with the reason on file and a draft subcontract.
Transcript
0:00 The rules
This lesson is about letting a subcontract package. You'll compare three dry lining bids like for like, and price the gap in the cheapest. Then you'll award the package, with the reason on file. The cheapest bid is £37,440 below the next one. But it left the fire-rated shaft walls unpriced. Take it at face value, and the gap comes back as a cost. Last time, Tandlewick's estimator priced the dry lining at £204,910 net. Now the job is won. The estimator lets the package, and the commercial manager signs off the award. Quotes arrive in different shapes: a lump sum, a page of exclusions, a line quietly dropped. So the estimator sent all three bidders the same four lines, with the bill's quantities. Now a gap shows at once. Here are the totals. Lintmoor £209,580. Orrelsdale £222,210. Wraycliffe £172,140, with the shaft walls blank. Ranked like this, the incomplete bid wins. So price the gap. A cautious way is the highest rate received: Orrelsdale's £98.00. 260 m² at £98.00 is £25,480. Wraycliffe levels to £197,620, still £11,960 below Lintmoor. But that's the estimator's figure, not Wraycliffe's offer. So the estimator writes to all three bidders at once. Confirm the fire-rated shaft walls, 260 m², by Friday 14 August. Lintmoor and Orrelsdale confirm. Wraycliffe replies that it doesn't install shaft wall systems. Its bid stays incomplete. Why not split the package? It saves money on paper. But it leaves two firms at the fire-stopping interface, and the joint between them is yours to coordinate.
2:17 Record the bids
Now to the app. In OpenConstructionERP, open Bid Management and the dry lining package. Click Add from BOQ, and pick the four dry lining lines. Each keeps the bill's quantity. Your own rates stay behind. The other two bids are already recorded. Click Record bid for Wraycliffe, and type its rates: £52.00, £22.00 and £38.00. The shaft walls stay blank. Never type a guess into a gap. That's £172,140. Now click Open Bids. The app checks every bid: on time, in pounds, and every mandatory line priced. Scope lines are mandatory by default. The shaft walls are missing from Wraycliffe's bid, so the app leaves it out. Its column shows only dashes.
3:12 Level and award
Back in the package, click Close Bidding: no more bids come in. Then, in Submissions, click Compute Leveling, the app's spelling. It ranks the valid bids. Lintmoor comes first, at £209,580. Orrelsdale is second, at £222,210. Wraycliffe isn't ranked. The commercial manager has signed off the choice, so award it. Click Award under Lintmoor, and write the reason: lowest complete bid, and one firm responsible for the fire-rated walls and their interfaces. Then click Confirm award. The app drafts a subcontract from the award. It's only a draft, still to be agreed and signed. The app leaves two things to you. It never writes Lintmoor's rates back to the bill. So update your cost report yourself. The order is £209,580. The allowance was £204,910. That's £4,670 over. And it compares only the prices you typed. Exclusions, attendances and the programme are yours to check.
4:28 Get it right
Here are three mistakes we see. One: ranking the headline totals. Priced properly, Wraycliffe's £37,440 lead shrinks to £11,960. Two: taking a bid with a missing line at face value. The shaft walls alone are worth £25,480 at the highest rate. Three: forgetting attendances and the programme. Even before them, Lintmoor is £4,670 over. Pro tip. Send every clarification to all bidders at once, with a reply date. File the replies with the award, so the decision explains itself. Pause the video. Say Lintmoor had left the ceilings blank instead. What would its bid total, and would the app compare it? The answer: £159,180, and no. That's £209,580 less £50,400. Open Bids would leave it out. Here's your checklist. It's also in the description, to download. OpenConstructionERP is free and open source, and it runs on your own server. No subscription, no per-seat licence. Next time: Tandlewick's first monthly application, and what the client keeps back.
