8 Things to Include in a Bid Set, 5 Things That Don't Matter

Get better bids by giving better info to the contractors

The best way to get the most accurate numbers from a contractor during the bid phase is to include as much *relevant* information as you can. You don’t want to overwhelm them with drawings and pages and pages of narrative. Every drawing, every sentence, should be relevant, clear, succint.

[Note: This post is focused on projects that are getting early bids - so, not full, hard bids of the completed construction documents, or projects that go through a formal or public bid process. That’s a whole ‘nother process, and not what I’m talking about here.]

The goal is to say as much as possible with as few materials as possible. It’s respectful of the contractor’s time, and it’s less costly in terms of design fees. We’re aiming for “better than a ballpark” estimate, but not the “this is your exact assigned seat in the ballpark” estimate.