Run bid leveling across subcontractor quotes

Before you begin

You'll need a scope of work broken into biddable packages (usually derived from your estimate's cost codes), and a list of subs invited to bid each package.

Steps

1. From Preconstruction → Bidding → Bid Grid, create a bid package tied to the relevant estimate line items or cost codes.
2. Invite subcontractors. Existing contacts pull in automatically with their trade and past-performance history if you've worked with them before.
3. As bids come in, enter each into the Bid Grid, one column per bidder. Line items that don't map cleanly across bidders are flagged rather than silently averaged.
4. Use the grid's normalization view to compare apples-to-apples even when bidders scoped things slightly differently. A sub who included a scope another excluded shows clearly, not just as a lower number.
5. Select a winning bid per package. This becomes the basis for the subcontract.

What happens next

A selected bid links directly to subcontract creation. The awarded sub's pricing, scope, and any qualifications carry over instead of being re-typed into the contract document.

Where the record lives

All bids received, including the ones not selected, stay attached to the bid package under Preconstruction → Bidding → Bid History, which matters if a scope gap surfaces later and you need to check what every bidder actually included.

Troubleshooting

A bidder's total doesn't match the sum of their line items: flag it and go back to the bidder before scoring; this is one of the most common real-world bid-leveling errors and usually means a line was double-counted or omitted in their own worksheet, not yours.

Two bids look identical but one excludes a scope item: this is exactly what the normalization view is meant to catch; don't compare bottom-line totals alone without checking the scope-inclusion flags first.