Step-By-Step

Guide to Winning

More Profitable

Construction

Projects

Utilize the tools and digital resources offered in this book to gain quality business leads, simplify your bidding
process, and extend your project pipeline.

Competing & Winning in Today’s
Construction Landscape

Construction is a tough industry to succeed in. Of the 46,719
construction businesses opened in 2012, only 52.1% were still
in operation five years later, and only 38.8% survived 10 years,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The construction bidding landscape is extremely competitive.
Being able to consistently find, bid, and win profitable projects can
determine a company’s success or failure. The key to building a
successful bidding strategy lies in knowing which projects give you
the best chance of winning and being profitable.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Your bid-win ratio is the number of projects you must bid on to win one job. Knowing your bid-win ratio helps you know how many projects you need in your pipeline and allows you to weed out the opportunities that you don’t have a high probability of winning.

Let’s say your overall bid-win ratio is 7:1. After performing your analysis,

you discover that your bid-win ratio for medium-sized private office

projects is 4:1, and your ratio for large, public-school projects is 10:1.

In this scenario, you have a better bid-win ratio on the private office projects, so you should focus more effort on those opportunities and less time bidding on school projects.

To further leverage your bid-win ratio, do an in-depth analysis of the work you’ve bid on. Group the projects you bid on into specific
categories to make analysis easier.

For example, consider the following criteria about your projects when conducting your bid-win analysis:

By categorizing and analyzing your bid-win ratio, you get

better insight into which types of projects to pursue, which will require more effort, and which ones to avoid.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Don’t rely on just one channel for securing project leads. A healthy mix of the methods mentioned will help ensure you have a continuous flow of new opportunities to choose from.

Although everyone’s end goal is the same—win the bid and begin the work—how each contractor gets there is different. An important

component to consider is where you’re getting your project leads.

Industry

Associations

Sources

of Qualified

Leads

Government

Bidding Sites

Construction

Leads Service

It’s important to employ a healthy mix of project lead sources to ensure you aren’t missing out on opportunities to keep your bidding pipeline full. So, how do you identify qualified project leads?

Go to the next page to learn more.

Chart the Path to Finding Quality
Lead Sources for Your Business

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Construction lead services
streamline the preconstruction

process, save you time, and improve the quality of projects you bid.
ConstructConnect Project Intelligence offers access to 750,000+ active

public and private commercial

construction projects in your area.

Focus on finding the best fit for your

business and building relationships.

Consider joining a trade association
related to your specialty in the industry. Joining the Associated General
Contractors of America (AGC) is an
option. You could also look into the American Society of Professional
(ASPE) or a local trade association to increase your networking opportunities and gain access to project leads and
industry news.

Resources, such as SAM.gov or state procurement and purchasing sites, help you find project leads and opportunities on the local, state, and federal levels.

New bidding opportunities come up frequently, and some sites allow you to create accounts and new projects for free. Diverse representation is critical on government sites, your chances of being selected increase significantly if you qualify as a minority-owned or women-owned business.

Whether you connect face-to-face

or digitally, there are many ways

to network, learn more about the

industry, and discuss business.

Attending conferences, professional events, webinars, or maximizing connections through ITBs are just
a few ways to meet your peers and
exchange information. Once you reach a certain level of success, your

reputation will garner word of mouth.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Now that you know which types of projects you’re most likely to win, let’s examine profitability. After all, you’re in business to make money, not just win jobs, right?

Did I factor in my profit and overhead markup

correctly?

Did I include all the job costs in my estimate,

including bonding, supplies, and equipment?

Were my estimates for labor and materials accurate?

If not, why?

Review past projects and determine which ones were profitable. Compare your actual costs to your estimates and ask the following questions:

Make sure you’re recording accurate job costs for materials, labor, equipment, etc. If your profit margins aren’t what you expected, there are two possible reasons: your estimates are too low, or you’re having productivity issues on the jobsite, causing job costs to be higher. Either way, you must work to resolve the issues to get your profit margins where you want them to be.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Fully review the plans, specifications, and project documents to determine everything required to bid on the project and complete the work. 

Is there a pre-bid meeting or site visit scheduled? If so, is
attendance mandatory?

Are there participation goals for minority business enterprises (MBEs) and women-owned business enterprises (WBEs)?

What bonds are required? (Bid bond, performance bond,
payment bond, maintenance bond, etc.)

If you are unclear on any aspect of the project, it’s your responsibility to ask questions and get clarification. Making assumptions is no way to submit a winning bid.

What is the cutoff date for questions and requests for
information (RFIs)?

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Now that you understand project leads, profitability, and scope it’s time to decide which ones you’re going to bid on. Don’t rely on your gut instincts to decide which projects to pursue.

Click through the resources below and check off the statements when
making your bid/no-bid decision on each project.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Unique site conditions can impact your costs for transportation,
equipment, material storage, and labor. Attend the site visit to
ensure you fully understand any existing site conditions that may present challenges that must be addressed and factored into
preparing your bid.

Site Visits are a great opportunity to get face-time with key stakeholders.

Skipping this step could affect your bottom line.

Pre-bid meetings are held by project owners for prospective bidders to clarify any concerns they have with the solicitation documents, scope of work, and other project details. You should always attend pre-bid meetings and site visits and go prepared with questions.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

How do you ensure your takeoffs are complete, precise, and plan for
issues beyond the scope of the project? Performing manual takeoffs can be time-consuming and have a high risk of error. Suppose you miss items during takeoff or don’t get accurate measurements. In that case, you’ll either overestimate the project and not win the bid or underestimate and risk winning a project that won’t be profitable. 

Getting your takeoff measurements correct is key to accurately
estimating your job costs for materials, labor, and equipment.
When estimating a project be sure to account for all your direct costs, which are the costs to complete a specific project, and indirect costs, which include operational costs such as insurance, office staff salaries, and safety equipment.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Performing Takeoffs &

Estimating the Project Costs 

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

Performing Takeoffs &

Estimating the Project Costs

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects

You’ve completed all your estimates for the job, now it’s time to

go for the win. Even with the preparation and time it takes to get

to this step, you should resist the urge to rush through compiling

your proposal, which could result in mistakes that undercut your

profits. Rushing a proposal together can easily lead to mistakes

that could cost profits.

In addition, remember to budget for any contingencies that

might affect your bid price by carefully reviewing all probable

risks associated with the project and determining how much

they would cost to address and/or mitigate.

We’ve walked through steps to help you find, select, bid, and win

more profitable construction projects. Bidding is not a one-size

fits all process; however, the fundamentals presented here can

be used by anyone to create a successful bidding process.

Get another set of eyes to review your bid and make

sure you didn’t leave out any documents and verify

that all information has been included.

Get prequalified to bid on a

project when it’s required.

Attend all mandatory pre-bid

meetings and site visits.

Double-check all your
takeoff and estimates.

Submit all the necessary

documents.

Be mindful of your timeline

and submit your bid by the due date and time.

Preparing & Submitting

Your Bid Proposal

A successful bidding strategy sets any construction business up for a bright future. It starts with locating quality project leads bidding right now in your area.

Our product suite enables you to find qualified project leads, build more
accurate estimates faster, and streamline the construction bidding process.

Step-By-Step Guide to Winning More

Profitable Construction Projects