The Project Details page is the page devoted to each project. Understanding and navigating this page is essential to downloading and accessing plans, bidding projects, and communicating with General Contractors.
1. To get to a Project's Details page you can use the link from the "invite to bid" (ITB) email you received, this should take you directly to the Project Details.
If you saved the project by marking it with a star you can find the project in the Bid Board. To get to the Bid Board navigate to https://subcontractor.planhub.com/bid-management/bid-board or click on Bid Board in the menu of your PlanHub account to the right of your screen. Search for the project by name then click on the project name in the list.
If you cannot find the original email and you did not already save the project you can find the project on the Project Leads page.
To get to Project Leads navigate to https://subcontractor.planhub.com/leads/list or click on the Project Leads page in the menu of your PlanHub account to the right of your screen.
Search for the project by name then click on the project name in the list.
2. The Project Details page will open in a new browser tab. All information on this page is specific to this project posting and is provided by the General Contractor.
At the top of all tabs on the Project Details page you can see/access :
• The project name
• The option to save the project (star)
• The not-interested icon
• Share
• Submit a Bid
• Project Notes
• The Project Due Date
• Project Details tabs
3.The first tab is called "Project Info". It contains the Project Details and Project Checklist.
The Details section contains basic information about the project provided by the General Contractors when they posted the project.
• Project address
• Construction Type
• Project Type
• Project Building Use
• Estimated Start Date & Completion Date
• Project Status
• Project size (in Sqft)
• Project value
• Special Instructions
• Update Log
The Project Checklist has four steps to guide you through the best practices when bidding on a project, while these steps may not always be necessary the guide can help you and your team stay organized and stand out to the General Contractor.
4. The "Notes" page is available on any Project Details tab. The "Notes" section is company specific. This means that once you enter a note, only you and your team members can see this note. This is a great way to communicate with your team members and keep a record of the efforts you and your team have made to qualify and win a project.
5. Here is an example of a note once you have created and saved a note to a project.
6. The Project Files tab contains the project files and keyword search tool.
To utilize the Keyword search tool enter a word into the search bar and use your enter key or click on the magnifying glass.
- Tip: Enter phrases you would look for to identify your sections in plans and
documents. Example: Concrete, Foundation Plan, Wall Schedule, Gypsum, Finish
Plan.
The system will scan the documents for the phrase you entered and provide you
with a list of documents that contain that phrase and the page number it occurred
on.
7. The "Project Files" tab contains the project files and keyword search tool.
To utilize the Keyword search tool enter a word into the search bar and use your enter key or click on the magnifying glass.
- Tip: Enter phrases you would look for to identify your sections in plans and documents.
- Example: Concrete, Foundation Plan, Wall Schedule, Gypsum, Finish Plan.
The system will scan the documents for the phrase you entered and provide you with a list of documents that contain that phrase and the page number it occurred on.
8. To review the documents with your phrases click on the "File Viewer" icon.
- Tip: This is a great way to view and add notes to the documents before downloading.
Additionally, the file viewer is the only place you can send select pages into the PlanHub Takeoff tool.
9. To download one document click on the "download" icon.
10. Then click "Download Now" in the popup.
11. To download multiple documents at once in a Zip File format check off the documents then click the "Download Files" button and confirm the download in the popup.
12. You can filter the type of documents by using the "Filter by document type(0)" field.
13. You can adjust the sorting order by using the arrow next to each column title.
14. To view the General Contractor(s) that posted this project click on the "General Contractors" tab.
15. Your access to this section's details is based on your subscription and posting GC's relationship to your company in planHub. Each project can have multiple General Contractors that are soliciting for bids on PlanHub. We work to combine these postings so that you can submit bids to the different General Contractors at once.
You can see:
- The General Contractor's business name.
- The name of the user who posted the project for this General Contractor.
- The option to send a message to the General Contractor.
- The user's phone number.
- The user's email address.
- The General Contractor's bid due date.
- The button to "Follow" the General Contractor allows you to follow and target their projects on the Project Leads page using the "My Connections" view.
- The "Place Bid" that allows you to submit your bid.
16. You can gauge your competition inside PalnHub in the "Market Intelligence" tab.
17. Use the "Competitor Activity within your matching trades" filter to identify the number of competing companies that have taken particular actions in PlanHub to help you gauge your competition as you prepare your bid.
Use the "Filter By Matching Trades" Filter to narrow down the trades that are displayed.
Once you have used the filter(s) your results are provided to the right categorized by trade type.
- Note, your company will not be included in the count you see in the results.
18. To Ask The General Contractor(s) a question about this project click on the "Project Q&A" tab.
19. Next select all the General Contractor(s) you want to send the question to using the General Contractors field.
Enter your question and attach any pertinent documentation, then click "Send Question".
Once the General Contractor responds the answer will be provided in the area to the right.
20. To connect with material Suppliers/Manufacturers click on the "Material Estimates" tab.
Connecting with suppliers/manufacturers is a great way to obtain material costs, expand your supplier network, and possibly obtain competitive pricing.
21. To find material Supplier/Manufacturer contacts use the "Send Request" tab. You can filter the results by the trades they supply to by using the "Select Trades(#)" field.
The resulting list below are Suppliers that align with the trades you selected and location of the project.
Check off all, some, or just one supplier to send them a request for a material estimate or send them a message to connect with them in PlanHub by clicking on "Request Estimate".
Requests and responses will be logged and viewable in the Messages section of PlanHub.
