What Is a Bid Document?

While trying to place a bid on PlanHub, you may have noticed you have two options to submit your bid, "Quick Bid" or "Create a cost breakdown instead". Both options require a "bid document".

What is a Bid

A bid is the formal price proposal submitted to a client or General Contractor to win the work.

A bid is commonly based on an estimate but also includes:

• Scope commitments
• Pricing strategy
• Schedule considerations
• Qualifications or exclusions
• Contract terms
• Competitive positioning

The purpose of a bid is to:

• Compete for the project

• Secure the contract
• Present your company as the selected vendor or trade partner

A bid is external-facing, while an estimate is typically internal-facing.

Here are some links to help you improve and level up your bidding practices: 

• Blog Link | Subcontractor & Contractor Proposal Template for Winning Projects

• Free On-Demand Webinar | How to Win More Bids | PlanHub Webinar for Subcontractors

• How-to Article | How To Place A Bid

Enter a project in PlanHub and click Place Bid. You will be redirected to the bid submission page. Select the Quick bid or the Cost Breakdown option:

• Quick Bid: Select the Trade you are bidding, enter your Bid Amount, and upload your bid document that you built outside of PlanHub. 

• Cost Breakdown: Build your Bid Template in a line item list format inside of PlanHub. 

Bid documents can be as simple as a Word document, PDF, or Excel sheet with your company's letterhead, bid amount, and the trades you are bidding on, (great for the Quick Bid option).

You can go into more detail and break out the specific bid amounts if you wish, but it does not have to be elaborate (you can build this in your own document or in the Bid Builder).

When you select the Create a cost breakdown, you will be sent to the Bid Builder, where you can build your bid document.