What Construction Tender Process Challenges are You Facing?
- Do you (or your customers) worry about the accuracy of your pricing?
- Do you and your estimating and surveying teams spend a lot of time on mundane admin tasks?
- Do you find it difficult to get a clear view of project costs?
If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these, there’s a good chance the tips in this blog will be valuable.
Follow our action points, and you’ll be well on your way to running a well-oiled construction tendering process and pricing more jobs than ever before.
Here are the five most common challenges that subcontractors make when tendering for new business (and what to do to fix them).
Challenge One: Duplicating Work Between Teams
The Problem
Duplication of work between teams is a major hurdle in the construction tender process. It wastes time, resources, and can lead to inconsistencies in bids.
Imagine the estimating team meticulously calculates material costs, only to have the project managers recreate those same calculations for their own section of the tender.
This double-handling slows down the entire process, putting pressure on meeting deadlines.
When information is siloed and copied across spreadsheets, there's a high chance of errors creeping in. One team might have a slightly different figure for labour costs compared to the estimating team's calculations. These inconsistencies can raise red flags with the client and undermine the credibility of the bid.
Each team within a construction company brings specialised skills. When they're replicating each other's work, it wastes their expertise. The estimating team's time would be better spent refining cost breakdowns, while project managers could focus on putting together a project schedule.
Overall, duplication creates a cluttered and error-prone tender process. It reduces efficiency, increases risk, and weakens the final bid.
Read our blog on achieving better collaboration between construction teams.
The Solution
There are several solutions to tackle the challenge of duplicated work between teams in construction tenders.
Crucially, everyone should be working from the same system and the same datasets. Why should a surveyor have to go hunting for the information they need when a project is handed to them? Why should they have to create all the documentation from scratch?
If everyone works from the same centralised system, duplication of effort can be eliminated, meaning work gets done easier, faster and much more efficiently.
Construction leaders should establish clear procedures for how information flows through the tender process. Define which team is responsible for each piece of data and how it should be documented and shared within a central platform.
Construction estimating software offers tools to improve collaboration between teams and avoid duplication of work. This includes features like document sharing, version control, and the ability to lock projects. This allows teams to work on estimates and tender documents simultaneously, reducing duplication and streamlining the process.
By implementing these solutions, construction companies can significantly reduce duplicated work in the tender process.
Challenge Two: Wasting Time on Administration
The Problem
Manual data entry and administration are major bottlenecks in the construction tender process, creating a multitude of problems that can impact both efficiency and the quality of bids.
Tender documents often involve a massive amount of data – project details, specifications, cost breakdowns, subcontractor quotes. Manually entering all this information is incredibly tedious and prone to errors. A single typo in a material cost can throw off the entire bid.
Highly skilled professionals like estimators and surveyors get bogged down with data entry. This takes away valuable time they could spend on more strategic tasks like analysing project risks.
Manual processes also make it hard to track the progress of a tender or see who is responsible for specific data points. This lack of transparency can lead to delays, communication breakdowns, and finger-pointing if issues arise.
Manual data entry makes it difficult to analyse tender data effectively. Identifying trends, comparing bids across projects, or optimising future estimates becomes a laborious task. This valuable information can be lost, hindering continuous improvement in the tendering process.
Overall, manual data entry and administration creates a sluggish, error-prone construction tender process. It wastes valuable time, resources, and hinders the ability to submit high-quality, competitive bids.
The Solution
Investing in software specifically designed for construction estimating that automates administration tasks can save your estimating and tender teams hundreds of hours a year, freeing up time to tender for more construction projects.
Some estimating software systems even include tender and bid management modules to help estimators source subcontractor quotes and populate the tender.
Estimating software also helps with data validation to catch errors during entry and ensure all information is accurate and consistent.
Your team will once again have the freedom to do the job they’re paid to do, and they’ll be happier for it, too.
Read more about the cost of construction estimating software >
Challenge Three: Data Errors and Inaccuracies
The Problem
When manual data entry rules the roost, errors and inaccuracies are inevitable.
Inaccurate data can lead to flawed cost estimates, the backbone of a competitive bid. Underestimated costs could result in contractors and subcontractors losing money on the project, while overestimated costs might make the bid uncompetitive.
Data errors can cause delays. If critical information is missing or incorrect, it can take time to track down the right numbers, potentially causing the tender to miss submission deadlines.
In some cases, significant data errors can lead to disqualification from the tender process. Clients often have strict criteria, and tenders with inaccurate information might be deemed non-compliant.
Repeated data errors can even damage a construction company’s reputation. Clients may lose trust in the company's ability to deliver projects accurately and on-budget.
Overall, data errors and inaccuracies create a ripple effect of problems throughout the construction tender process. They can impact costs, timelines, and ultimately, the success of the entire project.
No estimator or surveyor worth their salt wants to see errors creeping into their estimates and cost plans. The good news is you don’t have to put up with it anymore.
The Solution
Construction estimating software systems can automate huge chunks of your data entry processes, effectively eliminating the risk of human error. Estimating software can automatically check for inconsistencies and errors in data entry, like missing fields or unrealistic unit costs.
At the core of estimating software is reliable cost databases, reducing the risk of manual errors in material pricing.
A central platform for storing estimating information minimises the risk of errors caused by using outdated or incorrect data scattered across different spreadsheets and documents. Version control features ensure everyone has access to the latest and most accurate information.
While automation helps, final human verification remains important, Team leaders or a designated reviewer should thoroughly examine the tender document before submission to catch any remaining errors.
With these systems in place, you’ll never again need to worry about inaccurate data jeopardising your chance of winning a project.
Challenge Four - Not Streamlining Handover From Estimator to Surveyor
The Problem
When a surveyor comes to create their valuations, the process of sifting through the estimator’s comparison sheets, trade mark-ups, resource analysis and supplier quotes can be like wading through treacle.
Finding all the information needed can be a major headache in its own right. Surveyors can often end up recreating the estimator's work. Estimators might have meticulously calculated material quantities for different work stages, but if this data isn't readily available or well-documented, surveyors have to repeat the process, duplicating efforts and wasting valuable time.
Without a clear handover process, crucial details might get lost in the transition. The surveyor might not be aware of specific assumptions the estimator made during cost calculations, leading to misunderstandings and potentially inaccurate valuations in the final tender.
Estimators often consider potential risks like unforeseen site conditions or material price fluctuations. If this risk assessment isn't effectively communicated to the surveyor, these risks might not be factored into the final valuation, potentially exposing the contractor or subcontractor to financial losses later.
All these inefficiencies and potential errors can ultimately lead to a less competitive and well-rounded bid. The tender might lack crucial details, contain inconsistencies, or miss important risk considerations.
The Solution
Implementing construction estimating software provides a central platform that stores all estimating data in one place. This allows both estimators and surveyors to access and work with the same information, eliminating the need for separate data entry or document sharing via email.
Construction estimating software helps automate the data transfer between different stages of the tender process. For instance, the system can automatically populate relevant cost breakdowns and quantity calculations into the surveyor's section of the tender document.
Outside of construction technology solutions, developing a standardised handover document that captures key information from the estimator can take the pain out of the handover to the surveyor. This document might include:
- Breakdown of material quantities for different work stages.
- Assumptions made during cost calculations.
- Identified risks and mitigation strategies.
- Any specific requirements for the surveyor's valuation.
Before finalising the tender, implement a review process where both estimators and surveyors can verify the data and calculations used in their respective sections. This final check can catch any discrepancies or missing information before submission.
Challenge Five - Having a Limited View of The Numbers
The Problem
For finance teams, having a clear and unfiltered view of actual construction project costs is the Holy Grail to strive for.
Too often finance teams spend large chunks of their time trying to get to the bottom of costs and the cost to complete, and end up duplicating effort to gather that data.
A limited view of the numbers for finance teams during the tendering process also creates a significant hurdle for construction companies.
Finance teams often rely on estimates from other departments. Without full visibility into the underlying calculations and assumptions, it's difficult for them to assess the accuracy and reliability of cost estimates.
Finance teams are also experts at identifying cost-saving measures. However, if they don't have a clear picture of all project costs from the outset, they might miss opportunities to optimise pricing strategies or negotiate better deals with suppliers.
Limited visibility into project costs makes it challenging for finance teams to effectively assess potential risks associated with material price fluctuations, unforeseen site conditions, or project delays. This can hinder their ability to develop mitigation strategies or advise on appropriate contingency plans.
Overall, a limited view of the numbers creates a communication gap between finance and other departments involved in tendering. This can lead to inaccurate bids, missed cost savings, and difficulties in managing financial risk and project budgets.
The Solution
A centralised construction software platform, such as a construction ERP system, where all project data is stored and shared among the team, can be incredibly empowering for construction finance departments.
By providing a single source of truth, finance teams gain real-time access to all the numbers they need.
Construction ERP software includes reporting features within the platform to generate automated reports on key tendering metrics. Interactive dashboards can also offer finance teams a quick and visual overview of project costs, risk assessments, and potential budget variances.
Transform Your Construction Tender Process and Boost Your Bid-to-Win Ratio
Every contractor and subcontractor has its own way of managing the construction tendering process. Whether they’re using spreadsheets or even paper-based systems, there will always be challenges such as inaccuracies and inefficiencies to deal with.
Maybe now is a good time to audit your construction tendering processes and procedures and really think whether there’s a better way to do things – you’ll be surprised how much time you could save (and extra work you could win!).
Access ConQuest Estimating software helps construction teams save time, avoid data errors, generate accurate costs and work collaboratively.
Watch a ConQuest product demo (4 minutes) or book a live demo today.