Bid packages and bid leveling

A general contractor sends each trade's scope to subcontractors and compares what comes back. TakeoffCraft does both from the takeoff: open Export › Bid packages and leveling….

Packages

There is one package for each CSI division your items use (the first two digits of an item's CSI number, see Create takeoff items). Items without a number make a package of their own. Each package shows its items, how many sheets their marks are on, and our own cost of it (material and labor before markups, from the base bid).

Choose Scope CSV to download what to send a subcontractor: each item with its CSI number, quantity, unit and the sheets it is on. It has no prices. For material suppliers, the workbook's quote request has the parts list (see Export the estimate).

Enter the bids

1. In the empty row under the package, type the bidder's name and the amount of the bid, then choose Add the bid.
2. If a bid leaves part of the scope out, open its Left out list and tick those items.
3. To correct a name or an amount, type over it in the table; the × button removes a bid.

Each change is one step that ⌘ZCtrl+Z takes back, and the bids are saved with the takeoff.

How the bids are leveled

Bids rarely cover the same scope. Leveling fills each left-out item with a plug at our own cost of it, so every bid is compared on the whole package:

Leveled = the bid + the plugs

The lowest leveled bid is marked Low; on a tie, the one entered first. Against our cost is the leveled bid minus our own cost of the package: negative means under it. A bid that looks lowest can lose once its missing scope is counted.

The workbook gets a Bid leveling sheet with every package that has bids: our estimate, each bid, its plugs, the leveled total and the difference, as live formulas, and what each bid left out.