In Short
- Define your business strategy. Make sure your bidding approach supports your biggest goals—be intentional about which projects you go after.
- Make your work quantifiable. Track the number of bids, project values, and relationship-building activities each month.
- Use historical data and industry standards. Compare your win rates to industry averages: 10–20% for hard bids, 30–50% for negotiated jobs.
- Focus on cost control and estimating accuracy. Regularly check your pricing, labor costs, and estimating process.
- Track your time to complete bids. Find the balance between working quickly and keeping your bids accurate.
Winning more construction jobs isn’t just about sending out a lot of bids. Measuring your performance and adjusting your strategies helps you work smarter and increase win rates.
Jon Curry, Customer Success Manager at ConstructConnect, has helped contractors all over the country win more work by aligning their bidding process with their business goals. Below are his top recommendations:
1. Define Your Business Strategy First
A good bidding approach starts with knowing where you want your business to go. Curry explains, “You want to make sure your bidding strategy aligns with your business goals, not just focused on the numbers.” Before selecting projects, ask yourself: are we focused on growth, entering new markets, or strengthening our work in current ones?
Make sure every project you pursue moves you toward these priorities. Curry adds, “Ensure your approach moves your business forward, not just keeps you busy.”
You might decide to:
- Increase your bid volume. This is helpful if the goal is to grow quickly or enter new markets.
- Select projects that fit your strengths. Focusing on jobs you do well can help boost win rates and create stronger relationships.
Connect your bidding efforts to your overall direction, so you make meaningful progress. Revisit your strategy regularly to ensure it reflects your long-term objectives.
2. Make Your Work Quantifiable
Once your strategy is clear, set measurable goals. As Curry explains, “I think it’s really imperative to ask yourself, how can you make your work quantifiable? If you were thinking of setting a goal and you envision it as a hierarchy, you have your goal at the top. (You) need to start understanding what are the key metrics and the results that are going to help you track to that goal.”
Curry suggests tracking:
- Number of bids each week or month
- Relationship-building outreach (calls/emails)
- Average value per bid
- Bid success rate (wins out of total bids)
For example, if you submit eight bids a month and win two—you’ve got a 25%-win rate. Tracking your past performance and comparing it to industry standards helps you see if you're on track to reach your goals—and makes it easier to fix what's not working.
3. Use Historical Data and Industry Standards
Don’t rely on guesswork—let your own data and industry standards guide you. Curry says:
“You could look at historical data that you've already prepared (by) going back into the backlog of projects that you've been working on. You could also look at industry standards. They say a 10-to-20%-win rate is typical for hard bid or, public competitive work, and a 30-to-50%-win rate is common for negotiated or selected bid work.”
According to Curry, you should consider reviewing:
- Revenue by month or quarter
- Win rates for different types of projects
- Trends in the projects you do best
This helps you strategize more effectively, such as growing your win rate or finding more of your best-fit jobs.
4. Focus on Cost Control and Estimating Accuracy
Knowing your costs is essential to smart, profitable bidding. Curry encourages contractors to:
- Regularly compare quotes to ensure your vendor pricing remains competitive. Even if you have trusted suppliers, it's important to verify their rates and value.
- Check your labor rates and compare them with local averages.
- Review your estimating process. Simple mistakes can change your pricing.
“If your bids are too high because your costs are off—even by a little bit—you’re going to lose out. But if your bids are too low, you could win a project and lose money on it,” Curry points out. Keep reviewing and improving your approach.
5. Track Your Time to Complete Bids
Timing is important. Curry warns, “If you are working on your estimates and you're going (too quickly), there's a possibility for mistakes. You could also be moving (too slowly). This could definitely hinder your ability to be competitive.”
- Going too fast can cause errors or missed details.
- Taking too long can mean missing submission deadlines, losing opportunities to competitors who submit their bids faster, or giving clients the impression that your team is less reliable or responsive. This can quickly put you at a disadvantage when every minute counts.
Track each step of your bid process and look for ways to save time without losing quality.
Smart Tools to Enhance Your Bidding Process
These insights can feel like a lot to take in, but bidding doesn’t need to be a headache. ConstructConnect offers easy-to-use solutions that tackle the exact challenges Jon Curry highlights. The following tools can help streamline your process, reduce errors, and focus on winning the projects that matter most to your team:
- ConstructConnect® Project Intelligence: With the largest project database in North America, you have a powerful tool at your fingertips to help you quickly identify, track, and bid on the opportunities most likely to move your bid forward.
- On-Screen Takeoff®: Measure quantities straight from your digital plans, so you can create quick and accurate estimates without manual math. This helps cut down on mistakes and saves you time. Once you’ve mastered On-Screen Takeoff, you can upgrade to Takeoff Boost® for even faster, AI-powered takeoffs.
- Quick Bid®: This solution uses current vendor and material pricing to keep your bids accurate and competitive. With better cost data, you can improve both your estimates and your profits.
To see any or all these tools in action, get in touch with us to schedule a live demo.
You can find the entire interview with Jon Curry here:
