Tender estimating
Tender estimating for builders who have more tenders than hours
Measured bills, priced estimates and tender summaries built from the tender set and delivered against your close date, so you can submit on more jobs without hiring.
What tender estimating covers
A tender arrives with a drawing set, a specification, a tender form and a close date. Our job is the measuring and the pricing between those. We take the set off, trade by trade, build the bill in the structure the tender asks for, rate it from your rates or from a published rate basis, and hand back a workbook you can submit from.
Most builders use this one of two ways. Some want the measured bill only and price it themselves from their subcontractor quotes. Others want the full priced estimate with preliminaries, margin and a tender summary ready to go. Both are the same takeoff underneath.
- Trade-by-trade bill of quantities measured from the tender set
- Priced estimate with a stated rate basis, preliminaries and margin shown separately
- Tender summary: what was measured, what was assumed, what was excluded
- Subcontractor quote comparison against the measured quantities
- Design options and alternatives priced side by side where the tender asks
- Revisions when addenda are issued before close
Built to your close date
The first thing we ask for is the close date. The fee and the delivery date are set against it, in writing, before any measuring starts. A single-package residential tender is usually 3 to 5 days. A multi-trade commercial tender takes longer and the date is agreed up front. If an addendum lands mid-tender, the bill is revised rather than patched.
Every line on the bill carries a drawing reference, every assumption is written on the line, and the summary says what sits outside the bill. When the client's quantity surveyor questions a number, the answer is on the drawing.
Who uses an outsourced estimator
Builders between estimators, or with one estimator and four tenders due the same week. Project managers who need an independent pre-tender estimate to check the submissions against. Subcontractors stepping up to larger packages that need a proper bill behind the price.
Recent tender work includes a five-package CBD office fitout, a co-living block's formwork package, a retirement village stage across seven halls and a 27-storey tower's formwork takeoff. Each one is a case study on this site. Send the tender set and the close date and we will tell you the same day whether the date works and what the fee is.
What you get
A measured bill of quantities in Excel
Trade by trade, element by element, in the structure the tender asks for. Drawing references on every line.
A priced estimate if you want one
Rates from your own schedule or a published rate basis, preliminaries and margin as visible lines, GST split out.
A tender summary
A short PDF that says what was measured, what was assumed and what was excluded, ready to go in with the submission.
A fixed fee and a delivery date before we start
Both confirmed after a free review of the set, against your close date.
Two pages from real HYKSOS work. The full sample packs are on the sample page, and the formwork sample is a single PDF.
How it works
- Send your drawings. Upload the set or share a link. PDF is fine, DWG is fine too.
- Free drawing review and a fixed fee the same day. We open every sheet, size the job and come back with a fixed fee and a delivery date.
- Measured, marked up and billed in 3 to 5 days. The bill in Excel and the markup PDF land in your inbox, every line referenced to a drawing.
- One round of questions included. Ask about any line and we walk you through where it came from.
Questions
How is an outsourced tender estimate charged?
A fixed fee per tender, confirmed after a free review of the set. The fee follows the size of the set and the number of trades, not the tender value. There is no retainer and no minimum number of tenders.
Can you work to our rates and our bill format?
Yes. Send your rate schedule and a bill you have used before. We build in that layout and price from those rates. If you have no rates for a trade, we use a published rate basis and say so on the line.
What happens when an addendum is issued?
The whole bill is revised as the next revision and re-issued, with the changed lines noted. Patching a bill line by line is how tenders go wrong.
Do you sign the tender or deal with the client?
No. The estimate is yours to submit under your name. We stay in the background unless you ask us to join a clarification call.
Is this the same as a Class 3 estimate?
No. A Class 3 budget estimate is a feasibility number from concept or DA drawings. Tender estimating is a measured bill from a tender set, priced to submit. The Class 3 page explains the earlier stage.
Related
Request a fee
Drop the tender set below with the close date. We will come back the same business day with a fixed fee and a delivery date.