An increase in tender opportunities can put pressure on a plumbing contractor’s estimating workload.
When several tenders arrive at the same time, each project still requires drawings, specifications, quantities, supplier pricing, labour allowances, and commercial conditions to be reviewed before a price is submitted.
Managing increased tender workload requires contractors to prioritise projects, organise tender information, and maintain the checks used to develop the price.
1. Prioritise Tenders Before Detailed Pricing
Not every tender needs to receive the same amount of estimating time.
Before starting a detailed takeoff, contractors can review the project type, tender deadline, scope, available documentation, commercial conditions and expected estimating effort.
A tender register can then be used to track:
- Tender closing dates
- Current drawing revisions
- Scope status
- Supplier quotations
- Clarifications
- Estimating progress
- Submission requirements
This forms part of effective tender workload management, particularly when several projects have overlapped deadlines.
It also gives the contractor an opportunity to identify projects that may not be commercially suitable before significant estimating time is committed.
2. Organise the Tender Information
When several projects are being priced at once, time can be lost searching through drawings, specifications, revisions, addenda and supplier correspondence.
The current tender documentation should be identified before quantities and pricing are developed.
This can include:
- Drawings and schedules
- Specifications
- Addenda
- Scope documents
- Tender conditions
- Supplier quotations
- Builder correspondence
Revisions should be checked carefully. A quantity measured from an earlier drawing may no longer represent the current scope.
3. Keep Pricing Consistent While Allowing for Project Conditions
Higher tender volume can create pressure to price quickly. This can lead to inconsistent labour allowances, material rates, or scope of assumptions.
Established labour productivity rates, material pricing processes, allowances, and tender qualification procedures can help maintain consistency.
However, the same allowance should not automatically be applied to every project.
Installation conditions can change the labour requirement significantly. High-rise work, commercial fit-outs, and civil drainage projects can involve different access conditions, installation methods, staging requirements, and productivity rates.
The estimating process should therefore remain consistent while the actual project conditions are assessed for each tender.
4. Check Supplier Pricing and Scope Before Submission
Supplier quotations need to be reviewed against the tender requirements before they are included in the price.
The review should cover quantities, product specifications, accessories, exclusions, delivery requirements, and any substitutions.
A supplier quotation may only cover part of the required scope. Any missing items need to be identified and priced separately.
The completed tender should then be checked against the current documentation, including drawings, quantities, labour, materials, supplier pricing, exclusions, qualifications, and addenda.
5. Know When the Tender Is Not Worth Pursuing
More tender opportunities do not automatically mean every project should be priced.
A tender can require substantial estimating time while still presenting commercial conditions that make the opportunity unsuitable.
Before committing significant resources, contractors can consider whether the scope is sufficiently defined, whether the deadline is achievable, whether the commercial conditions are acceptable and whether the expected return justifies the estimating effort.
Knowing when to decline a tender also protects estimating capacity for projects that better fit the business.
Conclusion
A higher tender workload requires a clear process for deciding which projects to price, organising the documentation, developing the quantities, and checking the completed tender before submission.
Contractors need to prioritise opportunities, work from current documentation, maintain consistent pricing methods, check supplier information, and allow enough time for final review. Effective tender workload management keeps these checks in place when several tenders are being handled at the same time.
When internal estimating capacity is already committed, additional estimating capacity can also be used for specific tenders while maintaining the contractor’s existing pricing process.
For commercial plumbing and civil drainage contractors requiring additional estimating capacity, ePlumbing Estimators provides detailed tender estimating support.
