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FOR GENERAL CONTRACTORSPERSONA · GC

Shorten the gap between bid package intake and a reviewed first-pass estimate.

Precon and GC estimating teams: stop rebuilding every package from a blank sheet.

BuildBid reads the full package — plans, specs, addenda, RFIs, photos — and assembles a draft estimate your team can critique on day one instead of day five. You still sign off. We just remove the first four days of manual re-entry.

The draft arrives with confidence flags, source rows, and the assumptions it used. Low-confidence items are surfaced, not buried. Scope contradictions across the package are called out before they become change orders.

Output is a package, not a spreadsheet dump: internal review view, proposal view, trade-package splits for ITBs. Owner-facing pages link back to your security and legal terms so procurement does not stall on vague footer links.

Try on a sample packageView enterprise demo
WORKFLOW · HOW IT ACTUALLY RUNS5 STEPS
  1. STEP 01

    Upload the full package

    Plans, specs, addenda, RFIs, photos, prior ITBs. PDF, image, CAD-export. BuildBid ingests everything into one project and cross-references across documents.

  2. STEP 02

    Draft estimate lands for review

    Quantities, assemblies, and line items populate with source links back into the document. Every row shows where it came from and how confident the extractor was.

  3. STEP 03

    Review, nudge, correct

    Estimator sweeps low-confidence rows first. Corrections feed the data flywheel — the next bid on a similar package starts from a better draft.

  4. STEP 04

    Split into trade packages

    Export trade-scoped packages for ITBs. Subs see only their scope. Exclusions, alternates, and addenda carry through without re-typing.

  5. STEP 05

    Proposal view for the owner

    Customer-facing output with your markup structure. Security, legal, and insurance pages are linked on the public-facing page so procurement does not have to dig.

PAIN · WHAT THIS REPLACES

Where the hours actually go today

  • Four to five days of manual quantity takeoff before a human reviews anything.
  • Scope contradictions (spec says X, plan shows Y) caught mid-bid or after award.
  • Rebuilding proposal packaging every cycle because the estimate tool and the proposal tool are different.
  • Losing the audit trail when the estimate changes hands between precon, estimating, and ops.
LIMITS · WHAT BUILDBID IS NOT YET

Honest gaps — read before you buy

  • Not a replacement for your estimator, PM, or trade-review step. The draft still needs review before it leaves the building.
  • Self-perform labor rates still come from you — we do not yet model crew productivity curves off your historical job data.
  • Complex phasing and schedule-linked cost (general conditions that flex with duration) is not fully automated today — use the draft as a rough carry and review it manually.
  • Live integrations with Procore / Sage / Viewpoint are on the roadmap, not shipped. Export to CSV / XLSX works today.
REVIEW FOCUS · WHAT TO CHECK3 AREAS
CHECK 01

Package intake view — all plan sets, specs, and addenda cross-linked in one project.

CHECK 02

Draft estimate with confidence column + source links back into the plan sheet.

CHECK 03

Trade-package split — ITBs scoped per trade, exclusions and alternates carried through.

NEXT · TRY ON A SAMPLE

Sample plans, zero setup. The draft comes back with quantities, confidence flags, and the source rows we used. You review before you send.

Try on a sample package