Submitting bids and earning contracts
There are several ways to submit a bid in the construction industry. The number one way is direct email, other ways include using a software like Building Connected or Planhub. Contracts come to you via email or through a software like Textura.
At this time, Ganarpro does not have a feature to submit bids to decision makers.
Sending your proposal
Include your bidding project in the subject line, attach a clear scope of work proposal, which should include your price and your company contact information.
Following up
The bidding phase of a project can be hectic. Estimators receive bids from many companies. Many jobs in pre construction phase get awarded to another bidding GC. You need to email and call the customer after your submit your bid to get updated status'.
Contracts
When contracting in construction, common terms include: Schedule of Values, Billing Period, Retainage, Pay apps, Lien Waivers, and Pay when Paid. Notaries are required and sometimes physical documents need to be mailed.
Billing period
For half of your commercial contracts earned, you can not submit your invoice at anytime. You must wait until billing opens up, normally around the end of the month and the period is open for a few days. During the billing period, general contractors record any services provided or products used on the construction process, and calculate the charges accordingly. At the end of the billing period, the GC will generate an invoice and send it to the owner, requesting payment for the services rendered or products delivered.
Schedule of values
The schedule of values is used to approve your billing amount. The SOV is broken down by project phase and each component of your scope of work is assigned a value that is allocated to each phase of the construction building process. As each phase is completed, the contractor submits an invoice based on the percentage of work that has been completed, as listed in the schedule of values.
Retainage
Retainage refers to the practice of withholding a portion (usually 10%) of a payment due to a contractor or subcontractor until the completion of a project. It is used as a form of security or assurance to ensure that the work is completed satisfactorily and to the agreed-upon standard. Retainage serves several purposes, including incentivizing contractors to complete the work on time and to the agreed-upon standard, providing a source of funds to cover any necessary repairs or corrections, and protecting the project owner from potential financial liability.
Lien Waivers
Lien waivers are documents exchanged at the time of payment in the construction industry. Typically, the party making payment requires the party receiving payment to sign a lien waiver.. Lien Waiver request must be signed and notarized, a common method to sign is via paper, Docusign, and Textura.
Payment application
Instead of preparing a simple invoice, construction first and second tier contractors are required to prepare supporting documents that submit to request payment. These pay applications are much more robust than a simple invoice. A typical pay application form will ask you to input the following information: Original contract amount Sum of approved change orders Total value of work completed & materials stored on-site to date Amount retained Total amount earned to date Total amount received to date Amount currently due Balance to finish
Pay when paid
Net 30 is the most common timeframe to receive a payment. Oftentimes, contractors wait up to 3 months before receiving payment, making cash flow a huge issue. In layman’s terms, a “pay-when-paid” clause is the prime contractor informing the subcontractor that they will pay them after they receive payment from their customer. That is usually the property owner, but can also be the developer. Similarly, a “Pay-If-Paid” clause is the prime contractor informing the subcontractor that they’ll get paid if – and only if! – the prime gets paid first.
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