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E L E CT R I C AL CONNE CT I ON
AUTUMN 2 01 5
ESTIMATING
Developing winning tenders
I
n these tough times, more prospective
customers are requesting tenders
or quotations than ever before, so it
is incredibly important for estimators to
sharpen their skills and submit tenders that
have the best chance of success.
Successful tenders are rarely based on
price alone; most clients also want to know
what services they are going to get for their
money. So, talk to your contact, establish
what they really want from this project and
make sure you make mention of these key
points in the proposal.
Further, to give yourself the best chance
of winning a tender, you need to be
selective in which jobs you actually bid
for. So many contractors I come across
say: “I price everything I can get my hands
on”. This is not a good strategy because
it will either mean you are expending an
extraordinary amount of time estimating
for little return or you’re winning work
below market value.
The easiest tender documents to obtain
are for publicly advertised jobs, where
every Tom, Dick and Harry submits a price.
In cases like this, typically the lowest tender
will win and the successful contractor
rarely makes a respectable profit (in fact,
the winner is usually the company that has
made the biggest mistake).
The next easiest documents to get
are projects with multiple building
contractors. They put the tender out
to several electrical contractors each,
possibly six or eight a piece, which results
in 40 to 50 electrical contractors bidding
for the one job.
More difficult to access are jobs that
are under contract to one building
contractor, or are being invited by the
owner. Usually in this instance only three
or four companies are tendering against
you, giving you a far better chance (one in
three or four) of winning the project.
Naturally the most desirable projects are
with those clients you have a relationship
with. The client calls you, asks for a price
and gives you the go-ahead. The difficulty
about these projects is creating and
maintaining these relationships.
PROPOSAL SCHEDULE
It’s important that your tender response
shows an understanding of the contract
and the client’s needs.
Make one proposal and stick with it. A
well prepared proposal must be professional
and easily understood by the recipient and a
proposal schedule should include:
>
Outline of the client’s requirements.
>
Analysis of the competition.
>
An assessment on the presentation/
structure.
>
Best available information.
>
Edit and proof read.
>
Critical review.
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)
The RFP is no more than an invitation to
submit a tender.
The main advantage is that it may be
a selective group of bidders invited as
opposed to a public tender request, which
would encourage a multitude of bidders.
Successfully bidding for
tenders is pretty much the
only thing that keeps most
companies in business.
Brian
Seymour
explains what it takes
to convert proposals to jobs.