Why score bids at all
Most contractors decide what to bid by gut feel, and gut feel is biased toward whatever job is in front of you. A short scorecard forces the same questions every time, puts the answer in writing, and makes it easy for a second person to challenge a “yes.” It also shows why a job is marginal, which is often more useful than the yes or no: a job that scores poorly on payment risk can become a good one with better payment terms.
How the scorecard works
Each criterion gets two numbers:
- Weight (0 to 10): how much this matters to your company. A weight of 0 leaves the criterion out.
- Score (1 to 5): how this job looks on that criterion. 1 is poor, 5 is excellent. Each criterion shows what a 1 and a 5 look like, so different people score the same way.
The weighted score runs from 0 to 100. Each criterion earns its share of the total weight times how far its score is from 1 toward 5:
points = weight ÷ total weight × (score − 1) ÷ 4 × 100
So a card of all 1s scores 0, all 5s scores 100, and all 3s scores 50.
Two thresholds turn the score into a recommendation:
- At or above the go line: bid.
- Below the no-go line: don’t bid.
- In between: bid with conditions. The job can work if you fix the weak spots, for example by qualifying your bid, negotiating payment terms or pricing the risk.
Any criterion can be marked a deal-breaker. If a deal-breaker scores 1, the recommendation is no bid regardless of the total.
The default criteria
| Criterion | What a 1 looks like | What a 5 looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Margin potential | Priced to lose or break even | Room for a healthy margin |
| Backlog and crew capacity | Crews and PMs already stretched | Open capacity when the job starts |
| Owner or GC history | Disputes, back charges, poor change handling | Repeat client, fair and organized |
| Payment risk | Slow pay, heavy retainage, weak funding | Pays on time, reasonable retainage |
| Scope fit | Outside your core work or equipment | Exactly the work you do best |
| Competition | Ten bidders, low-price shootout | Short list or negotiated |
| Schedule | Unrealistic durations, heavy damages | Achievable with float |
| Location | Far from your area, travel costs | Close to shop and crews |
Rename them, change the weights or add your own, such as bonding capacity, contract terms or design completeness.
A worked example
A mechanical subcontractor is invited to bid a $640,000 package on a medical office building for a GC it has worked with before. Estimating will take about 32 hours at a loaded cost of $85 an hour, so the bid costs $2,720 to prepare.
| Criterion | Weight | Score | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Margin potential | 9 | 4 | 12.50 of 16.67 |
| Backlog and crew capacity | 8 | 3 | 7.41 of 14.81 |
| Owner or GC history | 7 | 4 | 9.72 of 12.96 |
| Payment risk | 8 | 3 | 7.41 of 14.81 |
| Scope fit | 7 | 5 | 12.96 of 12.96 |
| Competition | 5 | 2 | 2.31 of 9.26 |
| Schedule | 6 | 3 | 5.56 of 11.11 |
| Location | 4 | 4 | 5.56 of 7.41 |
| Total | 54 | 63.43 of 100 |
The job scores 63, between the no-go line of 55 and the go line of 70, so the recommendation is bid with conditions. The biggest gaps are capacity, payment risk and competition. Capacity and payment are marked as deal-breakers, but neither scored 1, so they don’t stop the bid on their own.
In practice the company might bid it with a clear schedule qualification based on when its crews free up, ask the GC to confirm payment terms and retainage in the subcontract, and keep its margin rather than sharpening the pencil to beat the other bidders. If the GC won’t move on payment terms, that criterion drops to a 2, the score falls to about 60, and the case for passing gets stronger.
The scorecard doesn’t make the decision for you. It makes the reasons visible, so the decision is deliberate and you can look back at it when the job is done.
Getting more from it
- Score as a team. Have the estimator and a project manager score separately, then compare. Big differences usually point at something one of them knows.
- Track your hit rate by score. After a few months you’ll see which scores you actually win and which jobs made money. Adjust the weights and lines to match.
- Count the cost to bid. A few thousand dollars of estimating time on a job you have a one-in-eight chance of winning is real money over a year.
- Revisit when things change. An addendum that cuts the schedule or a new bidder on the list can move a job across the line.
Related tools
If the job needs a bid bond and performance and payment bonds, the bond cost estimator shows what they will cost. To check that your margin assumption covers overhead, use the overhead and markup planner. When the answer is yes, the bid proposal builder turns your number into a professional proposal with clear exclusions.