How subcontractors get on the bid list
A subcontractor gets on a general contractor's bid list by passing five checks an estimator runs at a desk: found, believed, verified, reachable and remembered. The estimator starts with subcontractors the firm already uses, then fills gaps from the prequalification database and a search. Two web pages, a capability page and a proof page, pass the check.
Why it matters
Who builds the bid list
An estimator or a preconstruction coordinator builds the list at a desk, under time pressure. That person has usually never met you. When a general contractor decides to pursue a project, someone in preconstruction has days, and sometimes hours, to line up coverage for each trade on the job. They start with the subcontractors the firm knows and then fill the gaps.
Filling a gap takes four moves. The estimator checks the firm's prequalification database for anyone tagged with the trade in that region and asks across the office whether anybody has worked with a good framer in the area. A search for the trade plus the city comes next, and a plan room or a directory supplies a few more names. All of it happens on a screen or across a desk. Phone calls start after a draft list exists.
The estimator cannot see your craftsmanship from a desk. They check what they can verify in a few minutes: whether the company exists, whether it does this scope, whether it has done work like this before, and whether someone will answer the phone. Whatever they find in those minutes is your marketing, whether or not you built it on purpose. A subcontractor with excellent crews and an empty search result loses the invitation to one with average crews and a clear record online.
The check covers the same five points each time, in the same order. You can prepare for each one with ordinary effort and no advertising budget.
The five checks
Five checks between you and the bid list
At each check the estimator keeps your name on the draft list or moves to the next one.
-
Found
A search for your trade plus your region has to turn you up. That takes a website that says what you do and where you work in plain words, plus a current Google Business Profile. List the company in the prequalification databases and plan rooms that general contractors in your market use. An empty search result ends the check, and you never hear about the job.
-
Believed
The estimator clicks through with one question, which is whether this company does the scope being bid. Your capability page has to answer it on the first screen. Name the scope the way an estimator names it, then give the markets you serve and the size of work you carry. A homepage of general promises about quality and service leaves the question open.
-
Verified
The estimator then wants evidence that you have carried this scope at this size before. List finished projects with a line or two each on the scope, the market, the location and the rough size. Photographs of completed work with plain factual captions do more here than paragraphs of copy.
-
Reachable
An estimator working against a bid date replaces a subcontractor who cannot be reached the same day. Publish a phone number a person answers and an email address someone monitors, and name the person who handles bids. An unanswered call suggests the company is too busy or too small for the job.
-
Remembered
The next list is often built from memory, before any search. Stay visible between bids with a short project update or a jobsite photo posted where general contractors will see it. A call to the preconstruction desk a few times a year does the same job. This check costs the least to pass and is the easiest to let slip.
What to build
The two pages that pass the desk check
Two strong pages can do the work of a large website for a subcontractor.
The capability page
List the scope you self-perform and the markets and project types you work in. Name the counties or metro areas you cover. Give your crew count and key equipment, and the contract size you are built to carry. Write it the way you would answer an estimator on the phone, in nouns and numbers.
This page gets you believed at the second check, and it leads to the request for your prequalification packet. The packet holds the financials, the safety record, the insurance certificates and the bonding letters, and it decides prequalification. The website decides whether anyone asks for the packet.
The proof page
Show finished work, photographed cleanly, with one line of fact for each project: what it was, where it was, what scope you carried and roughly how big it was. Leave out the adjectives and the stock photos. Ten real projects with honest captions verify more at the third check than long paragraphs about quality. If a project shows a scope or a size you want more of, put it first.
Keeping both current
Current pages matter more than polished ones. When a job closes out, have the foreman send three photos and have the office add one line to the proof page the same week. Once a year, read the capability page out loud and correct anything that has changed, such as the crew count or the person named for bids. A page with 2019 in the footer tells an estimator the company may have stopped paying attention.
Questions and answers
Questions subcontractors ask
How do general contractors find subcontractors?
General contractors find subcontractors at a desk, in roughly this order: the subcontractors the firm already uses, the internal prequalification database, a question asked across the office, and a search for the trade plus the region. Phone calls start after the draft list exists. A subcontractor who is missing from all four sources does not get the invitation.
What should a subcontractor capability page include?
Start with the scope you self-perform, named the way an estimator names it. Add the markets and project types you work in, the area you cover, your crew count and key equipment, and the contract size you typically carry. Include bonding and insurance basics and the name and direct line of the person who handles bids. Keep it to one page and keep it current.
Do small subcontractors need marketing?
Yes, in a small way. A small subcontractor has no need for ad campaigns or a thirty-page website. It needs to be found and believed when an estimator goes looking, and someone has to answer the phone. Two good pages and a habit of picking up cover that.
What does subcontractor marketing cost?
Old Plank Group marketing retainers start at $8,500 a month, with no hourly billing. A subcontractor who only needs a website gets one fixed price, quoted after a conversation about what the site has to do.
Old Plank Group builds websites for subcontractors.
You can build the two pages yourself from this guide. If you want them built for you, send a note about your trade and your market. We answer within one business day.