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Tendering is not mere paperwork. It is your front line of risk, cost, and delivery.
Whether you are overseeing a retail fitout in Melbourne or a high-rise in Manchester, the tender sets the tone for everything that follows. The trades you engage, the prices you lock in, and the terms you finalise all start here.
Yet it is rarely simple. You often juggle multiple trades, conflicting scopes, tight deadlines, and subcontractors who may not read the documents you send.
Below, we break down the tendering process in plain terms. You will see how to avoid common pitfalls and keep a clear head from day one.
Tendering is how head contractors secure subcontractors for each scope of work. You issue a tender with drawings, specifications, a pricing schedule, and defined scope. Subcontractors respond with their price, timeline, and proposed terms.
That sounds straightforward. Yet in construction, you do not tender once. You do it over and over, for every trade on every build. Each tender locks in much more than price: it sets your scope, keeps your programme on track, and aligns terms with your upstream contract.
Consider a commercial project with 25 trade packages: hydraulics, electrical, carpentry, tiling, mechanical, façade, and so on. That is 25 opportunities to get it right — or to dig yourself into scope gaps and cost overruns.
Subcontractors do not always help. They may include vague items, bury exclusions, or omit key details entirely. You have likely heard this gem: ‘We priced what was in the drawings.’ That usually translates to, ‘We ignored anything else you told us.’
If the tender goes off the rails, you pay for it later in variations, programme delays, disputes, and margin hits. If you are in quantity surveying or contract administration, you feel that pain first.
The tender process follows a recognisable pattern. Yet under time pressure, skipping a stage or cutting corners can end in shambles. Here is how a well-run tender works.
First, define each trade’s scope. Break the project into packages that align with the drawings, build sequence, and methodology. For example, split mechanical into HVAC and BMS if needed, but do it early. Do not expect the subbies to work it out.
A fuzzy scope leads to missing inclusions, arguments about ownership, or double-counted prelims that become disputes later.
Once you set the scope, gather the documents. You will typically issue:
• Up-to-date drawings and specifications
• Scope of works
• Pricing breakdown or schedule
• Subcontract conditions
• Addendums or clarifications
These must all match the current design. If the structural drawings are two revisions ahead of the services set, your tender is already behind.
Publish the package to your chosen subcontractors. Most teams shortlist three to five per trade, based on capability, capacity, and past performance.
This phase sees a barrage of requests for information (RFIs). Some bidders will miss the addendums. Some may not respond at all. Keeping track of who has seen what — and when — is vital if things go wrong later.
Once the quotes hit your desk, the real challenge starts. You cannot just skim the lump sum. You must confirm inclusions, exclusions, assumptions, and breakdowns. If one bidder includes tower crane time but another does not, you are not comparing apples to apples.
Robust bid reviews focus on price, scope alignment, programme fit, and previous track record. Otherwise, the cheapest bid on paper could be the most expensive headache on site.
After choosing your subcontractor, formalise everything. Confirm scope details, final terms, and every last change. Tie down start dates, payment terms, retentions, and special clauses for the region or jurisdiction.
Get it signed with a clear audit trail and a time-stamped signature. No handshake deals. No PDF hidden in an email folder. You need proper records in case the project takes a turn.
How you invite subcontractors to quote depends on the project structure and your appetite for risk. Three common approaches dominate.
Open tendering, as defined under the UK Procurement Act 2023, is a procurement method that allows any qualified supplier to submit a bid. It is especially common in public sector contracts—for example, when a local authority commissions infrastructure like a community centre.
This procedure is laid out in Annex A of the UK Government’s guidance on competitive tendering procedures. It typically involves the following steps:
This process ensures transparency and broad market access, aligning with principles of open competition and value for money.
However, as noted in our breakdown of the Procurement Act 2023 here, while open tendering maximises competition, it also risks attracting a flood of low-quality or non-compliant bids. This can place a significant administrative burden on procurement teams, especially when sifted manually. Despite improvements under the new Act, the challenge of efficiently managing supplier responses remains very real.
For more details on the open procedure, see the UK Government’s official guidance.
Selective tendering shortlists subcontractors in advance. You pick them based on experience, capacity, or past performance. This approach is common in private commercial builds, especially when timeframes are tight or the scope is complex.
If you are tendering waterproofing on a high-rise in Sydney, it makes sense to shortlist subcontractors you know. It speeds up comparisons and reduces guesswork.
Here, you go straight to one subcontractor and negotiate scope, price, and terms without opening the floor to others. This is common if the provider has specialised expertise, or time will not allow a formal open process.
You skip the competition but lose the benefit of direct market pricing, so you need good benchmarks and negotiation savvy.
Tendering is not difficult because the steps are hazy. It is difficult because everything moves at once. Deadlines slip, drawings lag, and you re-price work on the fly.
"The process of sending out tenders to subcontractors, where they can directly upload their quotes into ProcurePro, saves us so much time not needing to check our emails… it’s so straightforward."
— Eren Gover, cadet, Building Engineering
When pressure is high, these three issues usually slow you down.
An incomplete scope is a variation waiting to happen. If the tiling brief leaves out waterproofing details, you can be sure the subbie either excludes it or assumes they have not got it. You only find out when the invoice arrives.
Rushed or recycled scopes are prime culprits. You end up double-counting or missing entire tasks. No contract administrator wants that argument.
Emails, folders, and spreadsheets dominate the old way. You send private emails with tender packs, track responses in random spreadsheets, and copy-paste quote details line by line. A drawing change means more emails, more updates, and more confusion. It is easy to lose track.
Tendering does not happen in isolation. It depends on final designs, consultant inputs, and the overall construction programme. If the architectural model is late, you hold off on the structural package. Then you scramble to catch up. Before you know it, you have committed to a price that does not reflect the final design.
Tendering can feel frantic, but it does not have to. Managing multiple packages across multiple jobs is easier with the right systems. The old way of using endless email chains and manual spreadsheets is slow and error-prone.
Modern, cloud-based platforms organise tender data in one place. Every document, quote, addendum, and clarification is tracked in real time. You see instantly which package is outstanding, who has sent a query, and whether that RFI has been resolved.
It does not replace your team’s expertise. It just saves you from chasing your tail, version after version.
Every contractor has their own style. That is half the problem. Without standard templates for items like scopes, pricing breakdowns, and clarifications, you are forever comparing apples to oranges.
Templates streamline the process. You get consistent detail on every job, so you can spot problems at a glance instead of unravelling each subbie’s personal style.
Tender queries often get answered twice, with different responses, because everyone is juggling phone calls, texts, and email threads. That leads to confusion and wasted time.
Real-time communication tools inside your procurement platform let everyone see the same questions and answers. The fire contractor’s query about penetration seals does not vanish in someone’s sent items. It is visible to all members of your team whenever they need it.
A tender is a formal, structured process with clear criteria and fixed return dates. A bid is any offer of price, often informal and lacking the same level of documentation.
Aim for three to five per trade. That gives you enough to compare thorough quotes without drowning in low-value submissions.
It can be a lifesaver even on a £500,000 job. If you are wasting hours chasing emailed quotes or losing vital addendums, a digital platform is well worth it.
Tendering works best when it is not treated as a one-off admin task. It should be connected to scope definition, approvals, and your wider procurement strategy. That way, you can track every package from invitation to contract signing without rummaging through emails or hoping you have the latest file.
A connected approach also keeps subcontractor responses in one place and ensures consistent documentation. You will spot gaps early, avoid reissuing quotes, and reduce the risk of signing off on half-baked scopes.
If you want to see how connected tendering streamlines your day, book a demo.
Discover how it fits into your workflow without adding extra complications. Chances are, tendering can be faster and more transparent — without you losing sleep.
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