25 Mar Probuilder tender system

At ProBuilder we put in a lot of hours as part of our ProBuilder tender system before a new project commences.

We need to familiarise ourselves totally with the project and make sure that everything is documented. What’s in the clients mind needs to be on paper so that we ensure everyone is on the same page. This begins the start of the process.

After we agree to price a project we are 100% committed. Part of this commitment is to produce an accurate estimate. For that to happen all parties need to know what they are pricing. Guesswork either means the price is going to be too high or too low. Any unknowns therefore need to be eliminated.

For our key sub-trades we do things vastly different to most builders. We prepare a Trade Pack for them. This includes a full set of plans, detailed specification relating to their trade involvement, marked up plans and sketches along with photos. The client gets to meet the sub-trades and walk them through the proposed project. They can then answer any questions re individual areas that may have various options as to what we do and how.

This method is vastly superior to the usual way prices are prepared in the industry. This is often done by emailing a set of plans to multiple trades looking for the cheapest price and no actual site meetings or involvement in what can be very detailed renovations. The other method is the builder applying some rates himself to the individual sub-trades which is also fraught with danger.

Jim McIntyre