NOT EVERY JOB WORTH WINNING IS WORTH BIDDING.
Most subcontractors bid on work they can execute. The right question is whether they should. A $2M project that pulls crew away from two profitable $600K jobs, consumes 40% of bonding capacity, and requires 90-day mobilization capital the company doesn't have is a bad bid even if the margin estimate is 26%. The bid-no-bid decision is a financial decision, not just an estimating one.
Winning isn't free. Every bid you send commits estimating time, mobilization cash, bonding capacity, and crew hours before the first pay app goes out. Those four things are finite, and spending them on the wrong job means they're unavailable for the right one that comes up next month. So the question in front of a bid isn't whether your crews can build the scope. It's whether the business can fund the job from mobilization to first payment without borrowing on short notice. That's a balance sheet question, and the estimator can't answer it alone.
WHAT IT MEANS.
A bid-no-bid decision is a financial decision about whether your company can fund, bond, and staff a job, not just an estimating decision about whether your crews can build it.
WHAT TO ASK BEFORE THE BID GOES OUT.
Does the company have the working capital to execute it?
Mobilization capital covers crew payroll for the first 30 to 45 days before first billing, material deposits, and bonding fees. All of it has to be funded from working capital or the line of credit. On a $1.8M project with $120K in mobilization cost and a $650K working capital position, the job consumes 18% of available working capital before a dollar of revenue comes in. Is that the right use of the money this month?
What does it do to bonding capacity?
Surety aggregate bonding is a finite resource. A $1.5M project on a $7M aggregate bond consumes 21% of bonding capacity. If there are already $4.5M in active bonded projects, this one takes the committed total to $6M and leaves $1M of headroom. Is there work in the pipeline that needs that remaining $1M? Bidding this job may mean turning down a better one next month.
What's the crew impact?
A specialty sub with a strong foreman and two proven crews can manage two $600K projects at the same time. Adding a $1.2M project means either splitting the proven crew, which usually cuts productivity on all three jobs, or hiring new crew that doesn't produce at the same rate. The margin estimate on the $1.2M project assumes the proven crew is on it. Field delivery may not match that assumption.
What's the realistic win probability and margin?
Win probability on a competitive bid in a trade where the company has strong relationships is 25 to 35%. Win probability on a bid type where the company has won once is 10 to 15%. The expected value of the bid, meaning win probability times estimated margin, should clear the cost of putting the estimate together plus the opportunity cost of the estimating time. Low-probability bids on jobs with marginal margins shouldn't use up senior estimating time.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
The bid-no-bid question for civil work is equipment utilization first. A job that pencils at 24% gross margin but needs iron that's already committed elsewhere is a rental bill plus a margin, whatever the 24% says. Civil contractors should do the equipment availability check before the estimate starts, not after the award.
For concrete subs the constraint is crew capacity at the pour schedule peak, which is the week that breaks first. A bid that overlaps two other projects pour weeks means overtime, rented labor, or a blown schedule. The financial analysis has to model peak-week labor demand across the whole portfolio, not just whether the new job is profitable on its own.
Electrical bid decisions hinge on the billing cycle of the work type. Rough-in heavy projects front-load cash needs, while trim-heavy and service work bills faster. An electrical sub with thin working capital should weight bids toward fast-billing scopes even at slightly lower margin, because the cash cycle is part of the price.
Multi-site SWPPP work changes the math entirely. A 14-site maintenance contract at decent margin can be worth less than 6 sites at the same margin if the travel time and mobilization between sites uses up the labor budget. Site density is a financial variable. Bid-no-bid for SWPPP needs a cost-per-site-visit model, not just a contract-value margin.
WHAT WE PUT IN FRONT OF YOU.
The CEO Report shows current signed backlog, crew utilization by team, and available bonding capacity every month. Before a bid goes out, the owner knows whether the company has the capacity and the capital to build it profitably. That answer comes before the bid, not after the award.
For bids above a threshold, typically 15 to 20% of monthly revenue, we model the mobilization capital requirement and its effect on the cash forecast before the bid goes out. The owner sees what winning the job does to cash before the price gets submitted. Nothing about that number is a guess.
Available bonding capacity is kept current every month: the aggregate bond limit minus the value of active bonded projects. Each bid gets measured against what capacity is left. When capacity drops below a set floor, new bids trigger a conversation about which active jobs are close to completion and will release capacity back.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing. No payroll. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 to $3,300 | $1,000 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $5,300 | $1,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $8,300 | $3,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $11,800 | $4,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $14,900 | $6,000 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $17,650 | $7,500 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $22,400 | $9,000 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually | Quoted individually |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
You stop guessing.
You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
