Today’s general contractors and project owners face a common challenge: how to compare subcontractor bids fairly and accurately. The lowest bid always looks good, at first. But without a structured way to measure what each bid actually includes, your team could run into costly surprises later in the project. How do you fairly compare all of those bids? Bid leveling is the answer.
Bid leveling is the process of comparing bids side by side to ensure an accurate apples-to-apples comparison. By breaking down project requirements, scope of work, and exclusions, your construction team can make smarter decisions that reduce risk and protect your project budgets.
The truth is that spreadsheets and manual methods can only take you so far. To truly streamline your process, your preconstruction team needs a tool designed for the job. Today, construction bid leveling software like DESTINI Bid Day can automate the process and highlight the gaps between bids, helping your team make faster, more accurate decisions.
The bid leveling process clarifies your bids. During the construction bidding process, you’re likely to get multiple subcontractor bids; each may interpret the project requirements differently. One bid may include certain materials or labor, while others may exclude them. You need a structured review system to highlight these differences so you can make the best judgment on each bid.
The bid leveling process includes creating a bid leveling sheet. This tool allows your estimators and project managers to compare bids side by side. This sheet will highlight exactly what each contractor included, what might be missing, and where assumptions may have been made.
Aligning your bids with the correct plans and scope of work ensures your team evaluates proposals on an equal footing. That way, the final decision isn’t just about the lowest number, but the most complete and accurate one.
The stakes are high for preconstruction professionals. If you choose the wrong subcontractor, it can lead to delays, change orders, and budget overruns. Bid leveling helps to mitigate these risks by:
Ultimately, bid leveling strengthens the trust between project owners, general contractors, and subcontractors. It puts all the facts on the table and all but eliminates guesswork.
The day of using spreadsheets to handle bid leveling is sunsetting. They can still work in a pinch, but they are often time-consuming, inconsistent, and prone to human error. Today, more and more construction professionals are turning to purpose-built software solutions like DESTINI Bid Day from Beck Technology.
DESTINI Bid Day is explicitly designed to help streamline the bid leveling process. Instead of juggling several files and manually checking for scope gaps, your team can use this technology to compare subcontractor bids side by side in a pre-made, standardized format. You’ll be able to spot exclusions and scope quickly, with confidence that nothing is slipping through the cracks. It helps you collaborate across estimators, project managers, and owners with one single source of truth. In the end, you’ll save time and reduce risk by automating repetitive tasks that spreadsheets can’t handle.
Steve Meeks, vice president of preconstruction and estimating, with S.M. Wilson & Company, shares why these tools matter: “The interface between DESTINI Estimator and Bid Day on CM@R projects is a very important feature that allows our program estimates and our score cards to always be in sync. We quickly and simply determine where the numbers come from. Having this ability that we did not have even two years ago has changed a lot for us.”
By integrating bid leveling software like DESTINI Bid Day into your construction management workflow, you will improve both speed and accuracy. Each bid is evaluated against the correct plans and project requirements, giving your team confidence in its decisions.
Success in preconstruction depends on clarity and confidence. Bid leveling helps your team ensure that all proposals are compared fairly, reducing risk and protecting construction project budgets. And with tools like DESTINI Bid Day, you have a purpose-built solution that takes the guesswork out of the process.
By moving past spreadsheets and embracing modern bid-leveling software designed for the construction industry, your company can deliver better outcomes on every project. Explore Beck Technology’s DESTINI Bid Day and discover how it helps preconstruction teams make smarter, faster, and more confident decisions.