Giving Bids to a General Contractor

How do I submit bids to a general contractor, when working as a subcontractor?

If you are acting as a subcontractor, it's only a little different when you are submitting bids to a General Contractor (GC) or Architect, instead of directly to the building owner.

If you are acting as a subcontractor, follow these steps to set up each of the general contractors to whom you submit bids:

  1. Choose Customers from the Accounts menu.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Fill in details for a general contractor for whom you do work.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each general contractor.

When you are ready to submit a bid to a general contractor, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Estimates from the Income menu. NOTE-- Bids are for bids you receive from a sub or supplier.
  2. Click the New button to start a bid from scratch, or click the template button (the triangle next to the New button) to start from a template.
  3. Fill the GC into the Account Name clairvoyant field.
  4. Fill in dimensions and other details for the price quote you are giving.
  5. When you are ready to submit the bid, choose Print Forms from the File menu, and select the bid form you'd like to use.

If you are submitting the same bid to more than one general contractor and want to track them separately, follow these steps:

  1. Locate the Estimate that you prepared in the previous steps.
  2. Choose Duplicate Record from the Edit menu.
  3. Fill in a new general contractor.
  4. If you are submitting a different bid to this contractor, make any changes.
  5. Choose Print Forms from the File menu, and select the bid form you'd like to use.

When you are ready to start work on a project, follow these steps:

  1. Choose Projects from the Accounts menu.
  2. Click the New button.
  3. Enter the general contractor into the Customer field.
  4. Enter their estimate into the Estimate field.
  5. Click the More Info button, and enter billing details.
  6. When you save the new project, it will automatically mark the final estimate as Awarded.
  7. You'll now be able to bill for the project, and track job costs for it.

Click here to return to estimating topics.

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