What bid leveling is
Bid leveling is putting subcontractor bids for one trade package on equal footing so they can be compared fairly. Bids rarely arrive in the same format or with the same scope. One roofer includes sheet metal and another excludes it; one electrician carries the fire alarm and another leaves it to someone else; alternates come back in a different order, or not at all.
Leveling means reading each bid closely, recording the base bid, alternates, allowances and unit prices, marking what each bidder includes, excludes and qualifies, and adjusting for the gaps so the totals you compare cover the same work. The result is the bid tab: the table you use to recommend an award and to carry a number into the estimate.
What to look for in bid leveling software
The test is simple: does it save you the reading and retyping without asking you to trust it blindly?
Every figure traced to its page
A number on a bid tab is only useful if you can see where it came from. Good software shows the document, the page and the words behind each figure, so checking it takes seconds instead of a search through a forty-page proposal.
"Not stated" kept apart from "excluded"
A bid that says nothing about an item has not excluded it, and has not included it either. Software that folds silence into one of the two will mislead you about scope gaps. You want to see the difference, and you want the silences turned into questions for the bidder.
Alternates aligned by what they are
Alternates should line up by their number and description from the bid form, with add or deduct kept straight, not by the order they happen to appear in each proposal.
Uncertainty shown, not hidden
Some figures are ambiguous: a total that doesn't match its line items, a price on a smudged scan, a number that appears nowhere on the page cited. The software should say so plainly rather than guess.
Output you can keep working in
Estimators finish the job in Excel. The comparison should export to a workbook with live formulas, not a static PDF.
No ranking
Picking a subcontractor depends on things no document states: past performance, schedule, capacity, relationships. Software that labels a bid "best" is making a call it can't make.
How Bidtab levels bids
- Create a project for one trade package and upload the bids. One PDF per bidder, typed or scanned. If several bids arrive in one PDF, upload it as a packet: Bidtab proposes where each bid starts and ends, and you confirm the page ranges before anything is leveled.
- Bidtab reads each bid. A language model proposes the base bid, alternates, allowances, unit prices and scope statements, each with the page and the exact words it came from. Code then checks every quote and every dollar amount against the text of that page. A figure that isn't printed on its page never fills a priced cell; it becomes an open question.
- You review the comparison. Base bids, alternates, scope (Included, Excluded, Qualified or Not stated for each bidder), allowances and unit prices, exclusions grouped under each bidder, and open questions. Hover a page badge to see the words behind a figure, and search across every section. If a figure, a status or a bidder's name is wrong, correct it, and the comparison and workbook follow, with the original reading kept beside your correction.
- Export the workbook. Summary, Leveling, Alternates, Allowances & Unit Prices, Exclusions & Qualifications, Open Questions and Sources, with an adjusted-total formula that adds the alternates you select and the plug values you enter.
Open the sample comparison to see the result for three invented roofing bids without signing up.
What Bidtab doesn't do
- It doesn't rank bidders or recommend an award.
- It doesn't price excluded scope for you. Plug values are yours to enter in the workbook.
- It exports its own standard workbook. It doesn't yet fill your company's bid tab template in the hosted app.
- It reads PDFs. Bids that arrive as spreadsheets or emails need to be saved as PDF first.
- It doesn't replace your review. It reads quickly and cites everything so your review is faster, but you should check every figure before you rely on it.
Pricing
Your first trade package is free, with up to three bids. After that, buy a single project for $29 (up to 10 bids) or subscribe: Pro is $79 a month for 10 projects, and Teams is $149 a month for 30. See every plan.