What a spreadsheet does well
A spreadsheet is flexible, familiar and already on every estimator's computer. Your template matches how your company reviews bids, and anyone on the team can open it. For a package with two short, tidy proposals, typing the numbers in is quick, and nothing beats it.
Where it costs you
- Retyping. Every figure is read off a PDF and typed into a cell. A transposed digit or a figure from the wrong line goes unnoticed until someone checks.
- Buried scope. The exclusion that matters is often in the fine print on page four. On a busy bid day it is easy to miss.
- No trail. Weeks later, when someone asks where a number came from, you are back to searching the proposal.
- Silence looks like a blank. A blank cell might mean excluded, not stated, or not entered yet. The difference matters at award.
- Time. A package with eight bidders and dozens of scope items is hours of careful, repetitive reading.
Side by side
| Task | Spreadsheet by hand | Bidtab |
|---|---|---|
| Getting figures off the bids | You read each proposal and type every number in. | Bidtab reads each PDF and fills the comparison; you review it. |
| Knowing where a number came from | Only if you add a note or a page reference yourself. | Every figure carries its document, page and the words it came from. |
| Unclear or unverifiable figures | Depends on who is typing, and how tired they are. | A figure not found printed on its page never fills a priced cell; it becomes an open question. |
| Scope positions | Whatever convention your template uses. | Included, Excluded, Qualified or Not stated for every bidder on every scope row. |
| Alternates | You line them up by hand. | Aligned by number and description, with add or deduct for each bidder. |
| Layout | Exactly your company’s format. | Bidtab’s standard seven-sheet workbook. It doesn’t fill your own template in the hosted app yet. |
| Adjusting and deciding | Yours. | Still yours: plug values and alternates you select feed the adjusted total. Bidtab never ranks bidders. |
| Cost | Included with the software you already have. | First package free, then $29 a project or a monthly plan. |
You keep Excel
Bidtab isn't a replacement for your spreadsheet. It does the reading and lays out the comparison, then exports an Excel workbook with live formulas and a Sources sheet listing every figure, its page and whether it was verified on the page. Carry alternates by marking them Y, enter your plug values, and keep working the way you do now. See the workbook's structure.
When a spreadsheet alone is fine
If a package has two or three short bids that follow the bid form, typing them in may be just as fast. Bidtab earns its keep on packages with more bidders, longer proposals, scanned pages, or scope that varies from bid to bid, and wherever you want each number traceable to its page without extra work.
Try it on a real package
Your first trade package is free, with up to three bids. Look at the sample first if you'd like to see the result before you sign up.