Electrical bids carry a lot of scope that can belong to other trades or to the owner: utility company work, fire alarm, low voltage cabling, equipment connections. Two bids with the same base number can cover very different work.
Read the exclusions and clarifications as carefully as the price. Most leveling adjustments in electrical come from what a bidder left to someone else.
Typical scope items
What a complete electrical bid usually prices, and what to check in each:
| Scope item | What to check |
|---|---|
| Service and distribution | Switchgear, panelboards and transformers. Check that the bid follows the specified equipment or states its substitutions. |
| Branch power and devices | Receptacles, circuits and homeruns to the drawings. |
| Lighting fixtures and controls | Fixtures are sometimes carried as an allowance or quoted by a fixture supplier. Note whether controls and commissioning of controls are included. |
| Mechanical equipment connections | Power wiring to equipment. Motor starters and disconnects may be furnished by the mechanical contractor and installed by electrical, or neither. |
| Fire alarm | Often bid separately, or carried by electrical with a fire alarm subcontractor. Make sure it is in exactly one bid. |
| Low voltage pathways and cabling | Conduit and boxes for data, security and AV are common in electrical scope; the cabling often is not. |
| Temporary power and lighting | Duration and who pays for usage both matter. |
| Site electrical | Site lighting, underground duct banks, trenching and backfill. |
Common exclusions and qualifications
Not every exclusion is a problem. Some are fair because the work belongs elsewhere. The ones below are where electrical bids most often differ, so read them against the other bidders.
| Often excluded | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Utility company charges and fees | Commonly excluded. Carry them as an allowance if no bid includes them. |
| Fire alarm system | If one bid includes it and another excludes it, the totals are not comparable until you adjust. |
| Data, telecom, security and AV cabling | Check whether pathways are included even where cabling is not. |
| Concrete pads, bases and encasement | Often left to the concrete trade. |
| Trenching in rock or unsuitable soil | Usually excluded or carried as a unit price. |
| Cutting, patching and painting | A frequent gap between trades. |
| Control wiring for the building automation system | Often by the controls contractor. Confirm someone carries it. |
Alternates to watch
- Fixture package substitutions or upgrades
- Standby generator and transfer switch
- Electric vehicle chargers or the infrastructure for them
- Added site lighting
Line alternates up by the numbers on your bid form, keep add and deduct straight, and treat an unpriced alternate as a question, never as zero.
Unit prices and allowances to compare
- Added receptacle or device, each
- Added data or low voltage outlet, each
- Conduit and wire, per linear foot
- Lighting fixture allowance
Compare rates only where the units match, and note any quantity already included in the base bid.
Where electrical meets other trades
Gaps and double counts happen at the edges. Read these packages together:
- Mechanical (equipment connections, starters, controls wiring)
- Fire alarm and low voltage subcontractors
- Concrete (pads, bases, duct bank encasement)
- Sitework (trenching and backfill)
How Bidtab lays out electrical bids
Upload each bidder's PDF to one project for the package. Bidtab reads every bid and shows, side by side and in the order you uploaded them:
- each base bid, as stated;
- alternates aligned by number and description, with add or deduct for each bidder;
- a scope row for each item the bids address, with every bidder marked Included, Excluded, Qualified or Not stated;
- allowances and unit prices, with their units;
- each bidder's exclusions and qualifications as written;
- open questions where a bid is silent on an item other bidders addressed, where a figure isn't printed on the page it came from, or where line items don't add up to the total.
Every figure shows the page and words it came from, and the whole comparison exports to an Excel workbook. Bidtab doesn't rank bidders or price excluded scope; those calls stay with you. See the sample project (a roofing package) for the layout.