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A Guide to Finding the Best Construction Bid Sites

Posted on by John Hudson

How to Choose the Best Construction Bid Site for Your Business 

Using the best construction bid sites is a vital step in finding relevant tenders and growing your business.

You might be wondering, what is tendering? And why is it important to the construction sector? You’re not alone – many construction businesses miss out on construction leads simply by not utilising the tendering process. In short, tendering is the most common way in which a buyer finds the most appropriate supplier for goods or services. Including tendering in your business strategy allows you to secure contracts from buyers you may never have connected with otherwise. This is invaluable when it comes to growing your business sustainably.

If you’re new to tendering, finding the best construction bid site can seem like a daunting task. What exactly should you be looking out for, anyway? When you search ‘best construction bid sites’ in Google, the results can be overwhelming. Plenty of sites will provide you with reams of opportunities from countless buyers. Job done! Right? Not quite.

You’ll often find yourself wading through tenders with requirements that don’t suit your business in the slightest. Finding a construction bid site with tenders that are specific to your business can become a stressful and fruitless process. Unless you know exactly where to look!

What to Look for In Construction Bid Sites?

What should you be looking out for to find the best construction bid site for your business? We’ve created a quick and comprehensive guide so you can rest assured that you’re looking in the right place: 

Here are the top 7 things you should look for to find the best construction bid site and secure relevant contracts:

  1. The portal doesn’t rely on CPVs.

There’s a fundamental problem with the way most construction bid sites source tenders for businesses – CPV codes.

CPV stands for Common Procurement Vocabulary. A CPV code is an 8-digit code which allows buyers to classify what they are procuring in a succinct way. In theory, suppliers should be able to use CPV codes to source perfect business opportunities quickly and effectively.

Sound too easy to you? You’re right. In practice, this doesn’t happen.

Studies show that close to 30% of CPV codes are tagged inaccurately. It’s easy to make a mistake when tagging a tender with a complex 8-digit code. Many buyers also don’t understand the requirements of CPV codes and so they use them incorrectly, or not at all.

So, what does this mean for your business? Well, this is particularly harmful in a sector as varied as construction with such a broad range of sub-sectors. On most construction bid sites, clients are not finding all of the tenders that are relevant to their specific services. Even if you’re searching via relevant CPV codes, you’re missing out on countless contracts that could grow your business.

For example, imagine an Architecture firm registers to a portal that tracks tenders via CPV codes. To use the portal effectively, the firm would need someone in their team with a comprehensive understanding of CPV codes. Even then, up to 30% of the results they come across could be tagged incorrectly. They could end up trawling through tenders for contracts such as the supply of bedding plants or website development services. Obviously, these tenders would be completely irrelevant to the Architecture firm’s services. This ultimately defeats the purpose of a tracking portal which should save you time when sourcing new business opportunities.

  1. The portal uses manual tracking.

The best way around the shortfalls of CPV codes? Manual keyword tracking.

At Construction Tenders, we don’t rely on CPV codes to source tenders for our clients. Instead, our dedicated team of Opportunity Trackers manually search thousands of sources every day. They read the requirements of every buyer and manually tag each tender with the correct industry-driven keywords. This avoids the problem of sub-sectors being mislabelled with the wrong CPV code. It also eliminates the need for someone in your firm to comprehensively understand CPV codes. We handle all of that for you.

When you sign up to Construction Tenders, you can simply enter the keywords that best describe your services. Search these keywords and you’ll be able to access relevant opportunities instantly. It’s that easy. Every tender you see on our portal is manually tracked, and therefore relevant to the services you offer. No exceptions.

Ultimately, our manual tracking saves you countless hours of searching through irrelevant tenders and gives you instant results.

  1. The system focuses on your industry.

Most bid sites source tenders for all industries so there’s always a high chance of seeing irrelevant opportunities. You could find plenty of tenders for video production, but this is no good if you’re a roofer.

With Construction Tenders, every opportunity is sector-specific. Our focused approach is the most effective way to provide you with relevant tenders.

Our Opportunity Trackers source specific opportunities for a range sub-sectors, including:

  • Refurbishment
  • Building Works
  • Civil Engineering
  • Surveying
  • Demolition
  • Masonry, and many more.

  1. It allows for remote working in teams.

Remote working has changed the way businesses operate in a lot of ways. Tendering remotely is a lot easier when you have access to a portal which allows you to work in teams.

We’ve designed our tendering portal specifically to make remote working easier. Our portal allows you to give multiple colleagues access to your business account. Each colleague can then assign tasks and add tenders to their favourites page.

  1. You’re supported by an account manager.

If your business is new to tendering, we understand that you might need some extra support. With the right support, scouring the web for the best construction bids becomes a much less daunting task.

Via access to an account manager, you will always have on-hand advice and guidance to help you find relevant opportunities. You might waste time applying for a tender that isn’t right for you or that you’re unable to carry out. You might miss opportunities that are perfect for your business by questioning your ability to win a bid. This can all form a stressful process.

But it doesn’t have to be.

With our Construction Tenders portal, you will be assigned a dedicated account manager throughout your subscription. It’s their job to answer any questions you might have, regarding tendering, while using the portal.

An account manager will support you in a range of ways;

  • Maximising the way you use our tendering portal;
  • Advice around tendering and procurement;
  • Connecting you to other Hudson support services;
  • Queries around a bid that you require support with;
  • Alerting you when exclusive opportunities are published that are perfect for your business, and;
  • Ensuring you receive an email alert when new, relevant tenders, are uploaded.

Clients can always contact their dedicated account manager by phone or email, at any time throughout their subscription. This means you’ll always have a solid understanding of where you stand throughout the tendering process.

  1. You have access to virtual learning.

Great! You’ve found the best construction bid site and, consequently, the perfect contract to bolster your business. You now see that the buyer has asked for a technical and in-depth response. Bids can sometimes require over 10,000 word responses with stringent requirements. Even if you have time to do this – which, let’s be honest, who does? – can you show why you’re irrefutably the best business for the job? Do you know how to write a winning bid?

If not, don’t worry. We’ve created Tender VLE specifically to eliminate the confusion around tendering and procurement. Tender VLE is a free service which gives your business expert advice on the ins and outs of tendering. Through video masterclasses, fact sheets, blogs and templates, you’ll learn how to create a winning tender and secure the best contracts.

  1. You can outsource bid writing if needed.

Some people just aren’t natural-born writers. A good bid writer can transform the way buyers view your business – and give you exponential results.

We have developed Hudson Succeed, our bid writing division, to carry our clients through the bidding process every step of the way. Our team are exceptional Bid Writers who assist businesses in multiple sectors to write compelling and technical narratives. With the help of Hudson Succeed, countless construction sector companies have grown their businesses effectively. The team holds an 87% bid success rate and are trusted by over 700 businesses, globally.

How do I get started?

If you’re looking to secure construction contracts UK, Construction Tenders can save you countless time and money that you’d spend manually searching. You’ll instead gain new business opportunities that are specifically relevant to you. Unlike other construction bid sites, we’ve humanised tendering at every level – from manual tracking to account management. This high level of attention to detail secures the best results for your business.

You will receive daily alerts when tenders are released for services in your sector as well as 24-hour access to our Construction Tenders portal. Book a free live demo of the portal today and see how the portal can help your business grow with construction leads. You’ll see all of the current opportunities available and understand how the system will work for your business.

Below are previous construction bids sourced on our portal:

Fender Pile Replacement Works

Fenland District Council- Eastern- Budget: £90,000

Dunnikier Business Units, Kirkcaldy – Steelworks, Roof and Wall Cladding Works Package

Fife Council- Scotland- Budget: Undisclosed

Communal Floor Replacement

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council- Eastern- Budget: Undisclosed

Asbestos Removal Services

Yorkshire and Humber Police Procurement (Y&HPP)- Yorkshire and Humber- Budget: £1,500,000

Roofing Repairs (Framework)

Nottingham City Council- East Midlands- Budget: Undisclosed

We source tenders for services including:

The Construction Talent Retention Scheme – Protecting workers in Construction

Posted on by John Hudson

The Construction Talent Retention Scheme – Everything you need to know

The Construction Talent Retention Scheme was announced by Chancellor of the exchequer, Rishi Sunak. The aim of the scheme is to protect workers in the construction industry as the UK begins to rebuild itself and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Co-Chair of the Construction Leadership Council (CLC), Andy Mitchell said: “This is a great example of what we can achieve when we work collaboratively with government and we look forward to continuing in this spirit when the proposals and recommendations of our broader Roadmap to Recovery are published. In the meantime, we will work with our members and industry stakeholders to encourage the scheme’s use and success.”

How will the scheme work?

The Construction Talent Retention Scheme is due to launch, formally, later this month. The scheme will be in the form of an online portal that will work to protect those who work in the construction industry. The portal will do this in the following ways;

  • Advertising vacancies

Companies can use the portal to advertise open vacancies and employ workers that may be at risk of redundancy.

  • Help construction projects

The portal will help to place at-risk workers on construction projects to prevent a loss of talent in the sector.

  • Inter-trading with talent

The Construction Talent Retention Scheme system will also allow businesses to “loan” workers to other companies who can utilise their skills.

  • Transfer workers into construction

The system will aim to help workers from different industries to transfer to the construction sector. This means that workers who have lost jobs, or who are at risk of being made redundant, will have a route into a new career.

The foundations

The foundations of the Construction Talent Retention Scheme are based on a tried and tested model. A similar scheme has been used previously to safeguard workers in the aerospace and automotive industries.

The Chief Executive for the Association for Consultancy and Engineering, Hannah Vickers said: “This is a proven solution with a strong track-record in other sectors, cross-industry support and pledges from our leading employers. It is vital we keep the skills in our sector to avoid a talent drain and is the only way we will be able to ramp-up activity to lead the recovery of the wider economy and deliver growth through new buildings and infrastructure.”

Funding for the scheme has been secured until the end of the financial year. The platform will be free for any organisation to use.

Finding construction contracts

Are you currently looking for construction contracts in your field? Our Construction Tenders portal takes the headache out of the sourcing process.

Finding new contract opportunities is a full-time job. We know because we have a dedicated team who do this daily to ensure your business never misses a construction lead.

Below are previous construction tenders sourced on our portal:

West Thames College – M & E Services Tender

West Thames College- London- Budget: Undisclosed

UPVC Guttering, Soffits, Fascias and Accessories

Luton Council- Eastern- Budget: Undisclosed

Replacement or Repair of Existing Over Door Canopies

Raven Housing Trust Limited- South East- Budget: Undisclosed

Quick Quote – Ronaldsway Airport Fire Station Slipway Refurbishment

Isle of Man Government- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Quick Quote – Castletown Harbour – Light Column Replacement

Isle of Man Government- International- Budget: Undisclosed

Book a free live demo to tour the system and see how the portal can help your construction business.

We source tenders for services including;

Insulation Tenders

Posted on by John Hudson

Insulation Tenders – 6 Things to Consider

Insulation is one of the most efficient means of providing energy savings to buildings. This includes homes, business premises or community centres. According to the Energy Saving Trust, the average three-bedroom semi-detached house could save £310 on energy bills with proper loft and cavity wall insulation.

In recent years, insulation has been a central feature of the increasing public awareness of the need to conserve heat and energy. Rising energy prices and climate change will continue to be major considerations in for any construction project.

To encourage the installation of insulation, the government launched the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme in 2013. The scheme requires large gas and electricity suppliers to cover all or part of the cost of energy-efficiency measures, including insulation. Under the Home Cost Reduction Obligation (HHCRO), obligated suppliers must provide measures which improve the ability of household to heat domestic homes. This includes actions that result in heating savings. For example, the replacement or repair of a boiler, cavity wall insulation and loft insulation.

The scheme has led to an increase in public spending in the sector. Meaning installers have a golden opportunity to take on more jobs and increase revenue by securing insulation tenders.

The ECO

The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a government energy efficiency scheme in Great Britain. It aims to help reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty. Since the ECO was launched in January 2013, 2.3 million energy efficiency measures have been installed in approximately 1.8m homes. This is helping to;

  • Reduce people’s energy bills;
  • Make homes more energy-efficient;
  • Save carbon;
  • and make our energy system more resilient.

The latest scheme facilitated by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, ECO3, was launched in December 2018 and will run until 31 March 2022. With the transition from ECO2 to ECO3, there has been a big shift in focus from replacing older heating systems to insulating homes as much as possible. This is in an effort to reduce the carbon tonnes used in the UK. This has led to an increase in insulation tenders available via the UK procurement system.

The government are focusing the entire scheme to support low income, vulnerable and fuel poor households. Increasing the proportion of the scheme that can be delivered under local authority flexible eligibility to 25%. Meaning insulation tenders are being regularly circulated by local authorities and housing associations.

Almost all forms of insulation are covered under the ECO scheme, including:

  • Cavity wall insulation;
  • Gas boiler replacement;
  • Loft insulation;
  • Damp proofing;
  • Solid wall insulation.

The Association of the Conservation of Energy (ACE) estimates up to 33,000 people are currently delivering ECO and the Green Deal. However, the latest government statistics show that the number of home insulation measures carried out this year under ECO are 50% below target.

There are over 7 million homes requiring solid wall insulation, over 5 million homes requiring cavity wall insulation and 7 million homes with inadequate loft insulation. Meaning there are and will continue to be insulation tender opportunities for construction firms of all sizes as a result. Due to this major shortfall on expectations, public spending will look toward trusted, accredited and experienced suppliers to guarantee progress toward these goals.

Within ECO3, the government will support a greater diversity of products and installations by allowing up to 10% of a supplier’s obligation to be met through innovation. They will allow and encourage suppliers to do this under two options: Demonstration Actions and Innovation Score Uplifts. Meaning suppliers will be more likely to see success in their insulation tenders by describing innovative processes in their response to qualitative questions.

As governmental environmental commitments increase – specific environmental questions will appear in the tendering process across all sectors. However, for construction bids, including insulation tenders, this may dominate the qualitative side. Therefore, suppliers must incorporate sustainable practices and methods into their service delivery, in order to be considered by buyers.

Top tip:

When applying for insulation tenders, it is essential to evidence your claims and ensure they are measurable. This must be in solid facts and figures. There is little value in providing vague or airy statements without the ability to demonstrate this to buyers. Evidencing such features will present your business as having transparency and integrity.

Why not evidence your capacity by attaining industry certification and accreditation.

National Insulation Association (NIA)

The NIA represents the insulation industry within the UK. Members vary from manufactures to system designers, to installers of insulation solutions to homes and business premises. Becoming part of such an organisation demonstrates to buyers your company’s commitment to maintaining and raising standards within the insulation industry. The NIA can present:

  • A competitive advantage over other suppliers;
  • Access to education and training opportunities;
  • Access to industry events and conferences;
  • Access to innovations and new developments;
  • Networking opportunities which could expand your capacity.

Membership to such an accredited association will add to your CV. It will place your organisation above competitors, on a pedestal alongside other industry leaders.

British Standards & Thermal Insulation

Perhaps you could consider attaining some relevant industry accreditations, such as:

  • BS5250: 1989 – Control of condensation in buildings;
  • BS8000: Part 8: 1994 – Code of practice for plasterboard partitions and dry linings;
  • BS8212: Part 1: 1995 – Code of practice for dry lining and partitioning using gypsum plasterboard.

Passivhaus

It is beneficial for construction companies to consider Passivhaus, particularly those who specialise in insulation. Passivhaus certification is highly regarded by procurement buyers seeking environmentally-friendly construction businesses. The key here is that Passivhaus is more economical to implement during a building design phase. It can be potentially more costly to refurbish a space later on, in line with this standard.

Passivhaus is a rigorous, voluntary house-building standard. It focusses on energy efficiency and reducing the energy needed to run a comfortable home. Passivhaus was born not only out of a desire to build more energy-efficient homes but to reduce the amount of energy needed. They also work to minimise the ecological footprint that house-building leaves. The result of Passivhaus building is low impact homes that save the owners money.

Perhaps the most important aspect of Passive House is insulation. Buildings which can be certified as Passivhaus can range in size and scope. They are designed to be so efficient that the need for internal heating is negligible. This means that the building does not lose heat. So much so, that rooms maintain pleasant ambient air temperature within the space. 

Passivhaus is important to the construction sector because more heat-efficient buildings means less CO2. For one building alone – this makes a difference. For larger housing contracts and frameworks – the cumulative CO2 saving is more significant. Designing houses to this standard makes sense, both financially and environmentally.

Insulation Tenders

Insulation tenders, much like most construction sector tenders commonly follow a two-stage tendering process. These two stages are known as the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire and the Invitation to Tender.

PQQ

The PQQ is a series of questions you will need to answer regarding;

  • Your level of experience;
  • Ability to complete the works successfully;
  • and financial stability.

Your answers to this first part of the bid will enable the client to decide if you can deliver the quality standards they require.

The PQQ is a standard form which you will come across regularly when responding to insulation tenders (and more widely).

The purpose of the PQQ is to reduce the number of bidders to just those who can deliver the project. This saves the client a lot of time and cost. It also reduces competition for you. Your bid is only in competition against a few other suppliers for the required works.

Invitation to Tender

If your bid is shortlisted, you will receive an invitation to tender (also known as an ‘ITT’).

Insulation tenders often include the following information:

  • Letter of Invitation
  • Invitation to Tender document
  • Form of Tender
  • Preliminaries
  • Details on the Form of Contract and Contract Conditions
  • Specifications
  • Design Drawings
  • Tender Pricing Document
  • Associated Appendices

The ITT stage is your opportunity to demonstrate your company’s capability and capacity to deliver the required works.

Pushing forward

If you are dedicated to a construction contract, then investigating which public sector contracts and frameworks are suitable for you to apply for is certainly an advisable place to start.

Remember, when tendering in the public sector, buyers will need to prove they’re spending public money reasonably. Consequently, you will need to be prepared to evidence the following:

Get in touch with Construction Tenders

Sign up to Construction Tenders today and receive a daily bulletin straight to your inbox. The bulletin contains all the relevant small, and larger, construction leads that we have uploaded that day. Our Opportunity Trackers manually trawl thousands of websites across the UK, uploading relevant construction tenders. You can filter the results by budget, location, keyword and more.

Below are some insulation tenders sourced on our portal:

Cladding and Insulation Removal and Replacement 

Citizen- West Midlands- Budget: £250,000

Responsive Repairs – Insulation & Extraction 

North Tyneside Council- North East- Budget: Undisclosed

External Wall Insulation Pilot Scheme

Northumberland County Council- North East- Budget: £75,000

Kirriemuir ACF –Façade – External Wall Insulation System

Highland Reserve Forces and Cadets Association- Scotland- Budget: £17,000

Noise Insulation Contract for Roads Investment Strategy 2

Highways England- Unspecified- Budget: £9,300,000

This includes the following:

The construction industry has a wide range of health and safety tenders on offer. If you need support in your tendering efforts, contact us to find out how we can help your business grow.

Need help writing your next tender?

If you don’t have the resources or time to write a winning bid, why not outsource it? Our sister company, Hudson Succeed, boasts an 87% success rate and has over 60 years of collective bidding experience. They offer four bid writing support packages to help you on the path to success. Whether you’re new to tendering, or simply need someone to proof your written response before you submit – we can help.

Tender Ready

Our Tender Ready programme is designed for those who have never tendered before. This 4-week programme works with you to ensure you have everything in place to tender successfully.

Tender Improvement

Tender Improvement can help if you’re already tendering but aren’t seeing success from your current efforts. Our Bid Writers will assess your previous submissions and supporting documents. They’ll give you feedback and guidance on how to improve, helping you to secure your next structural engineering tender.

Tender Mentor

If you’ve written a tender and need someone to proofread it – Tender Mentor is for you. A Bid Writer will double-check it’s in line with the specification and free of any grammar or spelling mistakes.

Tender Writing

If you’ve found the perfect tender but don’t know where to start – we can help. Send the specification over to us and our Bid Team will do the rest. They’ll let you know what they need from you and provide you with a full breakdown. They’ll even submit it on your behalf, leaving you more time to focus on your business.

Get in touch to find out more information.

We actively source tenders for the following sub-sectors:

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