Bid Leveling Template for Excel: Free Subcontractor Bid Tab

Download a free bid leveling template in Excel. It is one sheet for one trade package and up to four bidders, laid out the way estimators level bids at a general contractor. Your own estimate sits beside each bidder's numbers. Each adjustment is tagged as a sub-based plug, a GC allowance, or an internal contingency. The sheet then ranks the bidders by leveled price, not by the price on page one.

What should a bid tab include?

A bid tab should hold every number and answer you need to award on equal terms. Each part of the template answers one question you will face before award:

The joint AGC, ASA, and ASC Guidelines for a Successful Construction Project say each subcontractor's scope letter should state its proposed scope, alternates, unit prices, and the addenda it includes. The guidelines also say the scope should name spec divisions or sections and identify any omissions or additions. So give the bid tab a line for each of those, plus anything else your bid documents require, such as safety records or union labor.

How do you fill in the bid leveling template?

1. Fill in the header. Enter the job name, replace [TRADE] with your trade package, and note the drawings set the bids are based on.
2. Name the bidders. Type each bidder's name over [Bidder 1] to [Bidder 4].
3. List your scope. Under Scope of work, write one line per item, grouped by location. Add your own quantity, unit, and unit rate in the Estimated cost columns.
4. Enter each base bid. Copy the price from each bid form into that bidder's Base Bid row.
5. Read every proposal line by line. Include the exclusions and qualifications on the last page. Note what each bidder covers in their Quantity column.
6. Add an amount for each gap. When a bidder leaves out a line, enter your price for it in their Total column. Tag it in the ID column: P, A, or C.
7. Set tax, fees, and bond. Enter the rates once, then mark Y or N for each bidder.
8. Enter alternates, inclusions, and exclusions in their rows below the leveling total.
9. Read the metrics. The sheet shows each bidder's plug, allowance, and contingency totals, their gap to the low bid, and their rank. Write your take on each bidder in the Analytical summary row.
10. Call the bidders. Ask each bidder about every line they left out or left unclear. Get the answers in writing, then remove the amounts they settle.
11. Pick the winner. Type their name in Selected bidder.

What does a filled-in bid tab look like?

The example below uses sample numbers for a drywall and framing package with three bidders. All three bidders included every line not shown. Every added amount is a plug (ID P).

Ranked by leveled price:

What does the example bid tab tell you?

The example bid tab shows the low base bid finishing last. Bidder 1 came in $52,500 under Bidder 2 on base bid. After $110,300 of plugs, Bidder 1 sits $45,300 above the low leveled price.

The open questions still matter. Bidder 3 leads, but its schedule answer is unclear, so you call Bidder 3 before you award. Bidder 2 may confirm the addendum. That removes the $6,000 plug and leaves Bidder 2 at $1,256,400, still $7,400 over Bidder 3.

How do you choose a plug amount?

A plug is your best price for the work a bidder left out. Use your own estimate, another bidder's price for the same line, or cost from a past job. For a conservative plug, take the higher of two bidders' prices for that line.

Plugs can go both ways. BuildingConnected's help center describes plugs in its bid leveling tool as positive or negative values that only your team sees. The template works the same way: a negative plug takes out work a bidder carried that belongs elsewhere. For more on spotting the gaps, read how to find scope gaps in subcontractor bids.

Why do alternates stay out of the leveled total?

Alternates stay out of the leveled total because the owner has not accepted them yet. If you add them in, the bidder with the most alternates looks expensive for scope that may never get built. The template keeps alternates in their own rows below the leveling total.

When the owner accepts an alternate, add its price to each bidder's comparison by hand. Then check whether the rank changes. In the example, Alternate 1 would add $24,500 to Bidder 3 and $19,800 to Bidder 2. Bidder 3 would still lead, but by $8,700 instead of $13,400.

Where does a spreadsheet bid tab stop working?

A spreadsheet bid tab works well for one package with a few bidders and one estimator. It gets harder when the bid tab grows. In an audit of 50 working spreadsheets published in an academic journal, Powell, Baker, and Lawson found errors that gave wrong results in 43 of them. The most common error overall was a number typed into a formula instead of taken from an input cell.

On bid day the same risks show up in familiar ways:

• Retyping. You copy every price and exclusion from a PDF by hand, and one transposed digit moves a rank.
• Overwritten formulas. Someone types a number over a total, and the leveled total stops updating.
• Revised bids. A bidder sends a new number at 1:45 p.m., and the old status marks stay in place.
• Many packages. Twenty trade packages mean twenty files, each with its own copy of the formulas.

Software can take over the reading and retyping. Consight reads each proposal PDF and fills the bidder columns of your scope sheet against your scope items. It sorts inclusions, exclusions, alternates, and qualifications into their own tabs and sets aside matches it is unsure of for your review.

You still enter the plugs and make the award call, and Download exports the scope sheet to Excel. For the full method with or without software, see how to compare subcontractor bids.