Construction Bid Template

What is a Construction Bid Template in Construction?

A construction bid template is a structured workbook a general contractor uses to price and submit a formal offer for a project. It holds the priced schedules behind the number, the markup cascade applied to reach it, and the qualifications and exclusions that define what the price actually covers.

Bid form, bid sheet and bid template describe the same artifact. Some owners issue a prescribed bid form that must be returned exactly as received, in which case this workbook is where you build the price before transcribing it across. On commercial construction work a bid is rarely a single figure, which is why the document runs to several priced schedules rather than one page.

What to Include in a Construction Bid Form: Key Components

A construction bid form needs six things: bidder details, the formal offer, priced schedules, allowances, exclusions and a compliance checklist. Everything else supports those.

Two things separate this from a spreadsheet with a total at the bottom. Alternates never enter the bid price until the owner accepts them in writing, which stops an option being read as part of the base offer. And the compliance checklist is worked last, because a bid gets rejected on a missing addendum acknowledgment before anyone looks at the price.

Construction Bid Example: A Completed Bid Summary

Here is an example of a completed construction bid template, priced at 62.2 million including tax.

How to Fill Out a Construction Bid Template in Excel

Set the global inputs first, then price from the bottom up. The bid summary calculates itself, so nothing on it should ever be typed.

1. Complete the cover with the project, owner, bid due date, currency and bid validity period
2. Set the tax rate, markup percentages and construction duration on Lists, since every priced sheet reads from there
3. Price the trade sections on Schedule of Prices by quantity and rate, adding rows inside a section block so the subtotals keep working
4. Price general conditions, entering time-related items per week against the duration and fixed items as a lump sum
5. Record every provisional sum, prime cost item and allowance, with the date the owner must instruct by
6. Enter add and deduct alternates, leaving them unaccepted so they stay outside the base bid
7. Complete the unit rate schedule, since these rates price change orders after award
8. Write your qualifications and exclusions before you submit, not after a question is asked
9. Clear the compliance checklist last, confirming every addendum, bond and required submittal

Change the construction duration and the general conditions reprice automatically. That single link is what makes a bid defensible when an owner asks what a four-week extension would cost.

Commercial Construction Bid Templates: What Changes

A commercial bid template carries requirements residential work does not, and most of them can void a bid rather than just weaken it.

• Bid security: A bid bond, bank guarantee or surety, commonly 5% of the bid price, is usually mandatory on commercial and public work
• Prequalification: Many owners require you to be prequalified before you may submit at all, with financial capacity assessed and a category assigned
• Addenda acknowledgment: Every addendum issued during the bid period must be acknowledged on the bid form. A bid that misses one is routinely rejected unread
• Alternates and unit prices: Owners frequently require priced alternates and a schedule of unit prices for future change orders, both as separate submissions
• Prescribed bid forms: Public and institutional owners often mandate their own form, including standard AIA documents. Where that applies, price the work here and transcribe the figures onto the form they issued

How to Price a Construction Bid: Markups, Allowances and Alternates

Markups are applied in sequence, not as one combined percentage, and the order changes the number.

Site overheads apply to the net construction cost. Head office overheads apply to that subtotal. Margin applies to the running total after both. Risk and contingency applies last. Compounding them in order produces a materially different figure from adding the percentages together and applying them once, and the gap widens with the size of the bid.

Provisional sums and prime cost items carry an attendance and profit percentage on top, because you are managing work you have not priced. Allowances behave the same way. All three should show the date the owner must instruct by, since a late instruction becomes a delay claim rather than a pricing problem.

Alternates sit outside the total entirely. Offering an add and a deduct gives the owner a way to bring a bid into budget without you dropping your base price, which is the practical purpose of value engineering at bid stage.

Bid vs Proposal vs Quote vs Estimate: What's the Difference?

These four get used interchangeably and are four different documents.

If the owner asked for your approach and experience alongside a price, you need a construction proposal template. If a client asked what a defined piece of work costs, use a construction quote template. If you are building the number for yourself before deciding what to bid, that is a construction estimate template.

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Related Articles and Templates

Explore these resources for construction bids, tendering, estimating, pricing, and proposals:

• Construction Scope of Work Template
• Tender Document Template
• Basis of Estimate Template
• Construction Bidding: Guide for Project Success
• Construction Proposal Guide: Steps, Tools, and Tips
• Bill of Quantities in Construction: Meaning, Example, and How to Prepare One