Bid Leveling: How GCs Compare Subcontractor Bids Line by Line

Bid leveling is how a general contractor adjusts subcontractor bids to the same scope before comparing them: every inclusion, exclusion, alternate, allowance, bond and qualification is lined up against one scope sheet, missing scope gets a plug number, and the low leveled bid wins, not the low base number. That is why the low number is rarely the low bid.

This guide builds a leveling sheet from the scope sheet, shows how to normalize each kind of difference and how to set plug numbers, then works an example with three electrical bids. It ends with the red flags to catch and how to document the award.

Part of our construction estimating guide, which walks through every stage of an estimate from plans to bid day.

What Is Bid Leveling?

Subcontractor proposals rarely arrive in the same shape. One electrician excludes fire alarm, another carries it, a third breaks it out as an add. Bid leveling puts them on one sheet so the comparison is fair. Procore’s bidding tool describes it as evaluating proposals “equitably” by comparing them side by side, line item by line item, against an internal budget or a chosen benchmark.

Two numbers matter for each bidder. The base bid is what the sub submitted. The leveled bid is that number after your adjustments for missing or extra scope. BuildingConnected shows both, and both Procore and BuildingConnected keep the sub’s original submission intact when you adjust. That separation is the whole discipline: you never rewrite a sub’s number, you add your adjustments next to it and explain each one.

Leveling is a scope exercise first and a price exercise second. If you finish the sheet and still can’t say what each bidder includes, you aren’t done.

Why Is the Low Number Rarely the Low Bid?

A low base number usually means one of three things: the bidder found a better way to do the work, the bidder made a mistake, or the bidder left something out. Leveling tells you which. The usual gaps:

• Exclusions: scope written out in the fine print, such as temporary power, fire alarm, trenching or permits.
• Silence: scope the bid simply doesn’t mention. Treat silence as excluded until the bidder confirms it in writing.
• Allowances: a required allowance left out or carried at the wrong amount.
• Alternates: an alternate folded into the base, or a base item moved into an alternate.
• Bonds and insurance: a required bond excluded or quoted as an add.
• Qualifications: short price holds, escalation clauses, schedule limits or “per our standard terms” language.
• Missing addenda: a bid that doesn’t acknowledge the latest addendum may be priced on old drawings.

How Do You Build a Bid Leveling Sheet From the Scope Sheet?

The scope sheet comes first. It is your list of everything the package must include, written from the specs, drawings and addenda, and sent with the invitation to bid so subs price the same thing. Organize it by specification section; our guide to CSI MasterFormat for estimators shows how to structure packages by division.

1. Write the scope sheetList each scope item for the package, plus the items that tend to fall between trades: temporary utilities, trenching, concrete pads, firestopping, access panels, permits.
2. Turn it into a bid formAsk bidders to confirm each line, break out items you may need to plug, and price alternates and unit prices separately.
3. Set up the columnsOne row per scope item, one column per bidder, and a column for your own budget or estimate as a benchmark.
4. Enter base bids as submittedNever edit them. Every change goes in an adjustment row.
5. Mark each scope rowIncluded, excluded, or not addressed, with the dollar value of any breakout.
6. Add adjustments and totalPlugs, allowance corrections and bond costs roll up to the leveled bid. Alternates stay below the line.

How Do You Normalize Inclusions, Exclusions, Alternates, Allowances and Bonds?

Inclusions and exclusions

Go line by line. Where a bid excludes or ignores a scope item, call the bidder: they may have included it and not said so, or they may give you a price to add it. BuildingConnected’s inclusion list works this way. Bidders answer each inclusion yes or no, and where the answer is no you can confirm the cost and enter it so the bid reflects all the required work. Any adjustment flows into the leveled total.

Alternates

EJCDC defines an alternate as “a defined portion of the Work that is priced separately.” Keep alternates out of the leveled base and compare them on their own lines. If the owner is likely to accept an alternate, compare the bids with and without it, because a bidder can be low on the base and high on the alternate. On owner bids, EJCDC’s recommended method accepts alternates in the bid form’s priority order, within the funds the owner announces.

Allowances

An allowance is a fixed amount every bidder must carry. Check that each bid includes it, at the stated amount, and that the bidder knows what the allowance covers. Specs define that. One university master specification, for example, puts the product cost plus freight and delivery inside a lump-sum allowance, while receiving, handling, labor, installation, overhead and profit go in the contract sum unless the allowance says otherwise. A sub who treats installation as part of the allowance is short.

Bonds, insurance and schedule

If your subcontract requires a payment and performance bond, every leveled number must include its cost. Ask each bidder for its bond cost rather than guessing. Do the same with insurance requirements that exceed a sub’s standard coverage. Schedule belongs on the sheet too: a bid that assumes a crew size, sequence or duration your schedule can’t support isn’t the same scope.

Qualifications

Read every qualification and either accept it, price it or get it withdrawn. Short price holds, material escalation clauses and exceptions to your subcontract terms all shift risk back to you. If you can’t price that risk, note it, and consider whether it belongs in your construction contingency instead.

How Do You Plug Numbers for Missing Scope?

A plug is the price you add to a bid for scope it doesn’t cover. A plug should cost the leveled bid roughly what that scope will really cost you, because if you award, you will have to buy it from someone.

• Best: a price from the bidder itself, in writing, for the missing item.
• Next: the highest qualified price another bidder gave for the same item. It is conservative, so the bidder who left the scope out doesn’t win on the gap.
• Also valid: your own estimate or a separate quote from a specialty sub, when the other bids don’t break the item out.
• Avoid: the lowest price received for the item, or a round guess.

Write the basis of every plug in a note on the sheet. Both major bid management tools support this: Procore lets you add a note to each line item to justify adjustments and keeps a View Activity log of changes, and BuildingConnected lets you leave notes and color cells. BuildingConnected also shows the leveled bid beside the base bid, so anyone reviewing the sheet can see how much of the spread comes from your adjustments.

Plugs are an internal tool, not a negotiating lever. Don’t tell one bidder what another bid. AGC, quoting a joint statement with subcontractor associations, calls bid shopping and bid peddling “abhorrent business practices that threaten the integrity of the competitive bidding system.”

Bid Leveling Example: Three Electrical Sub Bids

Example: a GC receives three Division 26 bids for an office building. The scope sheet also assigns fire alarm, temporary power and site lighting trenching to the electrical package. It requires a $15,000 lighting fixture allowance and a payment and performance bond, and it asks for Alternate 1, EV charger rough-in, priced separately. Every number below is a placeholder, and the bond uses a placeholder rate of 1.0%.

How the numbers work. Sub A’s plugs are the highest price another bidder gave for each excluded item: $41,500 + $12,000 + $7,200 = $60,700, bringing A to $472,700 before the bond. The bond placeholder is 1.0% of that, or $4,727, for a leveled bid of $477,427. Sub B adds the missing allowance ($438,500 + $15,000 = $453,500) and a $4,535 bond, for $458,035. Sub C included everything, so its leveled bid equals its base bid.

Sub A was $39,000 below Sub C on the base bid and ends $26,427 above it once leveled. Sub B and Sub C are $7,035 apart, close enough that qualifications decide it. In this example, B holds its price for 15 days with a copper escalation clause, and C states no exceptions. C is also low with Alternate 1 accepted ($467,000 against $472,535). The recommendation is C, after a scope review call to confirm the fire alarm and temporary power scope in writing.

For the sub’s side of this math, see how to bid electrical jobs. Once a sub is awarded, its leveled scope should carry straight into the subcontract and its schedule of values.

Red Flags When You Level Subcontractor Bids

• A base bid well below the others with no exclusions listed. Usually the scope is missing, not saved.
• No addenda acknowledged, or the wrong addendum number.
• “Per plans” with no reference to the specifications.
• An allowance missing, or carried at a different amount.
• Alternates priced as deducts from a base that already excludes the work.
• Short price holds or escalation clauses on volatile materials.
• A schedule, crew size or start date that doesn’t match yours.
• Exceptions to your subcontract form, insurance or bond requirements tucked into the qualifications.
• Unit prices that don’t match the lump sum when you multiply them out.

How Do You Document the Bid Leveling Decision?

The leveling sheet is the record, but the award needs a short memo with it. Owners, auditors and your own project team will ask why the third-lowest number won.

1. Save the sheet as of awardBase bids unchanged, every adjustment with its basis, and the leveled totals.
2. Record the scope reviewWho you called, what was confirmed, and the written clarification each bidder sent back.
3. State the recommendationThe low leveled bidder, and the reason if you recommend anyone else, such as schedule, capacity or safety record.
4. Get sign-offThe estimator and project manager, plus the owner where the contract requires it.
5. Carry scope into the subcontractAttach the scope sheet and the bidder’s clarifications so the leveled scope is the contracted scope.

On public work, timing matters. On California public works, for example, Public Contract Code Section 4104 requires the prime to list each subcontractor whose work exceeds one-half of 1 percent of the prime’s total bid (or $10,000 on street, highway and bridge work, if greater), so the leveling has to be done before the bid goes in. Our construction estimating best practices cover how to plan bid day around that crunch.

How a Dedicated Estimator From Get Ninja Handles Bid Leveling

Get Ninja places a dedicated remote construction estimator on your team, trained in US estimating standards and working in your bid management and takeoff software. Leveling is one of the jobs that disappears from a busy GC’s week first, and one of the most expensive to skip.

• Scope sheets before the ITB: written from the specs, drawings and addenda, package by package.
• Leveling as bids arrive: base bids recorded unchanged, scope rows marked, plugs set with a written basis.
• Bidder follow-up: scope review calls and written clarifications, without sharing one bidder’s price with another.
• Award records: a leveling sheet and memo ready for your PM and owner.
• Speed and low risk: Estimators start within 3 business days, with a 3 to 5 day turnaround on a standard estimate, one flat monthly rate, a 30-day money-back guarantee and free replacement for the life of your account.

Frequently Asked Questions