George H. Pastor & Sons
George H. Pastor & Sons Gains Nationwide Coverage and Effortless Bid Management with Downtobid's ITB Tool
George H. Pastor & Sons has spent over a century perfecting the art of commercial construction, growing from its humble Detroit beginnings into a top national general contractor. Specializing in restaurant, retail, and insurance restoration projects, the company found itself fielding more bids than ever across multiple states. Yet, the team struggled to manage coverage, corral subcontractors, and keep track of who was quoting what.
Challenges
“Sometimes you'd get quotes that weren't even close to what you needed,” says Ryan Pastor, an estimator at George H. Pastor & Sons. “Posting on aggregator sites like Blue Book or PlanHub brought in a ton of bids, but we'd still have to sort through them all by hand, which took forever. If you're working on a job in another state, you need to be sure you're connecting with quality subs who know the local codes.”
As a result, the estimating team was losing valuable hours every week simply filtering through mismatched bids, staying on top of emails, and calling around for better coverage. With projects spread across different regions, they needed a streamlined approach to quickly connect with the right trades, keep track of invites and deadlines, and still have enough time to focus on actual estimating.
Solution
After looking for a better way to manage their ITBs (Invitations to Bid), George H. Pastor & Sons switched to Downtobid's ITB Tool. The platform automatically pulls in bid invites, organizes them by project, and helps estimators see at a glance which subcontractors have responded, who needs a follow-up, and where coverage might be lacking.
“I love the personalization,” Ryan says. “Downtobid gets us directly in front of the right contractors, and then we can narrow it down further. We can actually talk to the subs and get the specific quotes we need—rather than wading through a bunch of generic bids that don't really fit our project.”
All coverage in one place saves time
Before Downtobid, the Pastor team found it stressful to sift through multiple platforms and email chains. Subcontractors from different regions would respond on different timelines, and it was easy to lose track of who had been invited or whether they had the latest plans.
“Downtobid's dashboard basically puts everything we need in one spot,” Ryan explains. “It's cut out a lot of back-and-forth. We don't have to wonder if we already emailed someone or if they've seen the latest addenda.”
Direct communication leads to better quotes
Unlike broadcasting invites on aggregator sites—where it's hard to know if subs truly fit your project—Downtobid's personalized approach means the Pastor team can ask follow-up questions and clarify project specifics right away. Subcontractors also see exactly what's required, which reduces the volume of irrelevant bids.
Conclusion
With Downtobid's ITB Tool, George H. Pastor & Sons has found a clear path to nationwide coverage, higher-quality sub quotes, and less time wasted on repetitive tasks. By centralizing all ITB activity into one user-friendly system, the team can focus on estimates and strategic planning—secure in the knowledge that they're getting the right subs for every job, no matter where in the country it's located.