The Best Subcontractor Bid Tracking Software: Downtobid’s Bid Board

Subcontractors must track their bids to identify suitable construction projects, prepare proposals, and submit accurate bids. It’s a laborious process requiring attention to detail and proper time management. That’s why subcontractors turn to bid management software. Lucky for you, we created construction bid management software that handles all these tasks, leaving you with more time to focus on the bidding process. 

We’ll thoroughly evaluate the system and show you how it works in simple steps. But first, let’s define Downtobid’s Bid Board.

Note: Try our subcontractor bid tracking software. Our software works by automating the sorting and tracking of bid-related emails, to boost productivity. We offer a centralized dashboard for managing bids and communication, provides analytics for optimizing bidding strategies. Click here to sign up for a demo today.

What is Downtobid’s Bid Board?

Downtobid’s construction bid board is a construction bid management software for subcontractors and material vendors. We were motivated to create the software after countless subcontractors complained about missing opportunities and the exhaustion of tracking their bids manually. 

We wanted a platform where subs didn’t have to dig through a pile of bid invites to identify work opportunities. Let’s just say we outdid ourselves. 

Our web-based system is truly revolutionary. It automates everything, from identifying suitable opportunities to creating detailed reports you can use to create winning bids. Imagine just setting a few rules, and the software accepts or rejects bid invites, allowing you to focus on bidding. We’ll explain more about how our software works shortly. 

Key Features

We’ve invested heavily in making Downtobid’s Bid Board a remarkable tool thanks to the following features. 

• Automated Bid Tracking: Automatically imports and organizes bid invitations from emails, eliminating the need for manual entry.
• Vendor Management: Manages and categorizes vendor contacts for easier access and communication.
• Estimating Analytics: Generates real-time reports and graphs for analyzing trends and performance in estimating and bidding. See for yourself why we're considered one of the top bid estimating software.

Centralized Bid Management

We have included every tool you need to track your bids in one system. However, you must integrate our software into your Outlook email for it to work. It’s a straightforward process with instructions on the dashboard. 

You must also include your preferred rules to help the software target the right bid invites. For instance, if you’re a plumber looking for opportunities, you could set up rules like the preferred location, project size, budget, and specialization. The software monitors your inbox and detects bid invites that fit your specifications. It then extracts the project scope related to your expertise to help you understand the requirements. 

We’ve also made the dashboard easier to use and navigate by labeling all the sections. For instance, we have four bid boards labeled Undecided, Declined, Accepted, and Estimating. This simple tweak in the design helps you track all the bids. 

You can also view and compare bids with those of your competitors. Doing so helps you stay competitive and create proposals that contractors could consider.

What about communication? You can read and respond to emails from general contractors on the platform without opening an email app. We noticed this approach improves communication and collaboration. 

Automated Calendar Integration

Subcontractors love calendars. They use them to track and identify bidding deadlines. What’s the point of creating some of the best bids only to miss the opportunity due to late submission? Luckily, our software integrates perfectly with calendars, allowing you to monitor every deadline without entering the details on the calendar. 

Our software sends notifications earlier to help you fine-tune your bids and fact-check everything. We empower you to always be on top of the game and never miss opportunities. 

Collaborative Tools

The construction industry is a collaborative field, bringing together different teams. Managing construction teams is laborious and stressful. It requires everyone to be on the same page. 

Our document management system ensures everyone can access recent construction documents. Doing so eliminates any errors and miscommunications that are time-consuming to fix and navigate. We also have centralized communication, allowing team members to send and receive real-time feedback and updates. 

The bid board contains four sections - submitted bids, awarded, completed, and lost, to help you track your recent bids. This classification creates a clear and transparent working environment, helping team members understand the bids they should work on. We’ve also included the win ratio to help you improve your bidding strategy. The bidding history also helps find out what you might be doing wrong and improve.

Now that we know what Downtobid’s Bid Board is, let’s see how the software works. 

How to Use Downtobid’s Bid Board

Click here to sign up for a demo. 

We offer a free trial that you can use to test our software and determine if it fits your current needs. 

After logging in, you’ll see the instructions on how to integrate our software into our Outlook inbox. You can find this information by going to ‘Profile Settings’ and find ‘Integrations.’ Click on ‘Add Account’ and select ‘Outlook.’ The software will then redirect you to your Outlook email account, where you must grant permission. 

Once integrated, the software creates a dedicated folder in your inbox where you can drag and drop emails. It also creates another dedicated ‘Inbox’ folder on the platform that contains all the bid invites. 

You can create rules to narrow down the bid invites you want to focus on. For instance, you can include a desired budget, location, general contractor information, and the project’s size. 

The system uses this information to scan every bid invite and select those that fit your criteria. It then scans the bid invites and pulls out crucial details, such as project location, size, and budget. You can use this information to create compelling bids to entice general contractors. 

Besides creating rules, you can use the ‘Keyword’ section to locate work opportunities within the construction plans. This section shows you the keywords included in the plans and the specific sections you can find them. This feature alone saves you the time to review lengthy construction plans, allowing you to focus on creating bids and estimates. 

After you’re satisfied with the information in the bid invites, you can export the data into Excel sheets with one click. There’s no need for manual data entry throughout the process. 

In fact, you can read what our customers have to say about the tool.

Final Thoughts

Downtobid’s Bid Board is one of the best bid management platforms. The centralized bid management system ensures you have everything you need to track and manage bids. It’s also straightforward to use, thanks to a simplified design. You can assign tasks and track progress from one platform. The automatic calendar integration ensures you don’t miss bid deadlines, and the centralized communication improves collaboration. Try our Bid Board today and automate your bid management.