Improve your next subcontractor bid and win more jobs. Understanding why contractors win or lose and how a primary contractor makes a choice will get you working the jobs you want.Know Your Strengths
- It's not all about being the cheapest. Bidding is competitive, and often the general contractor may not be able to distinguish the difference between different subcontractors other than price.
- Approach your bid as a marketing project. Make notes on what is being asked of you. There will be areas in which you know you have skills or experience that sets you apart.
- Your point of difference: Know exactly what you can do and how that differs from your competitors. For example, you may regularly attend training to keep up with the latest procedures in your industry, or have access to others who can help you to get the job done faster, or have a proven safety record - these are all worth including in your application.
What Problem Are You Solving?
- They are looking for a subcontractor because they want to solve a problem.
- Be the person who will solve that problem. It might be work on a building site or a program for teaching researchers - whatever it is, you will be the one who resolves a need.
Research Your General Contractor
- Who are you applying to? Who makes the final decision?
- The more you understand and know who is hiring and what problem they need solved, the better fit you will be for the job.
- This may involve more than one person. General Contractors have multiple decision makers for choosing subcontractors. As a subcontractor, you can form a relationship with the primary subcontractor and let them know about new jobs you hear about. Make their job easier and chances are you will be remembered when they need to hire a subcontractor.
Keep Up with Future Tenders and Upcoming Opportunities
- You can subscribe to Australian Tenders to set up alerts for subcontracts as well as future tenders.
- Knowing that your state government has just allocated millions of dollars to rural rail infrastructure will be good intel if you are in that industry or related industry.
Who is Your Competition?
- Keep up with who your competition is and similarities and differences between you and them.
- You can emphasise points of difference to the subcontractor that work to your advantage.
- Knowing your competitors and where you can do a better job means you can solve the employer's problem better which is what they are looking for, even if it costs them a few more dollars.
Learn Some Nifty Marketing Tactics
- Know what's coming up in your region and industry with relevant news and let your general contractor contacts know about it.
- If it is appropriate in your job response, identify potential drawbacks and weaknesses to your General Contractor such as legal liabilities related to your field of work that could affect the job.
- Make sure your skills are up-to-date and keep an eye out for training extensions for you and your team.
- You can increase your skills on how to tender for subcontractor opportunities with free courses offered by your local and state government.
Be Professional
- You already know this. Presenting a professional image and reputation is important to your long-term success as a subcontractor.
- Conduct weekly safety meetings so you/your team can help ensure on-site safety.
- Ensure you don’t leave job sites looking disorderly as this will reflect poorly on you, and your General Contractor will likely take note of small things like housekeeping when the next bid comes around.
If you have ideas for landing more jobs, let us know we would love to hear from you and we will update our list based on your experience.
Go to Australian Tenders and select your region and search. Subscribe to receive new tender notices to your inbox daily.What Subcontractors and Suppliers Need to Know About Head Contractor Insolvencies:For more subcontract information take a look at this article from Sourceable.