Best practices for setting up a project in BuildingConnected

BuildingConnected streamlines the pre-construction process for main contractors. The ability to create projects and to send invitations to tender is a crucial part of the service we offer. The details of a project can determine the amount of tenders that are submitted to a main contractor. This is why we have put together best practices to keep in mind when main contractors create projects in BuildingConnected.

Please reference the “Projects” section of our help center for information on how to create projects, how to invite subcontractors and how to publish projects.

Project information

Enter as many details as possible in the project’s “Information” tab to get the most accurate price from subcontractors. We also recommend that main contractors fill out the “Private Information” section for all projects. An added benefit of entering details into the “Private Information” section is that BuildingConnected tracks this data and uses it to provide your company with more accurate reports.

The example below shows a project in which the main contractors has entered as much information as they can into the “Information” and “Private Information” tabs.



In the above example, the main contractor uses the project description to encourage subcontractors to submit their tender through BuildingConnected. The main contractor provides instructions so that any subcontractor that is invited to tender but does not have a BuildingConnected account can sign up. Adding these type of instructions in the project description is a great way to increase the number of tenders that are submitted through our site.

Finally, if there are details that can’t be entered at the beginning of the project, please add the missing information once it is available. Click here for instructions on how to update project information after a project has been published.

Project team

It is important that the appropriate colleagues, partners or consultants have access to the project. As a best practice, we recommend that team members, project leads and tender package leads are assigned before a project is published. Follow the instructions in this article to learn how to add team members to your project.

Additionally, please assign tender package leads before the project is published. Tender package leads appear as the person who sent the invite, so tender package leads should be assigned first. Please click here for information on the differences between project and tender package leads. Additionally, BC Pro users can find instructions on how to assign tender package leads here.

In addition to inviting the appropriate colleagues to the project team, it is important to review each project team member’s notification settings.

To edit a project team member’s notification settings, start from the project’s “Team” tab. Find the name of the team member whose settings you wish to update and click on the “Actions” drop-down menu. Click on “Edit notification settings.”

Select the appropriate level of notifications for the selected team member and then click on “Update Settings.”



You will immediately see the updated notification settings for the selected team member.

Project and tender package files

After project information has been entered and the appropriate team members have been added to the project, proceed to upload project and tender package files.

BuildingConnected offers the ability for main contractors to create folders to help keep uploaded files organized. Click here for instructions on how to upload project files. Instructions for uploading tender package files can be found here.

Furthermore, you can find answers to frequently asked questions about project and tender package files here.

Internal project labeling and tracking

To help keep your projects organized and easy to find in BuildingConnected, we recommend that main contractors decide on a specific method to use when assigning project and tender package numbers. There is no correct or preferred way to number projects--what matters is that project numbers are consistently used across the entire company.

In the example below, the main contractor uses increasing numbers followed by the abbreviated name of the client. This convention allows the main contractor to quickly sort projects in the order that invitations to tender were sent out.

Tenders submitted outside of BuildingConnected

If a subcontractor submits their tender via email, fax or over the phone, we strongly encourage main contractors to add these tenders into BuildingConnected. Taking this step allows for tenders to be centralized, accurate tender history information and easy analysis for BC Pro users (tender comparison).

Please click here for instructions on how to add proposals on behalf of subcontractors. BC Pro subscribers can use our Proposal Viewer to submit tenders on behalf of subcontractors by following these instructions.