Best practices for owners setting up projects (BC Pro)

If you are an owner using BuildingConnected, you can invite both general contractors and subcontractors to bid on a project. This article will go over best practices for setting up bid packages once you have created your project so you can organize bids and easily manage submitted proposals on your Bid Leveling tab. 

For detailed information on how to create a project, please reference the article, “Best practices for setting up a project in BuildingConnected.” 

To set up bid packages 

Once you have created your project, click “New Bid Package” from the “Bid Packages” tab. 



Create a bid package for general contractors by typing “General Contracting” in the “Bid Package Name” field. The keyword “General Contracting” will auto-populate in the “Keywords” field. 



This will allow you to utilize our “best match” feature so you can find new general contractors to invite to bid. For more information on inviting general contractors to bid on your project, please reference the articles, “How to invite bidders to projects using the ‘best match’ feature” and “How to search for a specific company to invite to a project.” 



Once you have added general contractors to the “General Contracting” bid package, click “Back to Project” on the left-hand side to add bid packages you would like to invite subcontractors to.



From the “Bid Packages” tab, click “New Bid Package.” 



Enter the scope of work the subcontractor performs in the “Bid Package Name” to auto populate the “Keywords” field. Enter any other project information, then click “Save.” 



Continue the steps above until you have set up all bid packages for your project and have added the bidders you would like to invite. When you are ready to publish your project, you can do so by selecting all bid packages then clicking “Publish.” 



For a more detailed walkthrough of how to publish projects, please reference the article, “How to publish a project in BuildingConnected.” 

The Bid Leveling tab 

As an owner, setting up your bid packages as shown above will allow you to easily compare bids from both general contractors and subcontractors from your “Bid Leveling” tab once proposals are submitted. 

In the example below, the “General Contracting” bid package has been selected to compare proposals submitted by each general contractor. 



For more information on how to use the bid leveling feature, check out the quick, 3-minute walkthrough, “Online training: Bid Leveling.”