Bid or no-bid? Five questions before you spend an evening pricing

A bid costs you an evening. Five losers cost you a week you could have spent working.

October 5, 2026 · 2 min read · by Chasedirt

Every bid is an evening. Not the number — the whole thing: reading the packet, walking it, chasing two quotes, building the labour, second-guessing the labour.

So before you spend the evening, ask five questions. If two of them come back bad, stop, and say it out loud so your own head hears it.

1. Can we do it in the window they want?

Not eventually. In their days, with your crew, in that month, between the jobs you already sold.

2. Have we actually built this before?

Watching someone else do it is not the same as having done it. Learning on their dime costs more than the bid you lose.

3. Can we get the bond and the insurance?

If the answer is "maybe by then", the answer is no. Sureties and underwriters do not share your optimism about deadlines.

4. Who else is bidding, and do we know how they price?

If the same three outfits always come in under you, you are bidding to be their alibi. Either find the part of the job they are weak on, or find a different job.

5. Would we still take it as the third-lowest bidder?

That is the honest test. If the answer is no, the price you are about to build is fiction.

Say no early. The jobs you skip are the reason you have the capacity to do the ones you take.