The pre-bid meeting is the cheapest hour in the whole job

A room, a walk-through and the questions other contractors ask. Miss it and you price the job the way the drawings wished it were.

October 24, 2026 · 2 min read · by Chasedirt

Some solicitations schedule a pre-bid conference, sometimes with a site visit after it. It looks like a formality and it is frequently the most informative hour of the entire process — because it is the only point where the buyer answers questions out loud, in front of everyone, and where you can see the job with your own eyes before you put a number on it.

Mandatory is mandatory

If the solicitation says attendance is mandatory, treat it as a hard requirement, and arrive early. Sign-in sheets are the record, and arriving after the sheet is collected can be treated as not attending at all — no bid, no discussion. If it says optional, go anyway when the job is unfamiliar or the site conditions are uncertain.

What actually happens

• A scope walk-through by the buyer or the designer, which often reveals emphasis the written documents bury.
• Questions, asked and answered in the open. The answers usually become written minutes or an addendum, and those become part of the contract documents. What is said in the room and never written down is worth much less than what gets into the minutes.
• A look at the site — access, parking, power, existing conditions, what the neighbours look like, where a truck can actually turn around.
• The room itself. You learn how many firms are chasing it and often who they are, which is useful when you decide how much margin to leave.

Questions worth having ready

Write them down before you go, because in the room you will forget half of them. The ones that change a price most often:

• Access and working hours — can we work nights, weekends, or only when the building is closed?
• Phasing — is the site available all at once, or in sections with gaps we have to stand around for?
• Existing conditions — what is actually there versus what the drawings show, especially in renovations.
• Quantities — is the schedule of values measured from the drawings or field-verified?
• Exclusions — what is the owner providing that bidders assume they must?
• Submittals and approvals — who reviews shop drawings, and how long does that take?

A single answer about access hours can move your labour line more than the price of the material. That is why an hour spent asking is usually worth more than an hour spent sharpening a number.

Afterwards

Read the minutes when they are issued and check them against what you wrote down. If a question you asked is missing, ask again in writing before the question deadline — an answer that never made it into the documents is not an answer you can rely on. Then price the job against the minutes, not against your memory of the room.

And if you cannot attend an optional meeting on a job you intend to bid, say so in your questions and ask for the minutes. Most buyers will send them; some will not, and that tells you something about the job too.