How to compare subcontractor Quotes with a bid comparison template

Define the common required package

Write the result your business intends to buy before comparing offers. Identify the site, drawing or specification basis, supply arrangement and relevant boundaries. A requirement called "tiling" is too broad if the suppliers interpret preparation and associated materials differently.

Use the six requirement rows for the distinct items that matter to this comparison. Leave genuinely unused names blank. The model checks named requirements and withholds a completed comparison if no required scope has been defined.

Keep the fuller package schedule available beside the worksheet. It can contain detail that does not fit a short matrix row. All suppliers should be assessed against that same basis rather than each being compared with a different informal description.

The example uses fitting scope, associated materials, tidying, completion evidence, interface scope and specification basis. Those rows illustrate buying boundaries; they are not a complete technical specification for the actual trade work.

Enter the actual quoted base amounts

Enter the supplier names and base amounts in the yellow cells. Record the relevant offer reference and qualification in the note fields. Preserve what each supplier actually offered, rather than silently replacing their figure with your own adjusted total.

Use a consistent tax basis across the amounts. Check the actual supplier and supply treatment rather than assuming that three numbers headed "total" are comparable. The worksheet performs no VAT or other tax calculation.

The worked tab enters £1,650 for A, £1,500 for B and £1,700 for C. These are illustrative inputs, not market rates. Their usefulness lies in showing how different inclusions can change the interpretation of the totals.

Classify each inclusion with evidence

For each named requirement, choose Included, Excluded or Unknown for each supplier. Use Included only when the offered scope supports that classification. A familiar supplier name is not evidence that an item has been priced.

Use Unknown where you need clarification. The model displays Clarify scope in the allowance result and leaves the adjusted comparison incomplete. This keeps an unconfirmed boundary from becoming a misleading zero-cost assumption.

Record the source of the classification in the basis or evidence column. That might identify an offer item or the answer to a specific question. A later reviewer should be able to understand why the matrix says an item is included without reconstructing the whole enquiry.

If a supplier proposes a different specification, assess that difference against the required result. Do not treat another option as equivalent merely because it has a lower figure. Obtain the relevant competent or commercial review before deciding how to compare it.

Price exclusions as explicit comparison inputs

An Excluded item needs a numeric comparison allowance. Enter the reviewed cost of addressing that gap on the same basis as the comparison, and retain the source. A missing allowance produces Price missing items rather than a completed number.

An allowance may come from a reviewed alternative supply input or an explicit estimate. Keep its uncertainty visible. It is an internal comparison figure and does not mean the supplier agreed to provide the omitted item for that amount.

The example assigns £120 for B’s excluded associated materials and £80 for its excluded tidying. Their total is £200. Adding that to B’s £1,500 base gives an adjusted comparison amount of £1,700.

Use a known zero only when its basis is justified. Entering zero because you have no information would conceal the gap. Check that the allowance does not repeat a cost already included in another required item or in the supplier’s base amount.

Read the adjusted comparison

The worksheet adds reviewed allowances to each quoted base amount after the named requirements are resolved. Included items contribute no extra allowance. Unknown or unpriced exclusions prevent an apparently finished result.

In the example, A remains £1,650, B becomes £1,700 and C remains £1,700. The comparison has changed the view of B’s offer without rewriting its quoted £1,500 amount. A difference of £50 remains between A and the adjusted alternatives.

That numerical result is one input to a buying decision. It does not assess the supplier’s competence, availability, references or contract arrangements. Nor does it establish that your comparison allowance can actually be procured on the assumed timing.

If an answer changes the inclusion boundary, update its status and note, then review the resulting allowances. Keep enough context to explain the change instead of retaining a comparison figure detached from the evidence that supported it.

Check programme and interface conditions

Check the form of the offered price too. A fixed package and a day rate rely on different assumptions. Multiplying a day rate by your expected duration produces a comparison scenario, not a fixed commitment from that supplier. Keep the duration, rate basis and uncertainty explicit before deciding whether the offers can be compared on that model.

Some differences cannot be resolved by adding an allowance. A different product or method may require competent review of whether it meets the required result. If that question is unresolved, use Unknown on the relevant scope row rather than force a numeric comparison. The missing decision is about suitability, and an invented amount would not answer it.

Review the supplier’s proposed duration, attendance and readiness requirements separately. Two offers can cover the same priced result but rely on different inputs being available. A lower comparison total is less useful if its programme cannot meet the actual project needs.

Use the work-package interface matrix to establish who supplies materials, prepares the area and confirms readiness. The price worksheet can point to those questions but cannot resolve them automatically from a status selection.

Record any proposed contractual qualification and obtain appropriate review. A price comparison is not a substitute for the agreement governing the bought work. FMB guidance discusses preparing a brief and comparing subcontract prices on a consistent basis alongside those wider checks.

Turn the comparison into clear questions

Use unresolved matrix rows to ask specific questions. "Does offer reference B-01 include the listed associated-material supply?" gives the supplier a defined point to answer. "Can you match the other price?" may leave the scope difference untouched.

If a supplier revises the offer, retain its actual new reference and amount. Recheck the matrix against that version. The earlier internal allowance may no longer belong when the supplier explicitly includes the item.

Choose one package with two or three offers today. Define the named requirements, classify them from evidence and price the confirmed exclusions. Then review the non-price conditions before making the actual buying decision through your normal process.