Bid Strategy & Win Rate

Welcome

Hello, and welcome. This is Super Structures General Contractors — a national general contractor headquartered in Powhatan, Virginia — here to help you and your clients build something that lasts. We're glad you're with us, and we look forward to connecting with you.

This one's a keeper: Bid Strategy & Win Rate. Bottom line — write this one down: Bid less, win smarter — chasing every job at a low margin is a treadmill. Master this and you become the person others come to with the hard questions.

Estimating costs real money, so don't bid everything. Smart contractors bid selectively and win a higher percentage.

The bid / no-bid decision

Before estimating, ask: is this the right size, type, customer, location, and margin for us? If not, pass — and put that effort into work you can win profitably.

Track your win rate

Know how many bids you win. A very high win rate may mean you're pricing too low; a very low one may mean you're chasing the wrong jobs. Chasing low-margin work just "to stay busy" is a treadmill.

Going Deeper (Intermediate)

Counterintuitive truth: you don't want to win every bid. A very high hit rate usually means you're leaving money on the table (priced too low). Estimating costs time and money, so you filter with a bid/no-bid decision and chase work you can win profitably.

Advanced / Pro-Level

Bidding like a strategist:

• Track win rate by type, owner, and estimator. On hard public bids, winning ~1 in 5–10 is normal and healthy.
• The winner's curse: the low bidder often won because they made an error or omitted scope — being lowest isn't a trophy.
• Bid to your strengths (work you self-perform well, GCs who value you) and prefer negotiated/relationship work over hard bids when you can — higher margins, less risk.
• Strategic pricing: a "cover bid" (intentionally high) to stay on a list vs. an aggressive number when you need backlog — but never below cost + overhead.

Practice Challenge

Your firm wins 80% of its hard bids. Why might that be a warning sign? (Answer: an 80% hit rate on hard bids usually means you're priced too low / under-recovering — you're the cheapest, which often means leaving margin behind or absorbing others' scope. Aim for a healthy hit rate, not a perfect one.)

In Practice

A contractor bids everything and wins 5% — wasting huge estimating effort. Bidding selectively on the right jobs raises both win rate and profit.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Bidding every job indiscriminately
• Not tracking win rate
• Chasing low-margin work to stay busy

Takeaway: Bid less, win smarter — chasing every job at a low margin is a treadmill.

Educational content — not legal, financial, or accounting advice. Run your numbers with your CPA.