Bid Follow-Up & Tracking FAQ for Subcontractors

Most shops start with a spreadsheet or a whiteboard in the office, and honestly, that works fine when you've got five or six bids out. The problem is when you're running jobs and bidding new work at the same time — which is always — and suddenly you've got 20 or 30 bids floating around and nobody's sure which ones are still live.

The key is having one place where every bid lives, with the status, the GC contact info, the due date, and any notes from conversations you've had. Whether that's a spreadsheet or a tool like BidTransparency, the important thing is that it updates easily. If entering a bid into your tracking system takes 10 minutes, you'll stop doing it by Thursday.

BidTransparency handles this by letting you forward the ITB email directly — the bid board builds itself with zero data entry. But whatever system you use, the principle is the same: if it's not easy, it won't get done.

This is one of the hardest parts of running a sub shop and there's no perfect formula. Most experienced subs look at a few things: Is this a GC you've worked with before or want to work with? Is the scope a good fit for what your shop does well? Is the timeline realistic given your current workload? Is the project in your geography?

The bids that are worth your time are the ones where you have a real shot — either because of a relationship, because the scope plays to your strengths, or because you know the project well. Bidding everything that comes across your desk just to stay busy usually means you're spending time on jobs you'll never win at the expense of properly pursuing the ones you could.

At minimum: project name, GC or CM name, contact person and their email/phone, bid due date, estimated value, and status (reviewing, bidding, submitted, won, lost). Beyond that, notes are gold. If you talked to the estimator and they mentioned the owner likes a certain finish, write it down. If the GC told you they're leaning toward a particular sub, write that down too. These details matter when you follow up later — they show you're paying attention.

In commercial construction, a good rule of thumb is 5–7 business days after the bid due date for a first follow-up. That gives the GC or CM time to receive all the bids, do their leveling, and start making decisions. If you call the day after bid day, you're going to catch them in the middle of the leveling process and you won't get useful information.

For larger projects with longer decision timelines, you might wait 10–14 days. The point is to check in when there's a reasonable chance a decision is being made — not so early that you're a nuisance, and not so late that they've already moved on.

BidTransparency lets you configure follow-up timing per bid, so you can set a shorter cycle for a fast-track retail fit-out and a longer one for a university project that has a drawn-out procurement process.

You're not being annoying. GCs and CMs expect subcontractors to follow up — it's a normal part of the process. The subs who never follow up are actually the ones who stand out, and not in a good way. When you don't follow up, the GC has to wonder if you're even still interested in the project.

The key is to be professional and brief. You're checking on the status of the project, reaffirming your interest, and asking if there's anything else they need from you. That's it. You don't need to pitch yourself again or ask if they've looked at your number. A 30-second phone call or a two-sentence email is perfect.

Where it becomes annoying is if you're calling every other day or if your follow-up feels like pressure rather than professionalism. Space it out, keep it light, and always offer to be helpful.

Keep it simple and natural. Something like: "Hey [name], just checking in on [project name]. We're still very interested and have the capacity to take it on. Let me know if you need anything else from us."

That's it. You don't need a script. You're a professional checking on your work — that's all this is. If you've got a prior relationship, make it even more casual. If it's a GC you're trying to build a relationship with, this is your chance to be the sub who's organized and on top of things.

The difference between the sub who wins the job and the one who doesn't is often just this: one followed up and the other didn't.

Both have their place, and the best approach depends on the relationship and the bid.

For your highest-value opportunities or GCs where you have (or want) a personal relationship, pick up the phone. A phone call is more personal, harder to ignore, and gives you real-time feedback — you can hear it in their voice if the project is dead or if you're in the running.

For routine bids, smaller projects, or situations where you just need to touch base without a full conversation, email works fine. The important thing is that you actually do it. A sent email beats a phone call you meant to make but didn't.

BidTransparency is built around this exact decision. When you set a bid to Relationship Mode, you get a personal reminder with the contact info so you can make the call. When you set it to Autopilot, we send a professional follow-up email on your behalf and CC you so you're in the loop when they reply.

Two to three follow-ups is the sweet spot for most commercial projects. After that, you either have your answer or the project has gone quiet for reasons that have nothing to do with you — funding issues, design changes, owner delays.

A reasonable cadence might look like: first follow-up at 7 days after submission, second at 21 days, third at 45 days. After that, you've demonstrated professionalism and interest. If you haven't heard back, it's okay to let it go and focus your energy on live opportunities.

BidTransparency lets you set the number of follow-ups per bid and the timing between them. Once the cycle is complete, the bid moves off your active board so you're not staring at dead leads.

It's rarely just about price. Obviously you need to be competitive, but when GCs and CMs talk about the subs they prefer to work with, they talk about reliability, communication, and professionalism. They want subs who show up when they say they will, who communicate problems early, and who are easy to work with.

Following up on your bids is one of the simplest ways to signal all of those things. When you follow up, you're telling the GC: I'm organized, I'm interested, and I'm going to be responsive if you give me this job. That's exactly what they want to hear.

In commercial construction, the same people work together project after project, year after year. Your reputation compounds. Every follow-up, every on-time delivery, every clean punch list — it all adds up. The subs who win consistently are the ones who treat every interaction as a chance to build that reputation.

This is the most common thing we hear, and it's completely valid. You can't be on a job site at 6am and also remembering to call a GC about a bid you submitted two weeks ago. The work in front of you always wins.

But here's the thing: the jobs you're running today came from bids you won months ago. If you're not following up now, you're creating a gap in your pipeline that you'll feel six months from now. It's the classic subcontractor cycle — feast or famine — and inconsistent follow-up is usually what drives it.

The fix is to make follow-up something that happens without relying on your memory or your free time. That's why we built BidTransparency — it handles follow-up automatically after you submit a bid. For your most important opportunities, it reminds you to make the personal call. For everything else, it sends the follow-up email for you. You stay focused on the job site and your bids still get the attention they deserve.

The whole system starts with your email. When you get an ITB, you forward it to your BidTransparency inbox. Our AI reads the email, pulls out the project details — project name, GC, contact info, bid due date, scope — and creates a bid on your dashboard. No typing, no data entry.

From there, you manage your bids on a visual dashboard. When you submit a bid, you choose a follow-up mode: Relationship Mode gives you personal reminders to make a phone call, and Autopilot sends a professional follow-up email directly to the GC on your behalf (you're CC'd on everything). Follow-ups happen on a schedule you control — how many follow-ups, how many days apart.

It's designed to fit into how you already work. You're already getting ITB emails. Now you just forward them and the system handles the rest.

BidTransparency was built by Rich Bergan, VP of Bergan Architectural Woodworking and outgoing president of AWI New England. After 20+ years in commercial construction — first as a construction manager, then running a sub shop — Rich built BidTransparency to solve a problem he was living every day: bids going out the door with no consistent follow-up system.

This isn't a software company that decided to build something for construction. It's a subcontractor who built something for his own shop and realized every sub has the same problem.

$50 per month, per user. No contracts, no setup fees, cancel anytime.