The pricing basis
Identify the current issue, included addenda, and references that govern this review. Compare the document register with the actual files and flag unresolved issue precedence.
Pre-bid review
Resolve the questions behind the price
A bid depends on a shared understanding of the work. Review the issued bid or tender drawings, specifications, and addenda for conflicting requirements and missing information before those questions turn into pricing assumptions.
Where to focus
What to bring into the review
Drawn and specified scope
Compare material requirements, equipment data, details, and schedules. A mismatch can matter even when each document appears complete on its own.
Interfaces and responsibilities
Review supports, openings, utility connections, demolition limits, and other conditions shared between trades. Identify where the supplied documents leave the handoff unclear.
Alternates and unanswered questions
Reconcile descriptions of base work, alternates, and allowances where they are included. Keep missing information and assumptions visible in a question log until the project team responds.
Inside Groundbook
Turn findings into focused bid questions
Review the potential issues Groundbook found, open the supporting references, and identify which questions could change scope or pricing. Carry the verified question and its source references into your team’s bid process.
A practical workflow
From the first pass to a decision
Freeze the review package
Record the drawing issue and addenda, distinguish references from files to check, and state the bid scope and decision deadline in the review instructions.
Verify and route the question
Check the source context before sending a question. Name the conflicting requirements, affected trade or interface, and the decision needed from the responsible party.
Reconcile the answer
Record the response and governing document or addendum. Check that affected schedules, details, and specifications agree, and that the pricing team has the same basis.
From a published project review
Plans, schedules, and controls use different equipment data
This published finding illustrates a document conflict that could affect pricing. The case does not report a bid outcome or savings.
Equipment tags, quantities, duties, materials, and operating sequences did not consistently reconcile across plans, diagrams, schedules, and specifications.
Read the findingA shared question log
Keep assumptions visible until they have an answer
The editable CSV starts with eight review prompts and provides fields for source references, scope effects, ownership, responses, and the governing addendum. Adapt it to your project’s bid process.
Package and addenda
Which issue and addenda form the pricing basis?
Conflicting requirements
Do the plan, schedule, and specification state the same requirement?
Missing detail
Is the detail or dimension needed to understand this scope provided?
Scope boundary
Is the responsibility for the shared interface stated consistently?
Alternates and allowances
Are descriptions and limits consistent across the supplied bid documents?
Equipment and services
Do equipment identity, service needs, and supports agree across disciplines?
Phasing and existing conditions
Is the sequence or tie-in condition clear enough to identify the affected work?
Response reconciliation
Has the answer been incorporated into the governing package or recorded pricing basis?
Define the scope with your team
This workflow reviews the requirements stated in the supplied documents. Groundbook does not establish bid prices or determine contractual rights. Your team decides how verified questions, responses, and qualifications are handled under the project’s bidding procedures.
Download the pre-bid question log (CSV)Questions, answered
FAQs
Is a pre-bid review the same as constructability review?
They overlap. Pre-bid review focuses on information that affects scope and the pricing basis before a bid. Constructability review examines how documented conditions and interfaces can be built. Use both scopes when the project needs them.
Can this calculate the cost of a conflict?
No. A finding identifies a document question and its sources. Your estimating team assesses quantities, pricing, allowances, and any commercial consequence.
How should we handle a new addendum?
Record it in the review register, identify which documents and answers it changes, then check the affected schedules, details, and specifications. Keep superseded instructions clearly identified.
Should every finding be sent as a bid question?
No. First verify the source context, issue, and whether another document already answers it. Route the remaining questions through the project’s agreed process.
Is a pre-bid review the same as a tender review?
Yes. Bid and tender name the same stage. US teams usually say bid set, bidder questions, and addenda; UK, Australian, and Canadian teams more often say tender drawings, tender queries, and tender clarifications. The review checks the same things either way.
What should we check after the contract is awarded?
Compare the Issued for Construction set with the tender or bid set you priced. Addenda, answers to bidder questions, and design that was completed after the tender can all change scope, and each difference is easier to raise early.
Related examples and workflows
Apply this review to your project
- Pre-GMP document review
Record the package, unresolved scope and decisions behind the proposed price.
- Construction addenda review
Follow changed requirements through the complete bidding package.
- Submittal log template
Identify required packages, reviewers and procurement handoffs before submissions arrive.
- School science building coordination
See how different shaft walls, elevator travel and column positions left trade pricing inputs unresolved.
- Children’s center plan review
See undefined hardware sets and conflicting wall, sheathing and fastening requirements in a bid set.
- Construction project delivery methods
Understand the delivery arrangement behind the set you are pricing.
- Drawing review by delivery method
Match the pre-bid review to how the project is delivered.
Bring your next set into focus
Set up a review or talk through your project with our team.