Bid go/no-go scorer

What a go/no-go decision is

A go/no-go decision is the deliberate call a contractor makes before committing estimating time to a bid: do we pursue this job, or pass. It happens after a quick read of the invitation to bid and before the takeoff starts. The point is to spend estimating capacity on the jobs you are most likely to win at a margin worth having, instead of chasing every invitation that lands in the inbox. Estimating is a finite resource, and every hour spent on a long-shot bid is an hour not spent sharpening a bid you can win.

What criteria belong on a go/no-go checklist

A good checklist scores the few things that actually decide the outcome, weighted by how much they matter. This scorer uses eight:

• Client relationship and payment history (weight 20). The single biggest factor. A known client who pays on time is worth more than a slightly fatter margin from a stranger.
• Expected competition (weight 15). Fewer bidders means better odds. A select or invited list beats a wide-open public bid.
• Fit with current backlog and crew capacity (weight 15). A job you can staff and schedule without straining beats one that forces overtime or subs you do not trust.
• Margin potential vs typical (weight 15). Is the expected margin at or above what this kind of work usually returns for you.
• Bond and insurance capacity fit (weight 10). The bonding and insurance requirements have to sit inside your capacity, not consume all of it.
• Scope clarity of the bid documents (weight 10). Complete, coordinated drawings and specs lower the risk of a bust; vague or conflicting documents raise it.
• Schedule risk (weight 10). A workable timeline with reasonable float, not a deadline that is already unrealistic on paper.
• Strategic value of the client or market (weight 5). Some jobs open a target client or market and are worth pursuing on thinner numbers.

Each criterion is scored Good, Neutral, or Poor. The verdict is the weighted total as a percentage: 70 or above is a go, 45 to 69 is a caution, and below 45 is a pass.

What hit ratio selective bidding produces

Contractors who bid everything often win a small share of what they chase, commonly in the 1-in-5 to 1-in-10 range on open public work. Contractors who bid selectively, using a go/no-go filter to pursue only well-fit jobs, routinely lift that to 1-in-3 or better, because the estimating effort concentrates on jobs they were always more likely to win. A higher hit ratio on fewer bids means the same estimating team produces more booked, better-margin work. The number that matters is not how many bids you submit; it is how much profitable backlog each estimating hour produces.

When a contractor should walk away

Walk away when the criteria that carry the most weight come back Poor and you cannot close the gap before the due date. A client with a bad payment history, a wide-open field of low bidders, a scope that overloads crews you do not have, or margin that sits below your typical return are each reasons to pause; two or more together are usually a pass. Chasing the job anyway spends estimating hours you could put toward a bid you can win, and winning a job you should have passed on is often worse than losing it. A No-Go verdict here states the estimating hours you free by passing, so the trade is explicit.

How much it costs to prepare a bid

The cost of a bid is mostly estimating labor: the hours a takeoff and pricing take, multiplied by the loaded cost of the estimator, plus any plan, bond, and travel costs. On a modest commercial job that can run several hundred to a few thousand dollars; on a large or complex pursuit it can reach tens of thousands. Because bid preparation is a real cost with no guaranteed return, the go/no-go call is a spending decision, not a formality. Cutting the takeoff time on the bids you do pursue is the other half of the equation. Ruh reads the plan set, runs the quantity takeoff, and drafts a priced estimate against your own price book, so estimators spend their hours on the pursuits that clear the go bar. See how it works on the construction estimating software page.