Free download · Checklists and tools
Ten checks before you award, whatever the package, from earthworks to building services. A checklist, and an Excel workbook that levels every offer on your scope.
Herman B. Smith
CEO & Co-Founder
Updated Oct 27, 2026
Every subcontractor prices their own reading of the enquiry. One excludes the guide frames, one reserves the ground, one prices to an older revision. The lowest offer is only the lowest once each of them is brought back to the scope you sent out. Ten checks take a few hours per package and catch most of what turns into cost after the subcontract is signed.
Ten checks before you award
What each offer is priced on
Document basis
Each offer names the enquiry set and revision it priced, matching yours, with every addendum acknowledged by number.
Your package as the baseline
The comparison is built on your package items and quantities, not on the way each supplier structured the offer.
Price basis
All offers share one type of price, currency and tax treatment, and they stay valid past your award date.
Client requirements passed down
Standards, documentation, warranties and quality requirements from the main contract are accepted, or each departure is stated.
What each offer leaves out
Exclusions
Every exclusion is logged against a package item, including those in appendices, cover letters and standard terms.
Reservations
Every condition that could move the price, such as ground conditions, access or remeasured quantities, is logged with its wording.
Items not addressed
Every package item has a status for every offer, included, reserved, excluded or not addressed, with no blanks.
Whether the offer holds
Subcontract terms
Each supplier accepts your terms or lists every deviation on delay damages, retention, security, payment and notices.
Programme and resources
Duration, start, key resources and dependencies on other packages fit your programme, closures included.
Questions before award
Every question that affects price or scope is answered in writing and carried into the subcontract.
What the workbook adds. The yes/no sheet with what a good answer looks like and what to do on a no, an offer register that checks each letter total against its priced lines, a levelling sheet that brings every offer back to your package and prices the gaps, a reservations log, a question list per supplier, and five checks before you award. Excel, no macros, and it works for any trade package.
Patterns, not advice. The enquiry, the offers and your subcontract terms are what matter.
volve
CHECKLIST / EXCEL WORKBOOK
How to compare subcontractor offers
Ten checks before you award.
For procurement managers and estimators