How do I get on bid lists with general contractors and home builders?
General contractors invite the subs they trust to bid. Getting on the list takes paperwork, proof and patience.
- How do we get invited to bid?
- What do GCs check?
- Builders only use their regular subs.
Prepare a prequalification packet: licences, insurance, WSIB or workers' comp, safety program and records, bonding if needed and project references. Introduce yourself to estimators and project managers, bid fast and accurately on small jobs first, and deliver on schedule. Track invitations, bids and wins by GC.
Prequalification packet
- Licences and insurance.
- Safety program and incident records.
- Project list with references.
- Crew size and capacity.
- Bonding, if required.
How we look at it at ShoutEx
We build commercial capability pages, packets and bid tracking in your CRM.
- No packet.
- Slow bids.
- Bidding everything.
- No relationship follow-up.
- Packet ready.
- Project references.
- Fast, focused bids.
- Win rate by GC tracked.
What electricians and safety authorities say
Here is what electricians and contractors say.
Community summaries describe recurring themes in public threads, not individual posts. Vendor pages describe vendor claims, so test them on your own calls.
Read next
Go deeper in the ShoutEx guides, or check the sources behind this answer.
We'll build capability pages and bid tracking.
Book a call →Follow-up questions
Should we bid public work?
It has its own rules. Start with private.
How many GCs to target?
A short list you can serve well.
Do builders pay on time?
Agree terms. Track it.