For many contractors and sub-contractors, finding a new job in the construction industry is no easy task. The process requires countless hours of manual and tedious work. However, similar to other industries, technology has reinvented this outdated process. It’s easier than ever to find jobs through custom software. With construction bidding websites, contractors can find jobs in minutes.
A construction bidding site is a platform that connects project managers to contractors.
Thanks to the site, both parties can search and find the type of projects best suited for them and gain more connections. Assuming you’re one of the users, you’ll be able to create custom searches, receive email alerts whenever a new gig pops up, and make a bid that will grab the attention of any one of your potential employers.
You’re probably thinking, “But do they make a significant contribution to businesses?” and the answer is… Yes!
A survey was conducted a couple of years back, and the findings were what we all expected. Most project managers had a pre-approved list of contractors. And those contractors were all hired through commercial and residential construction bidding websites. However, not all construction bidding websites are the same.
So we’ve put together this list of the best construction bidding websites in 2021:
- Ventract
- Governmentbids.com
- Construction Bid Source
- IsQFt
- Dodge Construction Central
- Construction Wire
- BidClerk
- Biddingo.com
- BidNet
- Merx
- Construction Market Data
- Bid Express
- Building Radar
1.Ventract
Gone are the days when project managers and contractors would spend hours filling out SOWs or reply to long email chains to land a single bid. Ventract is the most intuitive software for contractors because of its simple 4 step process to submit bids. Ventract software makes it easier than ever to help you find and choose the best projects, grow your business, get connected to qualified and experienced professionals, save on materials, and finally increase overall efficiency.
Price: Basic-free, premium-$12.95/month, Enterprise- $24.95/month
Type of projects: Construction
Best Features: Automated bidding, project creation, access to contractor network, and more.
2.GovernmentBids.com
It’s funny how quickly time flies. It honestly feels like we were being introduced to this site just the other day! Well, you’ll be shocked to learn that that was more than two decades ago. Anyways, GovernmentBids.com is the site to visit should you feel the need to explore government contract awards and bids. If you’re not well acquainted with government projects’ bidding process, it also offers advice through newsletters and articles.
Price: State-$44/month, Federal-$73/month, Advance-$87/month
Type of projects: Procurement
Best Features: Daily bid notification, seeing winning bidder, knowing upcoming bids.
3.Construction Bid Source
With the Construction Bid Source, different contractors can advertise their companies, search and view available projects, and place Disadvantaged Business Enterprise ads. And if you wish to become a member, you can always subscribe to either the primary or standard plan.
Price: Basic-Free, Standard-$39.95/month, DBE Advertising-$349/month
Type of projects: Construction
Best Features: Provides owner contact info, daily email notifications, offers Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Ads.
4.iSqFt
ISqFt makes it easier for subcontractors to link up with vendors and general contractors by offering actionable bid data. It’s a subsidiary of ConstructConnect and has an A- rating even though it’s not BBB accredited as well. iSqFt offers easy access to the general contractors’ network, a list of private projects and an updated bidders list, auto search advanced options, estimating bidding tools, an avenue to share information.
Price: Hasn’t made pricing available on the website.
Type of projects: Private
Best Features: Offers up-to-date bidder list, has advanced auto search options, provides estimating tools.
5.Dodge Construction Central
Dodge Data & Analytics is the brains behind this bidding software. You’ll never miss a bidding opportunity as a Dodge Construction Central user because more than 5,000 projects are added daily, and they are nationwide. Moreover, if you’re the type of contractor who always wants to know what your competition is up to, you can check that “Receive Notification” box, and you’ll know everything.
Price: Gotten through Demo
Type of projects: Construction
Best Features: Access to in-depth analytics, Offers lead nationwide, Constructs market trends.
6.ConstructionWire
ConstructionWire is a construction bidding software that has made it possible for industry players to search for project managers, their companies, and even projects using three different reports. The first report is the project report, which offers free construction project leads on commercial and private construction projects. If you’re looking for detailed profiles of companies looking for qualified contractors, you can go with the second report, commonly referred to as the company report. Last but not least, we have the people report. In there, you’ll find all the information you want on key-decision makes. We’re talking about their email addresses, titles, cell phone numbers, etc.
Price: Regional- $250/month, National-depends on the number of users, Data services-provided by customer care.
Type of projects: Private Commercial
Best Features: Provides data easily missed by other websites, tracks project activities, email alerts, etc.
7.BidClerk
BidClerk has over a million active contacts and usually adds more than 400,000 projects to the website. It’s part of this list because it has powerful search features with specific metrics and a very vast network of general contractors, vendors, architects, and even government agencies. BidClerk has embraced the changes that came with technology because we’ve seen them work day in day out to make sure their users get the best experience while using the website. It also offers a mobile-friendly interface that supports project sharing and synchronization.
Price: hasn’t listed price on the website
Type of projects: construction
Best Features: email alerts, robust search metrics, users can sync project events, and uses built-in analytic tools.
8.Biddingo.com
Are you looking for a construction website that lists both private and government projects? Biddingo.com strives to make bidding easy and make suppliers easily accessible to project managers from various sectors of the economy. Take a quick look at their database, and you’ll find someone from the Healthcare sector, some good-looking guy from Crown Corporation, a nice lady from the Education field, and several other professionals. And that’s not even the best part. Some people might not know that it also caters to our neighbors in the north—the Canadians.
Price: $250/year, and $500 every two years.
Type of projects: residential and commercial construction
Best Features: easy-to-navigate interface, reflects real-time bidding projects, offers contractors bid sheets and proposals.
9.BidNet
By now, you can tell that we have construction bidding sites that only focus on government bids, those that only focus on private bids, and those that show no bias. BidNet is your go-to site if you’re only interested in government bids. Of course, that’s a bummer but let’s focus on the positives today—you’ll be working with a site that has compiled RFQs and RFPs from local, state, and federal governments.
Price: $89.95/year
Type of projects: Construction and Government
Best Features: advanced notification alert, free market analysis, automated RFP quoting, easy access to bids published by the government.
10.Merx
Adding Merx to this list was a good idea because it doesn’t connect project managers, contractors, and vendors. It also offers bidding opportunities to Canadians and thus expanding the market. So what we’re saying is, you have lots of options. You could work with organizations here or change your region and find out what Canada has to offer.
We love Merx because it usually provides buyers and sellers with more than enough information to make the right decision before bidding or accepting any bid. That includes the contract type, amount of time left to bid, what you need to do before submission, type of documents, and more.
Price: Basic-Free, Premium; Local-$25/month, Regional-$40/month, National-$75/month
Type of projects: architectural, engineering, construction
Best Features: receive notifications, eBid submissions, easy access to business intelligence data.
11.Construction Market Data
We don’t know about you, but if we were looking for a profitable project to bid on, the construction bidding site we would consider would be the type that offers more than the usual. One that caters to a vast market is user-friendly, offers alert notifications, and tracks commercial construction projects. The Construction Market Data website does all that.
Price: Not listed
Type of projects: Private Construction
Best Features: Offers construction data leads, has an integrated cloud take-off and post-bid phase for contractors and project managers.
12.Bid Express
Bid Express is also one of those companies that have been around the block. And they know what they’re doing because they’re always ahead of the curve, even when adopting new technologies.
While other companies thought securing internet bid submissions is way ahead of our time, the Research and Development department back at Bid Express was already designing an encryption technology that would take care of the problem.
Price: Zero charges for bidders
Type of projects: Construction
Best Features: Infotech Digital ID encryption technology, Infotech Express Sign Tool
13.Building Radar
Building Radar has earned its stripes, and we’re very proud of the progress it has made. Five years ago, we didn’t even know the company existed, but look at them now. They’re playing in the major leagues with companies like Ventract—the very best that the game has to offer.
Building Radar has already designed an algorithm that detects and adds different construction projects to the sites daily. And that’s not all. It uses that same information to list those projects by area so that vendors and contractors can quickly search and find gigs near them.
Price: depends on company size
Type of projects: Construction projects
Best Features: email notifications, advanced search engine, friendly user interface
If you’re serious about growing your business, especially in this 21st century, you’ll need to embrace technology and all that it has to offer. We believe a construction bidding tool is most likely the answer to most of your bidding woes. So subscribe now, and you’ll exponentially grow your business.
