# Subcontractor bid preference - BidMail



## SoCalGC (Apr 7, 2014)

I am a commercial general contractor trying to better organize my bidding and estimating process. Our current process is an excel list of subcontractors and inviting subcontractors to bid 1-by-1 through individual emails. These emailed bid invitations typically include dropbox links from which my subs can download the drawings. This is a time consuming process and is prone to error when new drawings are issued and I have to manually email each sub notifying them of the change and making sure they didn't overlook the email.

I have been looking to simply this bidding/estimating process through technology, specifically either BidMail or ShareFile. They are comparatively priced at about $75 to $120 per month. Supposedly both services simply the bid invitation process and allow me to track whether my invited subs have downloaded the drawings. I am curious if anyone has had experience with either product. I am also interested in the subcontractors point of view for ease of use. Any info would be appreciated.


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## gfourth (Sep 12, 2014)

We're on the sub side, quite a few GCs use bidmail in our area. It's pretty straight forward, we get ITB, with links to access/download project docs.

Another one I like is isqft. Doesn't seem like it gained too much traction though.


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## T-Hussy (Mar 8, 2012)

Why not try a full management software that has the same bidding qualities that you're talking about and integrates those numbers into the rest of the job? I currently use BuilderTrend and it's the same price range you mentioned with the bid stuff.


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