Pre-Construction Software

Hey, I'm Josh over at HCSS. Today what we're going to do is we're going to look at the Pre-Construction portion of HeavyBid. What Pre-Construction does for you is it helps you review your estimates, it helps you look at your pipeline, and it also helps you determine your win versus loss rate. The first thing that we're going to do is we're going to look at the pipeline, right? So in this report, I can see how all of my estimates are categorized by status. Now I can see my awarded, my currently estimating, and my perspective work. Now within each one of these, I can see who are the estimators that are working on these, as well as what the estimates are. Now I can dive into those even deeper if I want more details. But the idea here is I can look at a very high level view, and I can see how many estimates do we have out, and what are we thinking about estimating on. Now the next thing that we're going to do is we're going to go ahead, and we're going to look at our win versus loss rate. Now in this report, what I can do is I can look at all of the estimates we've submitted over the past few months, and by hovering over a specific month, I can see how many we have won, how many we have lost, I can look at our hit ratio, which is essentially our win rate, and I can also look at how far away we were from our load bid, or how much money we left on the table. Now I can look into specific estimates if I want to, but at a bird eye view, I can see very easily how much are we winning and how much are we losing. The next thing we're going to do is we're going to go and review one of our estimates that we currently have active. On the screen, what I'm doing is I'm looking at a specific estimate that I am working on, and I am reviewing it compared to all of the estimates that I have done in the past. Now, what this does for me is it shows me different KPIs, or key performance indicators, ways that I can measure myself. In the left-hand side, you're going to see a graph here, or a pie chart, and in 25 of those ways, those KPIs, I am estimating normally. In 12 ways, I have something that seems a little suspect within my estimate that I might want to get my eyes on. And in 3 ways, I definitely have some warning signs here for things that I want to review. On the right-hand side, it categorizes those items for me by labor, equipment, materials, subcontractors, as well as markup, or any other KPIs I want to add. Down low, I can see each one of those broken down for me and color-coded as well. So in this one item, I can see numerically and graphically how I am compared to my normal estimate. And in this instance for markup, I can see I am having way higher of a markup than normal. So I might want to go back and change that to make sure that we win the bid. In summary, what Pre-Construction can do for you is it can help you review your pipeline, it can help you look at your win versus loss rate, as well as review any of your estimates, and that is just scratching the surface. Feel free to give us a call, chat, or request a custom demonstration on our website if you have any questions about this or how to better improve your workbook. Thanks.

Some of our 3,000+ HeavyBid customers

A simple way for estimating teams to manage prospective and upcoming work

Bid on the right work

Track all of your project opportunities in one place, using data-driven insights to choose the best projects worth pursuing. By leveraging features like historical trends, KPI analysis, and win probability, you’ll save time while maximizing bid success.

Eliminate double-entry

Automatically transfer project data from HeavyBid Pre-Construction into HCSS’s estimating solution, HeavyBid, to streamline the estimating process.

Speed up communication

Set up a shared workspace where everyone, no matter where they are, can stay up-to-date with the entire project pipeline from prospective to current projects. Use integrated calendars, dashboards, and reports to keep your team aligned on key dates, project status, and valuable estimate insights.

Project tracking
Contact management

Project tracking

Track all projects from prospective to upcoming work in real-time, gaining total visibility into your pipeline to make smarter, faster bidding decisions.

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Contact management

Organize, track, and integrate contact information seamlessly, helping you strengthen relationships and gain valuable insights for better bid performance.

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(bright music intro) - So when Rogers Group made the switch from the previous competing estimating company to HeavyBid, and now with bolting on Precon, the workflow is so simple, it's so user friendly. We'll set up jobs that we know are coming down the pipeline, get those set up into perspective work, make estimating assignment tasks right there, and we can go and see the entire life cycle of the job. So from pipeline, assigning the estimator. It's on the bid schedule. We won the job, we've budgeted the job. It's in HeavyJob now, and now we can link that project from Precon to HeavyJob. And as an estimator to be able to go back and kind of keep track of your baby and check in every once in a while to see how that job is doing, it's really neat. (gentle bright music)

Since making the switch to HeavyBid and adding Pre-Con, the process is so simple and user-friendly.

- Robert Burrill, Rogers Group

(bright music) - When we bid a project in HeavyBid, we transfer that project to HeavyJob, and then we're able to obviously, build that work and track our actual cost, and run our daily production planning reports and our cost reports. And we rotate that back into HeavyBid. And as we are bidding similar projects for similar clients and similar markets, and similar crews, we study that data and that data really helps us become more accurate at the bid table. And it also helps us become better, improved in the field as we can take that data and share it with our field folks, and obviously, analyze that in ways to improve. So, that's far and away the most influential way from my perspective, how those products have helped us. (gentle music)

That data helps us be more accurate at the bid table.

- Nick Young, Kwest Group

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Share your business headaches

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Frequently asked questions

Can HeavyBid Pre-Construction integrate with other HCSS products?

Yes, integrations are possible with HeavyBid and HeavyJob that allow HeavyBid Pre-Construction to send and receive data. For example:

Historical estimate data: Once estimates have been synced or archived, Estimate History allows for the comparison of historical and active estimate cost data for activities that have the same historical activity code or description.

Jobs: Jobs in HCSS’s job costing and project management solution, HeavyJob, can be linked to projects in HeavyBid Pre-Construction. This allows business development professionals and estimators to quickly check the financial status of active jobs before discussing an upcoming opportunity with an owner or client.

What is HeavyBid Pre-Construction software?

HeavyBid Pre-Construction software is designed to track your project pipeline from initial lead to awarded contract. It serves as the single source of truth for your backlog, enabling your team to organize opportunities, evaluate risks, and manage pre-construction activities in a single intuitive platform.

How does HeavyBid Pre-Construction integrate with HeavyBid Desktop?

HeavyBid Pre-Construction and HeavyBid Desktop are built to work in tandem to eliminate manual data entry and ensure a seamless handoff from sales to estimating. Once a project is ready for a detailed bid, the project data flows directly from Pre-Construction into HeavyBid Desktop, allowing your estimators to start pricing the work immediately without re-typing project details.

Can I use preconstruction software for high-level "Go/No-Go" decision making?

Yes. HeavyBid Pre-Construction provides the visibility needed to perform rigorous Go/No-Go analysis before committing valuable estimating resources. By comparing upcoming opportunities against your optimal project profile and resource capacity, you can ensure your team is only pursuing the bids with the highest probability of success and profitability.

Does HeavyBid Pre-Construction help with subcontractor and vendor management?

The software includes robust contact management capabilities that allow you to track relationships and interactions with subcontractors and vendors across your entire pipeline. This centralization helps you identify preferred partners and ensures that your project teams are always working with the most reliable and qualified firms for every bid.

How does the software help track my company’s bid to hit ratio?

HeavyBid Pre-Construction automatically captures win-loss data for every project in your pipeline, providing real-time insights into your bid to hit ratio. You can break these metrics down by owner, project type, or estimator to identify exactly where you are most competitive and where you may need to adjust your bidding strategy.

Can multiple teams collaborate on a pursuit at once?

Absolutely. The platform is designed for real-time collaboration, allowing business development, estimating, and executive teams to access the same project data simultaneously. This shared visibility ensures that everyone stays aligned on project status, deadlines, and key requirements throughout the entire pursuit phase.

How does automated project tracking improve my pipeline?

Automated tracking replaces fragmented spreadsheets with a dynamic, real-time view of your upcoming workload and bid schedule. By centralizing all prospective work in one place, the system ensures that no high-value leads are overlooked and provides the data-driven insights needed to manage your pipeline for long-term growth.

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Once you fill out the form, we’ll connect with you to answer your questions and help you decide if HCSS is the right software for you. Then, we’ll create a personalized demo tailored to your needs to show how HeavyBid Pre-Construction can help solve your most pressing business problems around estimating and bidding.