To compete in today’s construction market, companies must rely on real-time field insights to continuously improve future bids. That's exactly what Backbone Infrastructure did, hence being named HCSS Construction Award Newcomer at the 2026 HCSS Users Group Meeting.
Bidding with confidence and precision
Early in their journey of adopting technology, Backbone Infrastructure discovered that winning more of the right kind of work requires absolute precision. Since implementing HeavyBid in February 2025, the company’s estimating capacity has nearly tripled, allowing Backbone to bid more frequently, more aggressively, and with greater strategic confidence.
Their bids now consistently fall within 0.2% to 5% of the lowest bidder, and nearly 50% of submitted bids have placed second this year alone (a clear signal of how refined and competitive their estimating process has become). What was once a manual, Excel-based effort led by the company owner can now be entrusted to the next generation of Backbone estimators, and the owner can fully step away from estimating to focus on high-level strategy and innovation. Technology has streamlined their organization, making it more consistent, accurate, and successful.
Turning estimates into field success
To ensure estimates translate into real-world performance, Backbone expanded its technology stack with HCSS HeavyJob. This integration allows estimating data to flow seamlessly to the field, giving superintendents and cost engineers reliable, real-time information to manage costs and production. By removing guesswork and reducing data transfer errors, Backbone has improved project control and minimized delays and overruns.
Real-time productivity tracking improves win rate
Backbone further strengthened operations by standardizing its codes to ensure consistency between operations and estimating. This means that each phase of work from HeavyBid will align with a cost code in HeavyJob, ensuring consistent reporting and performance updates from the field, and enabling more accurate estimates. With more than 20 active projects, project managers help estimators receive real-time production data to identify jobs where Backbone excels and how to improve building costs in future bids.
Access to historical bid data and job performance allows Backbone to quickly identify its biggest challenges and proactively prevent future delays. This visibility has improved how they bid new estimates and plan jobs, thereby enhancing project performance.
In less than six months, Backbone Infrastructure’s data-driven approach has drawn the attention of competitors, who are asking how they can also use HCSS to improve their win rate so quickly.
