If you are a General Contractor doing between $1M and $15M in revenue, your “document management system” probably looks something like this:
This “organized chaos” works when you are building one house a year. But when you are juggling three custom builds and a major remodel, the chaos starts to cost you money.
The wrong cabinet specs get installed. The framer builds off the old set of prints. The client asks for a document you swore you saved, but you can’t find it.
For small GCs, the answer isn’t buying expensive, enterprise-level software like Procore that takes six months to learn. The answer is simple, construction-specific document management.
Most small GCs start with Google Drive or Dropbox. These are great tools for storing photos, but they are terrible for managing a construction process.
1. No Context for Subcontractors When you share a Dropbox link with a plumber, they see a list of file names. They don’t know which one is the priority, or how those plans relate to the scope of work you are asking them to bid on.
2. Version Control Nightmares In construction, plans change. Clients change their minds; engineers find issues. In a generic file folder, it is far too easy for a subcontractor to download a file on Monday, miss the update on Wednesday, and build the wrong thing on Friday.
3. It’s Disconnected from the Budget Your documents (plans, specs, selections) drive your budget. When your files live in one app and your budget lives in an Excel spreadsheet, you create a disconnect. You end up manually checking to ensure the budget line item matches the PDF specification.
You don’t need a complex Document Controller. You need a Single Source of Truth.
A proper document management strategy for a mid-sized residential builder should do three things:
At Bid Bench, we designed our document management specifically for GCs who are growing out of Excel and Google Drive but don’t want the bloat of big enterprise software.
We believe that your files should live where your money lives.
Instead of having a folder for “Project A” in Dropbox and a spreadsheet for “Project A” in Excel, Bid Bench combines them. You upload your proposal PDFs, site plans, and product specs directly into the project budget.
We know you hate data entry. That is why we built AI features that help you manage the flow of documents. When you upload a subcontractor’s proposal PDF, our system helps you organize it so you aren’t manually renaming files or digging through folders later.
When you are ready to get pricing, you don’t need to attach five heavy PDF files to an email and hope it doesn’t bounce.
With Bid Bench, you create an Invitation to Bid (ITB) and attach the relevant plans directly from your cloud storage. The subcontractor gets a clean, professional link. They see exactly what you need them to see—no more, no less.
The cost of software is nothing compared to the cost of tearing out a wall because the framer didn’t have the revised print.
If you are ready to stop searching through your email inbox and start running your projects with a Single Source of Truth, it’s time to upgrade your process.
Try Bid Bench Today – The simple, specialized tool for GCs who want to build, not just manage files.