When a General Contractor is overwhelmed with paperwork, the common instinct is to “hire help.” Often, this means looking for a Virtual Assistant (VA) or an administrative clerk to handle bid intake and data entry.
However, from a clinical business perspective, hiring a human to perform clerical data entry is often the least efficient use of capital.
While a VA can help, they introduce new variables:
One of the most significant liabilities of relying on an administrative person for bid management is Turnover. Administrative roles, especially Virtual Assistants, have notoriously high turnover rates.
When your “system” for bidding lives inside a person’s head, you are at risk every day. If that VA quits, they take their knowledge of your project files, your subcontractor relationships, and your specific folder structures with them.
The Re-Training Cycle:
This cycle is expensive and draining. In contrast, software never quits. It doesn’t get a better job offer. The “Training” you do for a system like Bid Bench is permanent. Once your templates and projects are set up, they are there forever, providing a stable foundation that doesn’t walk out the door.
Software like Bid Bench provides the same utility as an administrative assistant but at a fraction of the cost.
If you are going to hire a person, hire them for Technical or Sales Value. Hire someone who can walk a job site, negotiate with subs, or close a client. Use software to handle the clerical tasks like bid logging and document storage.
Invest in systems, not just staff.
Bid Bench provides the administrative power of a full-time assistant for a micro-SaaS price. Start your free trial at app.bidbench.com/signup.