The “Hand-off” is the most vulnerable moment in a project lifecycle. It is the transition from the Pre-Construction phase (where the budget was built) to the Construction phase (where the money is actually spent).
If your pre-construction data lives in a different system than your construction budget—or if it’s trapped in a series of email threads—the “Hand-off” results in significant information loss. The project manager in the field shouldn’t have to guess which bid version the estimator used to build the budget.
Many GCs “start fresh” once a project begins. They open a new spreadsheet or a different software and begin re-typing the numbers.
The goal is a Seamless Transition. Your bid is your budget.
Bid Bench ensures that the data moves with the project:
To move from the “Sales” mindset to the “Operations” mindset, your firm must institutionalize three specific actions during the transition phase.
The estimator may have negotiated a “side-bar” agreement with a sub that isn’t explicitly clear on the face of the proposal. During the handoff, the PM must review the accepted bid and cross-reference it with the project specifications. This ensures that the PM isn’t surprised three weeks later when a sub says, “I didn’t include the haul-off for the debris.”
In many cases, the subcontractor has spent weeks talking to the estimator. Now, they must answer to the PM. This transition can cause friction if not managed. A formal email or a quick site walk involving both the estimator and the PM ensures that the sub knows who the new “point of contact” is for change orders and scheduling.
Allowances are the “landmines” of a construction budget. If the estimator carried a $10,000 allowance for tile, the PM needs to know if that was based on a specific selection or just a historical average. Knowing the “logic” behind the allowance allows the PM to guide the client’s selections more effectively to stay within the budget.
In construction, information has a “half-life.” The longer data sits in an inbox or a static folder without being processed into the active budget, the less useful it becomes.
If a PM has to dig through a “Sent” folder to find an RFI (Request for Information) that was answered six weeks ago, they are wasting high-value management time. Worse, if they can’t find it, they might make a field decision that contradicts the architect’s intent, leading to expensive rework. By centralizing the data intake in a system like Bid Bench, you eliminate “Information Decay” because the data is permanently tied to the project record, searchable and accessible instantly from the field.
Q: Should the Project Manager be involved in the final bidding phase? A: Ideally, yes. Having the PM review the final bids before they are awarded provides a “second set of eyes” on the scope. They often catch logistical issues (like site access or storage requirements) that an office-based estimator might miss.
Q: How do I handle a bid that arrives after the project has started? A: This happens frequently with late-stage trades like flooring or landscaping. With an integrated system, you simply forward the new bid to the project folder, and it replaces your “Allowance” line item. This keeps your variance report accurate in real-time.
Q: What is the most common handoff mistake? A: Not sharing the “Assumptions” list. Every budget is built on assumptions (e.g., “We assumed we could reuse the existing subfloor”). If the PM doesn’t know what those assumptions were, they won’t know when a site condition has triggered a valid Change Order.
Finish pre-construction with a plan.
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