“What does this job really cost us, what margin can the market bear, and how do we present the commercial response so it scores?”
What it is
A priced, complete and competitive commercial submission for a tender they are bidding.
Cost build-up from your own rates, margin and risk scenarios, and the pricing schedule and commercial narrative in the tender's format.
When clients call us
An SME bidding government or corporate work without internal commercial capability, or a business that keeps losing on the commercial section.
What you receive
Completed pricing schedules in the tender's required format
Cost model workbook, unlocked
Compliance matrix
Commercial narrative sections
Pricing recommendation with margin scenarios
What we’ll need from you
A one-page checklist comes with the engagement letter, with a private page to upload everything. The main items:
Complete tender documentation including all schedules and addenda
Scope of works and specifications
The client's cost base: labour rates, overhead rates, equipment rates, materials pricing
Historical project costs for comparable work
Current margin expectations and pricing policy
Resource availability over the delivery period
Subcontractor or supplier quotes where applicable
Not included
Does not include technical or methodology responses unless separately scoped, does not include lodgement (the client lodges, always), and does not guarantee any outcome.
What it can look like
Representative example
A civil contractor with 40 staff · Tender Pricing and Commercial Response
Winning a $2.4m tender at a price that made money
The business was winning council work but its margins were thin, and a $2.4m road rehabilitation tender was due in twelve days.
$146,000Margin protected on this job
8.5% (not 3%)Final margin
$2,500Fee for the work
Margin on the $2.4m job
Usual pricing method3%
Priced from the cost build-up (final result)8.5%
Up 5.5 points
Where the gap was
$146,000 of traffic management and plant standby was missing from the usual price, which would have cut the margin from a 9% target to under 3%.
Insight
A cost build-up from the contractor's own rates showed traffic management and plant standby had been underpriced by $146,000 in its usual method, which would have taken the margin on this job from a target of 9% to under 3%.
Advice
Price the risk items properly, show the council the traffic management staging as a value point in the commercial response, and bid 3% higher than the old method would have.
Opportunity
$146,000 of margin protected on one job, and a pricing tool the estimator can reuse on the next tender.
Results
The tender was won at the higher price, and the job finished at an 8.5% margin against the 3% the old pricing would have produced.
Representative example: a composite scenario with narrative-driven figures, showing the kind of result this work is designed to produce. It is not a specific client engagement and the outcome is not a guarantee. A full case study walk-through is available on request.
Common questions
How much does tender pricing support cost?
From $2,500 plus GST ($2,750 including GST) per bid, timed to the tender close.
Do you write the whole tender?
No. The service covers the cost build-up, margin and risk pricing, the pricing schedule in the tender's format and the commercial response. Technical and methodology sections stay with your team.
How quickly can you turn a bid around?
Work is aligned to the tender close date. The earlier you get in touch after the tender is released, the more options there are to test the price.
