As general contractors look to technology for an edge in the slowing commercial construction market, Web-based bidding programs are helping them to connecting bid information, subcontractors, and proposals. A 2008 survey by the Construction Financial Management Association found that 62% of general contractors participated in Web-based construction bidding vs. 43% in 2006.
Web-based bid invitation programs, such as iSqFt.com, SmartBidNet.com and Smartprojectnews.com, give general contractors a private, secure place to invite subcontractors and suppliers to view and bid on their projects, distribute construction documents, and generally streamline the bidding process. The leader in the industry is Cincinnati-based iSqFt with about 700 contractor customers that each pay a fee of $1,800 to $10,000 with extra fees to add users and pre-qualification tools. SmartBidNet and the recently launched Smart Project News are quickly gaining customers.
SmartBidNet: Managing subcontractors
SmartBidNet, College Station, Texas, is the brainchild of founder and president James Benham. Benham invented the program while he was a student at Texas A&M University as a replacement for fax-based subcontractor management services such as Bidfax. Unlike other programs, SmartBidNet's is aimed directly at the general contractor. It makes mundane tasks such as subcontractor bidding, RFIs, and the sharing of construction documents easier.
In SmartBidNet's simple interface, general contractors can create a “favorites” list of subcontractors organized by location, skills, federal minority status, and other criteria for an annual fee. Bidders such as subs have free, 24-hour access to project plans, specs, and other information on any project a general contractor posts to its SmartBidNet page. SmartBidNet also offers comprehensive subcontractor pre-qualification management. SmartBidNet charges by the user and starts at $4,000 a year for its service and only charges extra fees for fax communications.
SmartBidNet has 30 employees, including 17 software engineers, and releases an updated version of SmartBidNet.com every month. Some of the recent improvements to the site include an iPhone app, a pre-qualification form builder, and open XML integration.
Smart Project News: Supplying leads
Smart Project News is a recently launched online subscription service created to provide both general contractors and subcontractors with project information and leads. Users can browse thousands of commercial construction projects from parent company Reed Construction Data's North American project databases and quickly identify the jobs with the most potential. (Note: Reed Construction Data and BD+C are owned by the same parent corporation, Reed Elsevier, Inc.)
Smart Project News users can select a specific project stage—planning, bidding, post-bid, etc.—to search for project opportunities, or they can cast a wider net and search for all projects in the database. Users can also limit their searches by distance, Zip code, (e.g., “10-mile radius from Charlotte, N.C.”), project value, bid date, and owner type. You can also limit searches to prequalified and invited bidders. You can save projects you're interested in into a tab on the Smart Project News site and submit bids online. Users can also set up automated e-mail updates for projects in their area.
The application's project listings provide names and phone numbers of the entire Building Team for a post-bid project; for most projects, the service also supplies plans that can be downloaded as image files. For projects in the planning stage, Smart Project News provides an owner contact, general project information telling where the project lead was originally published, and special categories (e.g., “federal stimulus package project”).
Subscription costs for Smart Project News are determined by the user's location (state, province, or metro area) but average around $1,800 a year. Customers can also go to smartprojectnews.com and buy leads by the project through Reed Construction Data's SmartLeads service, at $150 a project. The Smart Project News service was launched in August.
“As bonding is ratcheted up we're seeing prequalification happening more often,” said SmartBidNet's Benham. “Our sales cycle has picked up as a result of that. Our customers are fighting for the work out there.”
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Architectural Visualization Rendering the Future
Three-dimensional design tools have revolutionized the way architects and engineers design buildings; in recent years, parametric modeling has enabled Building Teams to impart weight tolerances and other intelligent information to a finished design. Yet many designers say they use 3D most in the conceptual design stage, when detailed building information is not necessary and can actually encumb...
| Aug 11, 2010
Big-time BIM
As the need for new state, county, and municipal facilities keeps growing and funding for public building construction continues to shrink, state and local officials are left with two basic options: renovate dilapidated older buildings and hope for the best, or build new facilities on anemic budgets.
| Aug 11, 2010
Dotting the I in IPD
Collaboration software is going beyond just sharing files. It is being used to enable full building information modeling early in design. Two programs are enabling Building Teams to more easily share the information in BIM and use it for integrated project delivery: Bluebeam Software, which just released the newest version of its AEC-specific PDF collaboration tool; and eBuilder Enterprise, a W...
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Business Management
22. Commercial Properties Repositioned for University USE Tocci Building Companies is finding success in repositioning commercial properties for university use, and it expects the trend to continue. The firm's Capital Cove project in Providence, R.I., for instance, was originally designed by Elkus Manfredi (with design continued by HDS Architects) to be a mixed-use complex with private, market-...
| Aug 11, 2010
BIM adoption tops 80% among the nation's largest AEC firms, according to BD+C's Giants 300 survey
The nation's largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction's premier Top 50 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey. Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, half have more than 30 seats, and near...
| Aug 11, 2010
Thrown For a Loop in China
While the Bird's Nest and Water Cube captured all the TV coverage during the Beijing Olympics in August, the Rem Koolhaas-designed CCTV Headquarters in Beijing—known as the “Drunken Towers” or “Big Shorts,” for its unusual shape—is certain to steal the show when it opens next year.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: BIM/Information Technology
4. Architectural Visualization through Gaming Technology Before 3D walkthroughs for client presentations were popular, HKS manager of Advanced Technologies Pat Carmichael and his team were working to marry gaming engines with 3D building models. "What's being tasked to us more and more is not just to show design, but to show function," Carmichael said.
| Aug 11, 2010
Great Solutions: Collaboration
9. HOK Takes Videoconferencing to A New Level with its Advanced Collaboration Rooms To help foster collaboration among its 2,212 employees while cutting travel time, expenses, and carbon emissions traveling between its 24 office locations, HOK is fitting out its major offices with prototype videoconferencing rooms that are like no other in the U.
| Aug 11, 2010
BIM school, green school: California's newest high-performance school
Nestled deep in the Napa Valley, the city of American Canyon is one of a number of new communities in Northern California that have experienced tremendous growth in the last five years. Located 42 miles northeast of San Francisco, American Canyon had a population of just over 9,000 in 2000; by 2008, that figure stood at 15,276, with 28% of the population under age 18.
