How many bids can one estimator turn in a week?

On mid-size commercial work, one full-time estimator realistically turns one to two complete bids a week. The capacity math with your own numbers, where the hours go, what each bid costs once you count the losses, and three ways to bid more without hiring.

Paul Maloney
Founder of Skoper. Licensed general contractor.
5 min read

By Paul Maloney. Founder of Skoper. Licensed general contractor.

On mid-size commercial work, one full-time estimator realistically turns one to two complete bids a week. A typical bid takes 15 to 40 hours, and only about 30 of the 40 hours in a week go to estimating. To bid more without hiring, cut the hours each bid takes, mostly the takeoff and the first pass, and say no earlier to work you won't win.

I run a GC and bid real jobs. The question I hear from sub owners isn't "how do I bid faster." It's "why can't my estimator keep up with the invites." The answer is usually arithmetic nobody has written down.

The capacity math

Do this with your own numbers. It takes five minutes.

  1. Hours actually estimating. Start at 40. Take out meetings, PM questions, chasing supplier quotes, follow-up on old bids. Most estimators end up with 25 to 32.
  2. Hours per bid. Pull your last 10 bids and estimate how long each one took, start to submit. Industry guides put a mid-size commercial bid at 15 to 40 hours (Get Ninja) and a $500K commercial retrofit at 20 to 30 (ConstructionBids.ai).
  3. Divide. 30 hours ÷ 20 hours a bid = 1.5 bids a week, or about 6 a month. Get Ninja's own worked example lands in the same place: 32 estimating hours and a 20-hour average bid is about 1.6 bids started a week.
  4. Compare to your invites. If you get 15 qualified invites a month and can finish 6, you're turning down 9 jobs by default, usually the ones that arrive late in the week.

Where the hours go

On a 20-hour bid, the split usually looks something like this. Check it against your own bids.

Step Typical share Notes
Reading the set and finding your scope 15-20% Specs, Division 01, details, addenda
Takeoff 35-45% The biggest block on most trades
Pricing labor and material 15-20% Production rates, supplier quotes
Scope letter, exclusions, proposal 10-15% Often rushed on bid day
Addenda and rework 5-15% Lands in the last 48 hours

These shares are a working assumption from how bids get built, not a measured study. The point is where most of the time goes: reading and measuring, before any judgment is involved.

What a bid costs you

ConstructConnect works through a mid-size commercial bid: 25 lead-estimator hours, 12 support hours and 6 hours of plan review and RFIs, about $3,500 in direct labor (ConstructConnect).

Now add the hit rate. Published benchmarks for subs run about 4:1 to 6:1 on private bid work, 7:1 to 11:1 on public work and 3:1 to 4:1 on negotiated work (SubCM). At 5:1, each job you win carries the cost of five bids, about $17,500 in estimating labor before you've ordered any material.

That's why bid volume alone doesn't fix the backlog. Each extra bid costs the same hours, and most of them lose.

Three ways to turn more bids without hiring

  1. Say no in the first 15 minutes. Read the invite, the bid date, the GC and the scope before anyone opens a takeoff. Pass on work outside your size, your area, or with a GC who never awards you. (More on choosing which bids to chase on the Skoper blog.)
  2. Track hours per bid, by job type. One column in your bid log: hours. After a month you'll see which job types eat a week and win nothing.
  3. Cut the reading and measuring, keep the judgment. The takeoff and the first read of the set are the biggest blocks of time and the least judgment. That's the part software can now take a first pass at.

Where AI fits

Skoper reads every page of the plan set you upload and returns a priced estimate in minutes, a scope of work with inclusions and exclusions, and an Assumptions & Sources sheet that names the drawing sheet or schedule each takeoff row came from.

Your estimator's hours move from measuring to reviewing: check the quantities that matter, adjust the production rates to your crews, write the exclusions. Every hour that moves from measuring to review goes straight back into the capacity math above. Time your own review on a job you already know, so the number you plan with is yours.

The judgment stays with your estimator: which jobs to chase, what your crews actually produce, what you're carrying and what you're not.

Try it on a job you already bid

Pick a bid from last month, run it through Skoper, and compare it to your own number and your own hours.

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Frequently asked questions

How many bids should an estimator do per week?

On mid-size commercial work, one to two complete bids a week is realistic for one full-time estimator. Small, repetitive scopes can run higher; large or complex bids can take one to three weeks each.

How long does it take to prepare a construction bid?

Industry guides put a mid-size commercial bid at roughly 15 to 40 hours of estimator time, and ground-up commercial and multi-family work at 30 to 60 hours (Get Ninja). Large or complex bids take longer and often a team.

What's a good bid hit ratio for a subcontractor?

Published benchmarks for subs run about 4:1 to 6:1 on private bid work, 7:1 to 11:1 on public work and 3:1 to 4:1 on negotiated work (SubCM). George Hedley's survey of more than 2,000 contractors found fewer than 10% knew and tracked theirs (Construction Metrics).

How can an estimator bid more jobs without working longer?

Pass on poor-fit work early, track hours per bid by job type, and hand the takeoff and first read of the set to software so the estimator's time goes into review and pricing judgment.

Related reading: How long should a construction takeoff take?

Sources

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