BID & TENDER WRITING · CONSTRUCTION

Win the work.
Skip the 9pm paperwork.

If you run a subcontracting firm, the person writing your PQQs, tender answers and accreditation renewals is probably you — after hours, from a folder of old bids.

We take it off your plate. You talk, we write, you submit.

9/10SCORED
What we do — a scored quality answer
"Describe how you will manage health and safety during delivery of the works, including how you will ensure the competence of your workforce." (500 words — scored /10)

Site leadership and accountability. Health and safety on this package will be owned by a named individual: our working foreman, who holds SSSTS and has led masonry gangs on three occupied-site schemes in the last two years…

Managing the risks specific to this project. Three risks stand out on this scheme. First, work at height across three storeys: we will coordinate scaffold loading and handover inspections through your permit system, with daily pre-use checks recorded by our foreman. Second, the live public footpath on the north elevation…

Named roles. Real tickets. This site, not any site. Evidence an assessor can check. That's what moves a 6 to a 9.
WHAT WE WRITE

Four documents. All of them, all recycling the same facts.

Everything the industry throws at you is one of these. Build the underlying material once and every submission afterwards is assembly, not creation.

PQQ / SQ

Pre-Qualification / Selection Questionnaire

The "prove you're a legitimate firm" stage: insurance, accounts, health and safety policy, environmental controls, quality procedures, and examples of relevant contracts from the last three years.

For construction, this increasingly means the Common Assessment Standard — the Build UK standard that replaced PAS 91 after PPN 03/24 withdrew it. Version 4 added a building safety section.

Passing it doesn't win you anything. It qualifies you to submit a full tender — which is exactly why the tender itself has to be good.

What we do with it

Write your standard answers properly, once — company overview, policy summaries, and your past contracts turned into short, relevant, evidenced stories rather than a list of job names. Then every future questionnaire draws from it.

ITT

Invitation to Tender

The actual bid for a specific job, in two halves: your price, and written quality answers scored against criteria the buyer publishes in the document.

This is where contracts are genuinely won and lost. Two firms can price within a percent of each other and the written answers decide it — which is why most subcontractors lose on writing, not on workmanship.

Assessors mark against a structure. Give them that structure, with named roles, real tickets and evidence they could check, and the marks become easy to award.

What we do with it

Draft every scored answer against the published criteria, written for that site and that job — not recycled. First draft back within 72 hours. You review, we adjust, you submit.

RAMS

Risk Assessments & Method Statements

How you'll carry out the job safely, step by step, written per job and tied to your duties under CDM 2015. Legally required — no RAMS, no site access.

Most firms have a folder of old ones being lightly edited and resubmitted, which principal contractors spot immediately and reject.

One honest limit: the safety content has to come from you. It's your legal duty and your site knowledge. We're the pen, not your safety advisor.

What we do with it

Take your method — how you actually intend to do the work — and write it up clearly, in the structure principal contractors expect, so it reads as site-specific because it is.

Accreditations

CHAS · Constructionline · SMAS · Builders Profile

The annual badges. Holding them means buyers don't re-check your safety credentials from scratch every time you bid — which is why they're worth having, and why renewing them is yet more form-filling.

Prequalification information is typically valid for around twelve months, and high-risk data like insurance needs updating more often than that.

What we do with it

Keep your profile current and consistent with everything else you submit, so renewals stop being a scramble and your answers don't contradict each other across platforms.

WHO THIS IS FOR

Subcontractors who bid for work — and write the bids themselves

If a PQQ lands and the answer to "who's writing this?" is you, your QS, or your office manager at the weekend, we're built for you.

A good fit

  • Brickwork, groundworks, roofing, refurbishment, general building, M&E
  • Roughly 5–50 people
  • Chasing packages from main contractors, or bidding direct for council, academy trust, housing association and NHS work
  • No in-house bid team

Probably not for you

  • Sole traders working private domestic jobs
  • Firms with a dedicated bid or work-winning team already
  • Anyone wanting a guaranteed win. Nobody honest can sell you that
PRICES

Fixed prices, published

Most bid consultancies quote day rates and won't tell you the number until they've had you on a call. Here's ours, up front.

ONE-OFF

Your Bid Library

£1,950
ONE-OFF · YOURS TO KEEP

One phone call plus the paperwork you already have, turned into a polished master pack. Every future bid becomes assembly instead of a blank page.

  • Company overview and standard answers
  • Past projects written up properly
  • Policy and accreditation summaries
PER JOB

Live Bid Writing

from £750
PER SUBMISSION

Forward us the PQQ, SQ or ITT. We draft the scored quality answers — tailored to that job, that site, that scoring criteria. You review, approve and submit.

  • First draft within 72 hours
  • Written to the published criteria
  • Revised until you'd put your name on it
MOST FIRMS START HERE

The Bundle

£2,500
LIBRARY + YOUR NEXT LIVE BID

The full setup, then your next real submission written and out the door — so you see the thing working, not just sitting in a folder.

  • Everything in the Bid Library
  • Your next live submission written
  • Saves £200 against buying separately
Founding client rate: we're building our first case studies, so the next two firms get the full bundle for £1,750 in exchange for an honest testimonial. When they're gone, they're gone.
HOW IT WORKS

Three steps, and one hour of your time

You know the work. We know what an assessor is looking for. That's the whole division of labour.

1

One-hour call

You talk about the firm and your jobs. You send over whatever you already have — insurances, accreditations, a few past projects. That's all we need to start.

2

We write

You get a draft to review. We adjust until you're happy to put your name on it. Nothing goes out that you haven't approved.

3

You submit

And every bid after this one starts from your library instead of from scratch. The second submission takes a fraction of the time.

SEE THE WRITING FIRST

Don't take our word for it — read one

We'll send you a full worked example: a complete tender quality answer, plus a breakdown of exactly why it scores. Judge the writing yourself before you spend anything.

Ask for the sample
  • A full 500-word answer — the real thing, not an extract
  • Why it scores — the four things assessors mark against
  • No obligation, no call required — we'll email it over
QUESTIONS

The things everybody asks

Straight answers, including the ones that don't flatter us.

Can you guarantee we'll win?
No — and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. Too much sits outside the writing: your price, your capacity, who else bid, and what the buyer decides matters most on the day. What we can promise is that the writing will never be the reason you lose one.
What do you actually need from us?
One hour on the phone, and the documents you already have — insurance certificates, accreditations, and enough detail about a few past jobs that we can write them up properly. That's it. You don't need to prepare anything.
How quickly can you turn something around?
A live bid: first draft within 72 hours of you sending it over. A full bid library: about a week. If you've got a deadline this month, ring us and we'll tell you straight whether it's doable rather than take your money and hope.
Do you know our trade?
Not the way you do — and we won't pretend otherwise. You know the groundworks; we know what a bid assessor is looking for. You give us the technical facts about how you work; we turn them into answers that score. That division of labour is the whole service.
We're not fully accredited or insured yet. Can we still bid?
Usually, yes — and this stops more small firms bidding than anything else. You generally don't need cover in place before bidding: a broker's letter confirming the cover will be placed on award is normally accepted. You will need Employers' Liability (minimum £5m) if you employ anyone. Firms talk themselves out of work they were eligible for.
Isn't PAS 91 the standard for this?
Not any more. BSI withdrew PAS 91, and PPN 03/24 (March 2024) directed buyers to the Common Assessment Standard instead — the Build UK standard, now on Version 4 with a building safety section. Plenty of people still say "PQQ" out of habit, which is fine. But the standard behind it has changed, and answers written to the old one look dated.
Why you, and not an established bid consultancy?
Honestly? If you want a firm with twenty years of framework experience and a team of specialists, go and get one — they're good, and they charge £500–700 a day for it. We're faster, we're a fixed price you can see before you call, and you deal with the person doing the writing. For a subcontractor who'd never have hired a consultancy in the first place, that's the point.
What happens if we don't like the work?
Don't pay the balance. It's 50% up front and 50% on delivery, and if what we hand over isn't up to standard, the second half doesn't get invoiced. We'd rather fix it than argue about it.
STRAIGHT TERMS

No retainers, no lock-in, no surprises

Small firms have been burned by consultants before. Here's the deal in plain English.

50% to start

Half on signing, half on delivery. No monthly retainer, no minimum term, no auto-renewal.

Don't like it, don't pay

If the work isn't up to standard, don't pay the balance. We'd rather fix it than argue about it.

The library is yours

You keep it, in a format you can edit. If you never call us again, you're still better off than you were.

One honest note: we write your bids — nobody can promise you'll win them. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something. What we can promise is that the writing will never be the reason you lose one.

Got a deadline coming?

Ring us, or send the tender over and we'll tell you straight whether we can help before the closing date.

Send me the sample answer