A guide to help builders, plumbers, electricians and all other tradespeople write winning tenders and bids in the UK and secure government contracts
Written By Jason Cooney, Founder & Principal Writer
Frameworks and government contracts for tradespeople (builders, plumbers, electricians and other trades)
We often get enquiries from builders, plumbers, electricians and other building industry personnel about how to win more tenders and bids, how to apply for a framework and why they are unsuccessful. Below is a short guide on how to writing winning bids, tenders and proposals for your business. Our team of tender and bids writers have strong experience writing bids to the UK government and private sector for plumbers, builders, electricians and a number of other trades across the UK. We love helping contractors across the UK win contracts and grow their revenue streams.
Strategies to help you win
The below strategies and bid writing techniques are useful to help increase your success rates:
Tailor your bid to your audience
It’s important to tailor your bid or proposal to your audience and provide experience and references that are relevant. For example, if you are bidding for a local government contract to provide plumbing maintenance services, detail on your experience in fulfilling similar contracts is essential. This is particularly important when inputting suitable referees and contract examples as part of your submission. As a result of doing so, you are instilling confidence in the Commissioner that you are capable of successfully delivering the service.
In most bids and frameworks across the UK, you need to answer questions on Social Value. When writing a response to Social Value, it is important you localise your response and put forward local initiatives that will help the local community. Some obvious things you can talk about are:
- Employing local apprentices.
- Purchasing materials for the job or project from local suppliers.
- Supporting local charities.
It is also important to tailor your bid or proposal to the nature of the project. For example, let’s say you are tendering to provide plumbing maintenance services to a school in London. When you are putting forward your Bios for each of your team members as well as your previous experience, you will need to include experience that is similar to the tender requirements. I.e. talking about your work on previous maintenance contracts and how your personnel specialise in maintenance. This applies to all trades such as plumbers, roofers and carpenters.
Go into detail where possible to help you win
The RFP, RFQ, or other tender documentation will generally have a series of questions, some of which require a simple response, such as your business name or contact numbers, and others which will require a more detailed response.
For questions asking about experience, methodology and personnel, where you have relevant experience or a methodology to include, it’s important to go into detail. Going into detail will demonstrate that you have the right expertise, that you understand the requirements of the contract, and that you have thought through the opportunity and will allocate the appropriate resources to deliver on the contract.
For example, let’s assume you are a locksmith and the client has asked for information regarding your experience in the installation of new locking systems for a university. If you have installed locking systems for two other universities, you could include a short bullet point outlining the two universities you installed locks for. Alternatively, you could, and should go into detail about this experience and outline:
- How many locks were installed.
• Any unique challenges that arose in the project and how you overcame them.
• Outcomes of the project and the time it took you to complete the project.
• Which members of your team were involved in the project.
You do not get extra marks for including fancy words. So don’t go into unnecessary detail. However, factual, concise language talking that details your prior performance is always beneficial. In order to help you win, provide as much evidence and testimonials as possible in your submission.
Comply with requirements
It is important to comply with all requirements including the requirements for safety documentation such as ISO9001:2015 accreditation. Many trades contractors across the UK also have to be accredited under a range of schemes for quality and safety such as GasSafe, NICEIC and CHAS. Certifications need to be included in your bid if requested.
Write a compelling executive summary
The executive summary for any bid is critical. You need to not only summarise your response, but also put forward the key points of difference that set you apart from your competitors. It’s important to highlight why you should be selected for the contract and how you have the capabilities, resources and expertise to deliver on the project over the term of the contract.
Your executive summary should talk about your team, experience, key differentiators and any value added services you may offer. Take the time to make sure your executive summary is compelling, as sometimes it’s the only document the client will read in detail.
You can read more about effective bid management here.
Comply with the requirements
In a tender process you aren’t able to miss or skip anything. Whether its an insurance requirement, acknowledging you have no conflict of interest, or acknowledging the contract, you need to tick all the boxes and comply with all the requirements. We have seen a fair few companies over the years put forward quality bids and tenders and come unstuck by not answering some of the simply compliance questions. Take the time to work through the tender requirements comprehensively from start to finish.
How we can help you win your next plumbing, electrical, trade or building contract or bid
Here at Tsaks Consulting, we provide tender, proposal and bid writing communications services for businesses across the UK including in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Leeds-Bradford, Glasgow, Southampton-Portsmouth, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffield, Bristol, Belfast and Leicester.
Types of businesses we help write bids and framework applications for
We have helped businesses from a range of industries win government and private contracts and respond to PQQs and ITTs including:
Plumbers
We have helped plumbers, plumbing contractors and hydraulic contracts write bids and framework applications to win contracts across the UK. For example, we have helped write bids for boiler replacement tenders to local councils, schools and housing associations. These include fitting the boiler as well as supply and fit. Social value is critical in these bids as is adherence to safety requirements and having the right safety protocols and systems in place. Most clients are required to have Gas Safe certification.
We also have experience writing bids and tenders for plumbers for the installation of heating systems, heat pumps biomass boilers and other heating systems. These are often built within maintenance tenders.
Electricians and electrical tenders and bids
We have helped electricians submit bids, tenders and framework applications for both domestic and commercial electrical contracts. These are a mixture of both new builds and maintenance contracts. For small and medium sized electrical contractors, the increased focus by the UK Government and nearly all UK Government agencies on social value and purchasing from SMEs has brought real potential to win highly lucrative government contracts.
We have helped electricians put in bids to council, housing organisations and other agencies for a range of services including maintenance, upgrades and new construction.
Bricklayers
We have helped bricklayers compete for contracts with a broad range of public sector organisations. In addition, we have helped bricklayers write bids to building contractors for sub-contractor works.
Builders
We have helped builders of all shapes and sizes bid for work across the UK. In order to win public sector building contracts, builders need to deliver a tailored, localised response that focuses on social value. There are a number of frameworks that are great for builders looking to increase their pipeline of work.
Cabinet Makers tenders and bids
We have helped cabinet makers bid for a broad range of projects such as kitchen and laundry assembly. These are often private and public sector bids.
Carpenters bids and frameworks
Carpenters are critical for maintenance and construction works across the UK. Most of these works are small to medium projects for shire, Council and government projects. Our writers are experienced in writing carpentry bids.