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Do I have to create an estimate before creating a bid package?

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Do I Have to Create an Estimate Before Creating a Bid Package?

Short Answer

Yes. An estimate is required. When you create a bid package, the estimate is a required field, so you can’t save a bid package without linking it to one.

This keeps every bid tied to a defined scope. The estimate sets your scope of work, quantities, and cost structure, and the bid package pulls its line items straight from it, so every bidder prices the same scope.

New to bid packages? Watch: How to Create and Send Bid Packages

How the Estimate Drives the Whole Workflow

The estimate does more than feed the bid package. Its line items carry through every step from bidding to purchasing:

  1. Build the estimate. Define your scope, quantities, and costs as line items.
  2. Create the bid package. Pull line items from the estimate into the bid package.
  3. Collect bids. Vendors and subcontractors price each line item.
  4. Award the bid. The winning vendor or subcontractor is assigned to those line items in the estimate.
  5. Approve the estimate. A project is created from the approved estimate.
  6. Create POs and sub-contracts. The Procurement tab groups the estimate’s line items by assigned vendor or subcontractor, so you can create purchase orders and sub-contracts in a few clicks.

Estimate → Bid Package → Bids → Award → Approved Estimate → Project → Procurement → POs and Sub-Contracts

Why This Matters

  • Bidders get consistent scope. Everyone prices the same line items from the same estimate.
  • No duplicate entry. You enter line items once, and they carry from the estimate to the bid package to the purchasing documents.
  • Comparisons are accurate. Line-item pricing lets you compare bidders item by item, not just by their totals.
  • Purchasing is faster. Awarded line items are already grouped by vendor or subcontractor and ready to become POs or sub-contracts.

Best Practice: Use the Right Item Type

The item type you choose in the estimate decides which purchasing document the item turns into later:

Item type Use it for Becomes a
Material / Equipment (assigned to a vendor) Materials and rental equipment Purchase order
Subcontractor (assigned to a subcontractor) Work you subcontract out, and nothing else Sub-contract

If you set up item types correctly in the estimate, Procurement can sort everything into the right document without cleanup later.

Summary

You can’t create a bid package without an estimate, because it’s a required field. Build your estimate first. It is the source for your bid package, your bid comparisons, your project, and your POs and sub-contracts.

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