Your Subcontractor Quote Collection Agent Gets Every Addendum Priced
The AgentWorks Subcontractor Quote Collection Agent makes sure every sub quote you carry on bid day includes every addendum. It sends each invitation and each addendum to the invited subs by trade, gets each one to acknowledge the latest addendum, marks quotes that do not include it, and keeps a live coverage matrix your estimator can trust. The Subcontractor Quote Collection Agent does the sending and chasing; your estimator levels the numbers and builds the bid.
What it takes off your plate
Every estimator knows bid week. Chasing subs for quotes takes over the day. The coverage matrix is a spreadsheet updated by hand. Then an addendum drops two days before bids are due, and some subs see it and some do not. On bid day, a low number comes in, and nobody can say whether it includes the revised door hardware or the added roof drains.
The cost shows up after you win. A quote that missed an addendum becomes a scope gap, and scope gaps become change order fights or margin you give away. And the estimator who should be leveling numbers is on the phone asking "did you see addendum three?"
This post is about that addendum problem. Our sibling posts cover the broader bid-day chase.
What the Subcontractor Quote Collection Agent does, step by step
The work starts with the subs and ends in a coverage matrix you can carry.
- Sends the invitation by trade. From your sub list, the agent sends bid invitations by trade through Gmail with the bid date, the scope, and a link to the documents, and texts through Twilio to subs who prefer it.
- Tracks responses. It records who will bid, who declined, and who has not answered, and follows up with the ones who are silent.
- Sends every addendum. When an addendum is issued, it sends it to every sub still bidding the affected trades the same day, with a short note on which sections changed.
- Collects acknowledgments. It asks each sub to confirm they received the addendum and will include it in their price, and follows up until they do.
- Checks each quote. When a quote comes in, it checks whether the sub listed the addenda they included. A quote that does not list the latest addendum goes back to the sub with a request to confirm, and the estimator sees it flagged.
- Keeps the coverage matrix live. It updates the matrix in Excel or Procore by trade: invited, bidding, quoted, addenda acknowledged. Trades with fewer quotes than your estimator wants get flagged early enough to invite more subs.
- Hands off the numbers. On bid day, the estimator gets each trade's quotes with addenda status shown. Leveling scope and choosing the number to carry is the estimator's call.
Where the work is recorded
An agent that cannot write down what it did is a chatbot. The Subcontractor Quote Collection Agent records its work where your team already looks.
In the CRM, each sub's contact record shows every invitation, addendum sent, acknowledgment, quote, and follow-up, in order. When a sub says they never got an addendum, the record shows when it went out and whether they confirmed it.
In the bid file, the coverage matrix shows each trade's status and addenda acknowledgments, and each quote is filed with its date and the addenda it includes. The next morning the estimator opens one view and sees coverage by trade, which subs have not acknowledged the latest addendum, and which quotes need a second look.
What your people do instead
Your estimators spend bid week on the numbers and the strategy: leveling scope, checking quantities, and talking with the owner about the job. Your chief estimator talks with the subs you want to build relationships with, instead of calling everyone about addendum receipts. Winning the right job at the right number is what keeps clients coming back.
The AgentWorks Subcontractor Quote Collection Agent keeps the invitations, addenda, and follow-ups moving around them. For other parts of the business, read how to deploy the Quantity Takeoff Agent and get your estimator back on bid strategy, how a Change Order Agent prices the change and chases the signature, and how to deploy the Daily Reports Agent.
One next step
Bid-day quotes may not be where your company loses the most. The free Industry Assessment shows which workflow an agent should take first in your business, and the construction industry page lays out every agent built for contractors like you.
See where the Subcontractor Quote Collection Agent would start in your construction business.
I'm Jackie, the Construction ambassador here. The free Industry Assessment reads your website and asks how calls, follow-ups and records happen today, then shows the first workflow worth handing to an agent like this one — and what your team gets back. Leave your email and I'll send the link.
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