Article
Three offers, three different jobs
Why are offers not comparable even when submitted for the same line item, and how is comparability decided at the request stage?
Whether offers can be compared is decided not at evaluation, but when the request is written. An interior wall painting line item of 120 m² can draw three significantly different prices from three bidders. The owner’s question is then not which offer is cheapest, but whether the cheaper one is genuinely better or simply priced something else.
A traditional spreadsheet does not answer this. The three numbers sit in the same column, yet they may not refer to the same work.
What is missing from the line item?
‘Interior wall painting, 120 m²’ looks like a precise line item at first glance. Pricing it, however, requires details it does not contain. Ceiling height determines whether scaffolding is needed. The number of coats changes labour time and material needs. Surface condition, access and masking also affect the price.
What the request does not state, the bidder fills in with their own assumptions. One bidder assumes a low ceiling and one coat, another scaffolding and two coats, a third something in between. Each offer may be correct according to its own assumption.
The difference shows in the format too: one offer itemises material costs, another states a single sum, and the third assumes a different paint quality. At that point the owner is no longer comparing, but interpreting.
When the cheaper offer becomes more expensive later
The lowest total is an advantage only until its contents become clear. If it turns out after selection that scaffolding was not included, or that the second coat counts as extra work, the price rises through modifications and new clarification rounds. The owner bears the cost, usually after the choice has been made.
Clarification is not mere administration either: questions and answers run in separate email threads, and it is hard to track which bidder answered which scope.
Comparability is decided at the request stage
Offers can be placed side by side only if what they respond to was identical when the request went out. If a line item is too broad, differences cannot be separated afterwards: it remains unclear whether the price gap stems from efficiency, different scope or a misunderstanding.
A precise line item is therefore not an administrative detail. It fixes what the owner is asking a price for, and on what basis the responses can meaningfully be compared.
Parameters and notes: two separate things
A well-structured line item breaks the work down into parameters. For a painting line item, these are surface area, ceiling height and number of coats.
A parameter is a standalone value, with a unit where applicable, not a mixed description. Site particulars that cannot be expressed as values stay in the note.
The bidder therefore does not have to guess what the painting line item means. They see the parameter values and the note, and respond to exactly these.
Side by side, by line item and parameter
When everyone prices the same structure, offers line up side by side, line item by line item. In BidCraft’s comparison view, parameters, prices, differing notes and missing documents are visible together, with gaps and deviations highlighted. The difference therefore does not disappear into the total.
Evaluation is then about content, not about who understood what from the request.
Once clear, reusable
In BidCraft, frequently used line items are kept as categorised templates that can be reused across projects and tenders, while the specific parameter values change per tender. This reduces the risk of omitting something that was already missing in an earlier project.
The professional decision still rests with the owner. The itemised structure ensures that this decision is based on offers describing the same work.
The more precise the request, the fewer questions arrive before submission, and the less explanation is needed after evaluation.
Three offers are a real choice only if they refer to the same work. This is not created afterwards by evaluation, but by a precise, parameterised request.