Let the work out and pay for it

1. 01

   How do you get three subbies to price the same thing?

   By writing the scope once and sending all of them at it. An enquiry gets its own reference, a title, a date you need it back by and the scope as line items, each with a quantity and a unit. You then invite subcontractors onto it, and every one of them prices that same list rather than replying in whatever shape suits them. The responses come back as a card each, ordered with the ones who have answered at the top, cheapest first, and the lowest price carries a label. Accepting one marks it accepted, declines every other invitation and closes the enquiry, and where the enquiry was raised against a quote the accepted figure lands on that quote as a subcontract line noting the enquiry it came from.

2. 02

   What does a subcontractor see when you invite them?

   A page of their own at a link of its own, with no account to create. It shows your company name, the reference and title of the enquiry, the date you want it back, your description, and the scope as a table headed Scope of Works. They put a unit price against each line, the line total comes off your quantity so the arithmetic is the same for everyone, and a running total adds up underneath. They can leave a note, submit, and come back and reprice while the enquiry is still open. Declining takes them off the list without a phone call. They never see another subcontractor’s price.

3. 03

   How do you keep an approved list rather than a phone full of numbers?

   On the approved trades screen. Each subcontractor is a card with their trade, their town, a rating out of five you set yourself and a note for how the last job went. One button approves or unapproves them, and the date of the first approval is kept on the record. You can filter to a single trade, search by name, and flip between the approved list and everyone on file. Accreditation numbers for Gas Safe, NICEIC, NAPIT, CHAS and Constructionline sit on the subcontractor’s own page, each with a link out to that scheme’s public register, so a number can be checked against the body that issued it rather than taken on trust.

4. 04

   Who is watching the deadline on a notice to a subcontractor?

   Estimark is. Each subcontractor invoice has a payment due date, and Estimark works three more dates off it: the final date for payment, the last day a payment notice could be served and the last day a pay less notice could be. The defaults are the ones in the Scheme for Construction Contracts, which stands in where the subcontract itself says nothing, and they are written onto the notice when you record it rather than recalculated afterwards. The notified sum and the basis of calculation are stored with them, and the basis cannot be left blank. Unpaid subcontractor invoices are listed nearest deadline first with the days left on each, negative where the day has gone. Recording one late is allowed and stamped as late, because the record of having served it still counts even where the notice itself no longer bites.

5. 05

   Where do suppliers and purchase orders sit in this?

   In a register beside the subcontractors, one row per supplier with its contacts, an account reference, payment terms in days, a category and an approval flag. Every purchase order raised against a supplier is listed on that supplier’s page with its number, its stage and its total, so a conversation about a late delivery starts from the orders rather than from memory. Those same orders are the committed cost that lands in job costing the day the order goes out, which is the control step later in this tour.

Enquiries

One scope, several subbies, prices side by side

Approved list

Trade, rating out of five, date approved

Notices

Notified sum, basis and dates stored per notice

A site diary is the dated record of what happened on a job each day, and Estimark keeps one per job covering the workforce on site, the weather, progress, deliveries, instructions received and delays.