Using IntelBid alongside PlanHub and BuildingConnected
This is not a replacement pitch. PlanHub and BuildingConnected are distribution networks — their job is to put invitations in front of you, and they do it well. Both also sell subcontractors a paid tier that tracks bids, including invitations you forward in from elsewhere. The real question is where your pipeline lives, and what changes when it lives in a system that reads your whole inbox instead of one that waits for forwards.
Their own network comes first
Invitations sent through a platform land on its board automatically. Anything else gets there only when someone forwards it in, on a paid tier.
You bid across all of them
Invitations reach a commercial sub through several channels at once: platforms, GC portals and direct email. Your pipeline has to span all of them.
History belongs to you
Pricing, outcomes, per-GC win rate, and scope language are your competitive assets — not something to leave in a network you might stop using.
The handoff is the whole point
Keep receiving invitations where they arrive; consolidate what you did with them in one place.
How do bid boards and a bid pipeline differ?
They do different jobs. A bid board distributes invitations for general contractors; a pipeline runs the subcontractor's bid desk:
| Bid boards (PlanHub, BuildingConnected) | IntelBid | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary job | Distribute invitations to bid | Run the subcontractor's bid desk |
| Who the customer is | GCs soliciting and subs seeking work | The subcontractor's estimating team |
| Invitations from its own network | On the board automatically | Read from your mailbox, like everything else |
| Invitations from anywhere else | Only when forwarded in, on a paid tier | Read from your mailbox as they arrive, no forwarding |
| After the award | Not the purpose | SOV, lookaheads, change orders, materials, QuickBooks or Xero |
Read that table as a division of labor rather than a scorecard. The platforms' paid tiers can hold a pipeline too: PlanHub's converts invitations forwarded from iSQFT, BuildingConnected, SmartBidNet and PipelineSuites, and Bid Board Pro turns invitations forwarded from your inbox into bids. For a desk whose invitations mostly come through one network, that can be enough.
The difference shows at the edges: the invitation a GC emailed directly that nobody forwarded, the addendum that arrived on another channel, and the history you want to keep if you change platforms.
What is the relay-address problem?
There is one specific mechanical detail worth understanding, because it breaks most home-grown tracking. Invitations relayed through these platforms do not come from the general contractor's email domain. They come from the platform's relay — frequently a per-thread alias such as `728832@message.planhub.com`. The GC's identity is in the display name and the message body.
So any Outlook rule, Gmail filter, or spreadsheet column keyed on the sending address files a dozen unrelated general contractors under one platform name. IntelBid resolves the contractor from the invitation content and stores the relay address separately, so replies still route correctly while your history stays organized by the client you actually bid to.
What does the combined workflow look like?
- Keep receiving invitations exactly as you do nowPlanHub, BuildingConnected, Procore, GC portals, direct email. Nothing changes about how work reaches you, and no general contractor has to do anything differently.
- Everything lands in one reviewed queueIntelBid reads the notification emails, extracts project, location, due date and size, resolves the real GC, de-duplicates against open work, and queues it for approval.
- Bid, propose, follow up, and record the outcome in one placeAcross every source, so the pipeline is complete rather than platform-shaped.
- Your history accumulates where you control itIf you change bid boards next year, the pricing, outcomes, contractor relationships, and scope language stay with you.
Frequently asked questions
Is IntelBid a replacement for PlanHub or BuildingConnected?
No. Those platforms distribute invitations to bid and are how many general contractors solicit subcontractors. IntelBid is the subcontractor's internal pipeline — it consolidates invitations from every platform plus direct email, and tracks proposals, follow-up, and outcomes. Most customers use both.
Do I have to change how GCs send me invitations?
No. Invitations keep arriving exactly as they do now. IntelBid reads them from the connected Gmail or Outlook mailbox, so general contractors do not have to do anything differently.
Can a bid board track my win rate?
Partly. A platform can report on the bids it knows about: invitations sent through it and, on a paid tier, the ones you forwarded in. A win rate is only comparable across periods when the denominator is every invitation you received, so it has to be computed where everything lands, including direct email nobody forwarded.
What happens if we stop using a bid board?
Your pipeline, pricing history, contractor relationships, and scope library remain in IntelBid, and can be exported to Excel at any time. That portability is the main argument for keeping your system of record separate from any single distribution network.
Keep the bid boards. Own the pipeline.
Connect Gmail or Outlook and every invitation — whichever platform it came through — lands in one reviewed queue.
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