Course outline

Module 0 · How commercial bidding works 5 minUpdated September 13, 2026

How commercial construction bidding works for a flooring subcontractor

On a commercial job, the owner hires an architect to design the project and a general contractor (GC) to build it. The GC doesn't install flooring. It collects prices from flooring subcontractors, carries one in its bid, and signs a subcontract with the sub it picks. While a project is out to bid, several GCs compete for it, so a flooring sub often prices the same job to three or four of them.

By Michael Reddy, IntelBid

After this lesson you can

Name every party on a commercial job and who you actually contract with
Explain why the same project arrives from several GCs
Describe the path from invitation to a signed subcontract

Who's who on a commercial project

Residential flooring has one relationship: you and the person who owns the floor. Commercial work has a chain, and your contract sits near the bottom of it.

Party	What they do	Your relationship
Owner	Pays for the project — a developer, school district, hospital system, retailer, or a tenant doing a fit-out.	Usually none directly. You may never meet them, but their money is the source of yours.
Architect / designer	Designs the project and writes the specifications, including flooring products and installation requirements.	Indirect. Their specs define your scope; your questions and submittals reach them through the GC.
General contractor (GC)	Holds the prime contract with the owner, hires the trades, runs the schedule and bills the owner.	Your customer. You bid to them, sign their subcontract and bill them.
Construction manager (CM)	On some projects manages the work for the owner. A "CM at risk" also holds the trade contracts.	Treat a CM at risk like a GC.
Flooring subcontractor	Installs the flooring package, usually supplying the material.	That's you.
Supplier / distributor	Sells you the flooring and setting materials.	Your vendor — and, as Module 1 shows, a useful ally when collecting.

Owner

Pays for the project

Architect / designer

Hired by the owner. Writes the specs that define your scope.

The owner hires the GC — prime contract

General contractor

Runs the job, hires the trades, bills the owner

Subcontract — the GC is your customer

Flooring subcontractor · you

Bids to the GC, installs, bills the GC

Purchase order

Supplier / distributor

Sells you flooring and setting materials

Money flows back up the same chain: owner → GC → you → supplier.

The contract chain on a typical GC-led project. You contract with the GC, the architect's specs define your scope, and payment flows back up the same chain.

Tenant improvement work is still commercial

An office fit-out inside an existing building usually runs through a GC hired by the tenant or the landlord. It's smaller and faster than new construction, but it's the same chain, the same paperwork and the same payment terms.

Why the same project arrives from several GCs

Before an owner picks a builder, several general contractors often compete for the job. Each one needs a flooring number to complete its own bid, so each sends invitations to flooring subs. The result: the same project reaches you three or four times, from different GCs, sometimes days apart.

Each of those is a separate bid with its own outcome. GC A may win the project while GC B loses it. You might be the carried number with GC A and never hear from GC C. They share one set of drawings, but they are different opportunities — which is exactly why tracking commercial work in a simple job list breaks down.

One project

One set of drawings and specs

Several GCs compete for it

GC A
Invites you → your bid #1
Wins the project
GC B
Invites you → your bid #2
Loses the project
GC C
Invites you → your bid #3
You never hear back

You

Three invitations = three separate bids, each with its own outcome

One project, three GCs, three bids. Each GC's result is its own — winning with one tells you nothing about the others.

You're free to price the same job differently to different GCs. Their requested scopes can differ (one includes base, one carves it out), their subcontract terms differ, and your read on who will actually win differs. What you shouldn't do is share one GC's number with another.

What's the path from invitation to contract?

Invitation to bid
A GC's estimator sends an invitation to bid by email or through a platform like PlanHub, BuildingConnected or Procore. It names the project, the due date and where the documents are.
Review and decide
You open the documents, find the flooring scope and decide whether the job is worth pricing. Not every invitation is — Module 2 covers go/no-go decisions.
Takeoff and pricing
You measure quantities, price labor and material, add overhead and profit, and write your inclusions and exclusions.
Proposal
You send a proposal to each GC before their deadline — usually a few hours to a day before the GC's own bid is due to the owner.
GC bid day
Each GC compares the flooring proposals it received on a bid tab, picks a number to carry, and submits its bid.
Award
The owner picks a GC. That GC then confirms its flooring sub — often the one it carried, sometimes after another round of scope review and negotiation.
Subcontract
You sign the GC's subcontract, which usually replaces your proposal terms with theirs. Module 10 walks through what to check.

Months can pass between your proposal and your first day on site. The next lessons cover what arrives with an invitation, the kinds of bids you'll see and what happens after bid day.

What changes compared to residential work?

The installation is the same trade. Timing, paperwork and money are not:

The job is priced long before it's built. Material prices and crew availability can change between your proposal and mobilization.
Your price competes on a spreadsheet. A GC estimator compares your number against other subs line by line. A clear scope often beats a lower number with vague exclusions.
You get paid on a schedule, not on completion. Monthly pay applications, retainage and pay-when-paid clauses — Module 1 shows what that does to cash.
Paperwork gates the work. Insurance certificates, prequalification, submittals and lien waivers come before, or alongside, the check.

If you're coming from residential, the residential-to-commercial guide covers that transition in more depth.

Do flooring subcontractors contract with the owner or the GC?

On a typical GC-led commercial project, with the general contractor. The owner contracts with the GC and the GC subcontracts each trade. Some owners buy flooring directly on renovation work, but your contract, billing and payment usually all run through the GC.

Should I give every GC the same price?

Not necessarily. Requested scopes, subcontract terms and the likelihood of each GC winning can differ, so prices can legitimately differ. Keep each GC's pricing confidential to that GC.

How many GCs bid a typical commercial project?

It varies with project size and whether the work is public or private. Public projects are often open to any qualified GC, while private owners may invite a short list. Expect anywhere from one to several invitations for the same project.

Key points

On almost every commercial job, your contract is with the GC, not the owner.
One project bid to several GCs is several separate bids with separate outcomes.
Your proposal terms are usually replaced by the GC's subcontract at award.

In IntelBid · Intake → bid detail

One project, several GCs

IntelBid reads invitations from your inbox — including ones relayed through PlanHub and BuildingConnected — and works out which GC actually sent them. When the same project arrives from three GCs, each GC is tracked with its own proposal, follow-up and outcome, so a regret letter from one GC never closes the job for the others.

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About the author. Michael Reddy builds IntelBid, bid management software for commercial flooring subcontractors. These lessons come from the bid desk: how the work is priced, won and paid for.