General Contractor Bidding: How to Price Multi-Trade Projects
Bidding as a general contractor is a different sport than bidding a single trade. You're not just pricing your own labor — you're assembling, marking up, and guaranteeing other people's work, then living with every assumption for months. Here's a working process for pricing multi-trade projects.
Step 1: Break the Project into Trade Scopes
Before any numbers, decompose the job into scopes: demo, foundation/concrete, framing, roofing, windows/doors, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, insulation, drywall, paint, flooring, trim, cabinets/counters, site work, cleanup. For a kitchen remodel that list might be eight scopes; for an addition, fifteen.
Two rules:
- Every scope gets a number — even if it's small. "Misc" is where profit dies.
- Mark each scope sub or self-perform. The pricing method differs for each.
Step 2: Price Self-Perform Work Like a Trade Contractor
For work your own crew does, build it bottom-up: labor hours × loaded rate + materials + equipment. Your loaded rate isn't a wage — it's wage + payroll taxes + workers comp + insurance + the truck. A $30/hr carpenter typically costs you $45–55/hr loaded.
Step 3: Get Real Sub Quotes — Then Mark Them Up
For subbed scopes, get written quotes with defined scope. Then apply markup. Marking up subs is not optional — you're coordinating them, scheduling them, warrantying their work, and carrying the liability:
| Project Type | Typical GC Markup on Subs |
|---|---|
| New construction | 10–20% |
| Standard remodel | 15–25% |
| Small/complex remodel, occupied home | 20–35% |
If you can't get a sub quote in time, use your cost history — but flag it as an allowance in the bid, not a fixed number.
Step 4: Add the GC-Only Line Items
These are the costs single-trade contractors never see, and new GCs always forget:
- Permits and plan review — plus your time at the counter
- Dumpsters and porta-john — a 6-month remodel needs multiple pulls
- Temporary protection — floor protection, dust barriers, weather protection
- Supervision — your project management time is a real cost. 5–10% of project cost is normal.
- General conditions — small tools, consumables, fuel, mobilization
- Final clean
Step 5: Contingency Is Not Profit
On remodel work especially, add contingency for the unknowns behind the walls:
| Project | Contingency |
|---|---|
| New construction | 3–5% |
| Remodel, newer home | 5–10% |
| Older home / anything pre-1980 | 10–15% |
Put it in the price (not as a visible line the client negotiates away). When you open a wall and find knob-and-tube wiring, contingency is what keeps the job profitable while you write the change order.
Step 6: Overhead and Profit — Separately
Overhead (office, insurance, vehicles, software, your salary) typically runs 8–15% of revenue for small GCs. Profit is what's left after overhead — target 8–15% net. Combined, that's why healthy GC markup lands at 20–35% over total direct cost. Bidding at 10% total markup means working for free after overhead.
Step 7: Write a Bid That Protects You
- Itemize by scope — clients trust numbers they can see, and itemized bids win against mystery lump sums
- State allowances clearly — "$5,000 cabinet allowance" with overage billed at cost + markup
- Exclusions in writing — rot repair, code upgrades, utility relocation, anything behind closed walls
- Change order process — signed before work proceeds, priced at your stated rates
- Validity window — "Pricing valid 30 days" protects you from material swings
Common GC Bidding Mistakes
Not marking up subs. You're guaranteeing their work. Free coordination is a charity.
Bidding from one sub quote. If your only electrician quote is high, your bid is dead. Two quotes minimum on big scopes.
Treating supervision as free. Twenty hours a week of your time running the job is a cost, whether you invoice it or not.
Vague scope = scope creep. Every "while you're here" request on an unpriced scope comes out of your profit.
Bid.Fast lets general contractors talk through an entire project scope by scope — demo, framing, subs, allowances — and generates a complete itemized estimate in 90 seconds.
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