How Traylor Bros. Scaled Bid Management Processes to Win More Work

Founded in 1946, Traylor Bros., Inc. specializes in bridge, underground, and marine projects across the United States and Canada. Antiquated bid management systems created disjointed communication between the estimating team and vendors, resulting in poor bid information and quote requests. As a result, the company turned to BuildingConnected within Autodesk Construction Cloud™ to improve and scale their bid and construction risk management workflows, increasing bids by 100%.

Cumbersome Bid Management Process Led to Inefficiencies

Traylor Bros. focuses on large-scale heavy civil projects that require innovative engineering to solve complex construction challenges. An outdated and cost-prohibitive bid management system created inefficiencies in managing bid packages for Traylor Bros. In their workflow, one estimator would handle all the bid packages, funneling vendor activity to all the estimators on that project. If a subcontractor or supplier had a question about a bid package, the estimator would need to route the inquiry to the proper contact. This lag in receiving real-time information created a disconnect between the estimating team, subcontractors, and suppliers.

Traylor Bros. needed a solution to standardize bidding and estimating procedures, creating more collaboration, communication, and transparency across its estimating team.
 

“The process for managing quote solicitation was uncoordinated and cumbersome. We needed to refine the process by removing internal bottlenecks and having increased visibility into real-time vendor activity.”

Matt Bohleber
Engineer/Estimator

Implementing a Collaborative Bid Management Tool

Traylor Bros. selected BuildingConnected as a more collaborative bid management solution for their estimating team. The platform’s ease of use made the decision a no-brainer and improved their preconstruction processes by eliminating internal obstacles.

Traylor Bros chose to deploy BuildingConnected on a joint venture project with Zachry Construction Corp. for the Harris County Toll Road Authority’s (HCTRA) $600 million design-bid-build Houston Ship Channel Bridge project.

When working in a new city, there may be a level of uncertainty in where they’re sourcing quotes from. With vendor qualification in BuildingConnected, Traylor Bros. can source and prequalify subcontractors and suppliers—easily and quickly— using automated risk assessments and real-time data. The solution also allows them to easily communicate with subcontractors and suppliers around changes to project documents during the bid management process.
 

“To get the best pricing, we must give the subcontractors and suppliers as much detail as possible. If the project documents change during the bidding process, we need to share those changes quickly. If we don’t, we won’t be able to get an accurate quote to make our bid more competitive.”

Matt Bohleber
Engineer/Estimator

Improved Relations Create a Competitive Advantage and Increase in Bids

Using BuildingConnected, Traylor Bros could find and qualify the right subcontractors and suppliers, send bid invites, identify the best bid, and centralize communication to improve preconstruction workflows significantly. With their refined estimating, bidding, and qualification workflows, Traylor Bros. quickly responded to changes during the HCTRA procurement process and earned the trust of their vendors.

From the time they decide to bid on a project to the time they turn in their price, the streamlined process makes the most of their estimators’ time. Traylor Bros. increased the number of quotes on the Houston Ship Channel Bridge project by 100% with their improved bidding methods. By implementing tools like BuildingConnected, Traylor Bros. can continue to win large public projects like the Houston Ship Channel Bridge project.
 

“It is an absolute necessity that we get information communicated as fast as possible and be able to confirm our subcontractors and suppliers see it. When we bid, the more comfortable we are with the quality of the quotes we’re receiving, we can decrease our risk. This helps keep our costs down. When our subcontractors and suppliers are comfortable with the information we’re giving them, they’re able to put together a good quote and make our bid more competitive.”

Matt Bohleber
Engineer/Estimator