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Procurement software for production homebuilders

Bid the plan. Build the lot.

Bid every trade against your plan library, level bids plan by plan, and award straight into your price book. No more email threads and spreadsheets.

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Trade partners bid free, with no account. Already on LotBid? Sign in

Trades pre-templated, plus custom
28
Bid formats, trade-native
8
Vendor logins required
0

  • Email + Excel

    What LotBid replaces

  • Price book

    Library awards by plan and elevation

  • EN / ES

    Bilingual vendor portal

  • On record

    Bids, awards and reviews saved

The problem

Procurement still runs on email and spreadsheets

Production builders run a high-volume, deadline-driven bid process through tools that were never built for it. It costs margin on every community.

  • Fragmented communication

    Bid cycles scattered across email, text and spreadsheets, with no central tracking and no accountability.

  • Poor bid coverage

    Key trades under-bid or skip the invite entirely, and you find out the week of buyout.

  • Zero visibility

    No live view of bid status, vendor response rates, or how today’s number compares with history.

  • Scope disputes

    Undocumented inclusions and exclusions turn into change orders and stalled starts.

  • Repeated questions

    Every sub emails the same question separately, and your estimators answer it five times.

  • No standard format

    Inconsistent submissions make leveling a slow, error-prone spreadsheet exercise.

The product

One system for the whole bid cycle

Build your plan library once. Bid any trade against it in minutes. Level plan by plan, elevation by elevation. Award, and the pricing becomes your book.

Plan-library bidding

Bid your whole plan library in one send

Load your plans, elevations and options once. Pick a trade and the plans to price, and LotBid assembles the package: scope pre-filled from your trade template, plan documents attached, options priced on their own lines.

  • Plan library — plans, elevations and options defined once and reused on every library bid
  • Trade-native pricing — framers quote one $/SF rate, plumbers price per plan, roofers price every plan by elevation
  • Options, separately — 3-car garage, covered patio: each priced on its own line, never buried in the base

A portal subs actually use

No accounts. No friction. Just bids.

Every invite carries a secure link for the sub’s company; opening it is the whole sign-in. Subs see the scope, price the work on a trade-native form, and submit from a phone on the job site, in English or Spanish.

  • One-tap access — the link is the sign-in, and a sub can forward it to their estimator
  • Trade-native forms — one rate or per-plan prices, never a blank spreadsheet; on a plan-library bid, no-bid a plan without losing the package
  • Boundary statements on the form — crane and nails in the rate, lumber by the builder, no phone-call ambiguity

Leveling with receipts

Award the right number, not just the low one

Bids land in one normalized view with scope gaps and partial coverage flagged. Level apples to apples, and award with the paper trail built in.

  • Plan-by-plan matrix — every plan and elevation side by side, with coverage holes visible
  • Partial bids flagged — a bid that skips a plan is marked partial and never shown as the low number
  • Award writes your price book — a plan-library award files each price by trade × plan × elevation, and a later award supersedes it; download to Excel or an ERP-ready CSV

How it works

From plan set to award in three steps

  1. Step 1: Build your library once

    Plans, elevations and options in the Plan library; scope, bid format and boundary statements per trade. It is the setup you never repeat.

  2. Step 2: Send library bids in minutes

    Pick a trade and the plans to price, review the assembled scope, and send. Every sub gets a secure portal link, with no signup on their end.

  3. Step 3: Level, award, book it

    Bids land plan by plan with coverage holes flagged. Award the right number, and it lands in your price book by plan and elevation, ready for Excel or your ERP.

Every trade, one system

Pre-templated for the trades you buy out

28 trades in construction sequence, each with a default scope and the right bid format already in place. Add your own for anything else.

  • Excavation & Grading
  • Site Utilities
  • Foundation
  • Concrete Flatwork
  • Framing
  • Windows & Exterior Doors
  • Roofing
  • Siding & Exterior Trim
  • Masonry & Stone Veneer
  • Gutters & Downspouts
  • Plumbing
  • Plumbing Material
  • HVAC
  • Electrical
  • Low-Voltage & Security
  • Insulation & Air Sealing
  • Drywall
  • Interior Trim & Doors
  • Painting
  • Cabinets & Countertops
  • Tile
  • Flooring
  • Shower Glass & Mirrors
  • Garage Doors
  • Appliances
  • Landscaping & Irrigation
  • Cleaning
  • Punch-Out & Warranty
  • Your custom trades

For trade partners

Free for trades. No logins. No per-PO fees.

Many subs already pay fees on other platforms. LotBid’s vendor side costs them nothing: open the link, see the scope, price the work, done. The easier it is to bid, the more bids you get.

  • Nothing to install — works in any browser, built for a phone on the job site
  • Everything in one place — scope, plans, Q&A and the deadline on a single page
  • Revise until bidding closes — update a bid without phone tag

Got a bid invitation from a builder?

Open the link in your email. It is your sign-in, with no account needed, and you can forward it to whoever prices for you.

¿Recibió una invitación para cotizar? Abra el enlace de su correo: es su acceso y no necesita cuenta.

FAQ

Questions a purchasing desk would ask

Does LotBid replace my ERP?

No, and it isn’t trying to. LotBid runs the bid-out: packages, vendor communication, leveling and award decisions. Your ERP keeps doing accounting, POs and job cost. Awarded plan-library pricing lands in a price book you can download to Excel or as an ERP-ready CSV.

What does it cost?

We review each new builder account before it opens. There is no price list yet: pricing is agreed with you in writing before anything is billed. Trade partners always bid at no charge.

Can you help us run a pilot?

Yes. Talk to us and we will set up a structured pilot: one trade bid across your plan library, with success criteria agreed up front, such as bid coverage, days to award and packages leveled.

How do my subs use it without accounts?

Every invitation carries a secure link for that sub’s company and that package. Opening the link is the sign-in, and it works on any phone or computer. Links expire automatically, you can revoke them, and a sub never sees another vendor’s pricing.

Is the vendor portal in Spanish?

Yes. Subs can switch the whole portal, bid form included, between English and Spanish with one tap. Anything your team types, such as a custom scope line or a Q&A answer, shows as written.

Does software pick the winner?

No. LotBid ranks bids by rules you can read: a bid is ranked only when it is complete and its scope is confirmed, and then by price. You make the award; LotBid shows its work.

Who is behind LotBid?

LotBid is built by a working purchasing manager at a residential production builder, around the real buyout workflow: plan-library bidding, trade-native formats, coverage chasing, and leveling that holds up in an audit.

Run your next bid-out on LotBid

Create an account to get started. We review each new builder account before it opens, then you can send your first library bid. Prefer a walkthrough first? Talk to us.

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