Where BidScan fits
Single-bid review vs. bid leveling
Search “scope gap” and you’ll find two different jobs treated as one. Bid leveling compares many subcontractor bids after they come in. BidScan reads your one package before you price it. Both matter; they happen at different moments and answer different questions.
What bid leveling does
Leveling is a comparison job. The sub bids are in, each scoped a little differently, and you normalize them — adding back what one excluded, stripping what another doubled — until you can compare apples to apples and pick. It’s essential work, and it happens late: after the quotes arrive, when the package is already priced and you’re choosing among bidders.
What BidScan does
BidScan is a reading job, and it happens first. Before you price, it reads your package — specs, addenda, conditions — and hands back the obligations you’re on the hook for, the cost drivers, the scope you self-perform, and the questions the documents leave unanswered. It’s not comparing bids; it’s making sure the one in front of you got read before a number leaves your desk.
What BidScan is, and isn’t
BidScan is a single-package read that surfaces scope gaps, obligations, and the silences in the documents, each cited to its source. BidScan isn’t a bid-leveling tool, a spec-comparison checker, or an estimating system. It does the read that comes before all of those — and many estimators run it first, then level their subs as the quotes come in.
Common questions
What is bid leveling?
Bid leveling is comparing multiple subcontractor bids on the same scope after they come in — normalizing them apples-to-apples so a general contractor can compare and select. It happens after the sub bids arrive.
How is BidScan different from bid leveling?
BidScan reads your one bid package before you price it, surfacing the scope gaps, obligations, and the things the documents don't say. Leveling compares many sub bids after they arrive; BidScan reads your package before you price.
Do I need both a leveling tool and BidScan?
They solve different problems and many estimators use both. Read your package with BidScan before you price, then level your subcontractor bids against each other as they come in.
Is BidScan a spec-comparison tool?
No. Spec comparison checks one document against another. BidScan reads your package as a bid — obligations, cost drivers, self-perform scope, and the silences — and cites every finding to its source line.
Keep reading
Read your next bid with BidScan
BidScan reads your package and cites every finding — the gaps, the obligations, and the silences. Your first scan is free, and there is nothing monthly to start.