AI tendering for carpenters and joiners

Price a carpentry tender from the schedules: doors and doorsets from the door schedule, ironmongery from the ironmongery schedule, trim and boarding per metre or m², and first fix from the drawings, each priced from your fixing times. Check fire doors against the fire strategy and their certification first. AI cross-checks the schedules quickly; you price the work.

What makes carpentry and joinery tenders hard to price?

Most of the price sits in schedules that rarely agree with each other. A second fix package arrives with a door schedule, an ironmongery schedule, a fire strategy drawing and a finishes schedule, often from different authors, and each door must match across all four.

The problems on most carpentry tenders:

• First and second fix split. Who does first fix, and how many visits it takes around other trades.
• Door schedules. Leaf sizes, fire ratings, glazing and frames, by door number.
• Ironmongery. Supplied by others or by you, and whether it matches the fire doors.
• Fire doorsets. Certified products with installation instructions you must follow.
• Roof timbers and structural carpentry. Take-offs from sections, often with no cutting list.
• Timber prices. Volatile, so price validity matters.

Plenty of firms do the same. A general AI chat tool can help with wording and arithmetic, but it doesn't know your fixing times or your merchant prices, and it won't cross-check a door schedule against an ironmongery schedule unless you give it both and ask. The method below is what to ask for.

How do you price a second fix package from the schedules?

Count each door type from the door schedule, price fitting per type, then add ironmongery, trim and anything else per item or per metre. Keep it by door number so revisions are quick to reprice.

That last line is the kind of thing that turns into a dispute. Fire doors to cupboards and service risers that are kept locked shut don't always need closers, so it may be right as drawn. But if the fire strategy needs closers on the riser cupboards and nobody priced them, the main contractor will ask you to fit them at your rate.

Are the fire doors certified sets?

Find out from the door schedule and the manufacturer before you price, because the fitting time and the paperwork are different. A fire doorset is tested as a complete assembly, and the installation instructions are part of its certification.

Guidance published by Great Yarmouth Borough Council on fire doors says installing them is a specialised task, that installation is the last stage of the certification process, and that not following the door-specific instructions will invalidate the certification. It also notes that combined intumescent strips and smoke seals must not be painted over. BWF guidance says installer accreditation schemes are good practice, and that building control decides whether to accept installer certification as evidence.

What should a joinery tender clarify?

The door schedule revision, ironmongery supply, fire doorsets and first fix timing. Then timber prices.

Tender: project name, carpentry and joinery package
Our price: £amount excluding VAT, dated date

1. Priced from door schedule reference and revision, ironmongery schedule reference and revision and drawings numbers.
2. Ironmongery supplied by others, delivered to site and sorted by door number / supplied and fitted as listed.
3. Fire doors fitted as certified doorsets to the manufacturer's installation instructions. Site assembly, alterations to certified doors and third-party installer certification excluded unless listed.
4. Discrepancies between schedules raised as clarifications: list, e.g. doors R01 to R04 marked FD30 with no closers. Not priced.
5. First fix in number visits, to suit the programme reference. Additional visits at £rate per visit.
6. Linings, frames and openings assumed to tolerance. Adjusting structural openings excluded.
7. Doors, frames and trim delivered to the working floor by others. Secure, dry storage by the main contractor.
8. Decoration of doors and trim by others.
9. Timber and sheet materials if supplied priced at date; price valid for number days, then subject to supplier price changes with invoices shown.

For the general rules on wording, see tender qualifications and exclusions.

What can AI do on a joinery tender, and what can't it?

AI is strong at cross-checking schedules and counting; it can't tell you how long your team takes to hang a heavy acoustic door in an out-of-square opening.

What it does well:

• Schedule cross-checks. Door numbers, fire ratings and ironmongery sets across three or four documents.
• Counts of doors by type, trim by the metre, boarding by m².
• Roof timbers from sections, if the drawings give spans, pitch and spacing. Check the cutting list against your own.
• Drafting the clarifications with the right door numbers.

What still needs you:

• Fixing times, by door type and site.
• Fire door judgement. Whether a site-assembled door is acceptable is for the manufacturer and the client.
• First fix timing around other trades.
• Sign-off on the price and the clarifications.

For a way to check an AI count against your own, see the quantity take-off guide.

Which carpentry tenders should you bid?

Ones with complete, matching schedules and a fire door spec you can install to. Use the 10-minute tender read, and walk away from packages where the door schedule is "to follow" or the fire doors are unnamed. For how Nexley works for fit-out and carpentry firms more widely, see the fit-out trade page.

Common questions