AI tendering for electrical contractors

AI tendering for electrical contractors means software reads the specification and drawings, counts symbols against the bill and schedules, and flags design duties hidden in the spec. Electrical tenders lose money in five places: design creep, miscounted points, containment and builder's work, testing, and return visits. You still decide the design, the labour and the final price.

Is there design hidden in the specification?

Often, yes. A spec that says "the electrical contractor shall size all cables", "select luminaires to achieve the lux levels stated", or "design and install the fire alarm system" has handed you design work, whatever the enquiry letter calls the package. Design takes office time, carries liability, and needs insurance that covers it.

Look for these phrases and list each one in your return:

• "Contractor's design portion" or "CDP", and any performance specification
• "Size", "select", "calculate", "coordinate" or "to achieve" in a clause about your work
• "Design and install", "design, supply, install, test and commission"
• Drawings marked "indicative" or "for tender only"

Design creep is easy to underprice because it happens in the office. On the care home wing below, a clause asking you to select luminaires "to achieve the lux levels in the room data sheets" means lighting calculations for about 40 rooms, a submission, and at least one round of comments. Call it three office days and a day of revisions. At an illustrative £300 a day that is £1,200 that appears nowhere in a price per point, and the liability for getting the light levels wrong comes with it.

Then decide: price the design, or qualify that you have priced to the drawings and the consultant's design remains theirs. If you do take design on, our guide to electrical certificates covers what you will be signing.

Do the point counts on the drawings match the bill?

Not always. Drawings get revised and bills don't always follow. Count the symbols on the latest revision of every layout and put them next to the bill quantities. A London electrical and fire alarm contractor we spoke to, running about ten commercial jobs in care homes, pubs and restaurants, said quoting takes "two, three days" in some weeks. Much of that is counting.

Here is a reconciliation for a ground and first floor refurbishment of a 24-bed care home wing.

Forty-two points aren't in the bill. At an illustrative price per point of about £54 (50 minutes at £34 an hour, £16 of materials, 18% margin), that is about £2,270 of work you would do for nothing if you priced the bill as issued. Change the figures to your own.

AI is good at this count: it matches the legend to the symbols on each sheet and totals them by type. It is weaker where symbols overlap, where a legend is missing, or where a drawing is a scanned image. Check one room by hand and compare. Our page on how to test AI on a tender you have already priced sets out a fair test.

Who pays for containment, holes and fire stopping?

Whoever your qualifications name. Cable tray, trunking and conduit are measured in metres with bends, drops and supports that a plan view hides. Holes through walls and floors, chases, making good and fire stopping of your penetrations are builder's work, and on many subcontracts nobody owns them until the first argument.

Fire stopping deserves its own line. If you take it on, price a tested product and the photo record a main contractor will ask for. Our guide to AI tendering for fire protection and fire-critical work goes further.

What do testing and certification add to the price?

Usually several days. Testing and inspecting each circuit, fault-finding the ones that fail, the fire alarm cause-and-effect test, emergency lighting duration tests, witness visits for the client's engineer, and the O&M manual all take time that a price per point doesn't cover. Price testing as a separate line built from circuits and days, and add the documents as their own line.

None of that sits inside a price per point. Ask the pack two questions: how many witness visits, and whether as-built drawings are your job. A care home that is occupied while you work may also want phased testing, which multiplies visits.

How many times will you go back?

More than the programme shows. First fix, second fix, phased handovers, out-of-sequence work when another trade is late, snagging and a defects visit each cost a van, travel and a part-day. On a 10-week programme, six extra half-day visits by two electricians are a real cost: at an illustrative £260 a day each plus £45 travel per visit, that is £1,830.

Price visits as a number you can defend, and qualify it: "price assumes first fix, second fix and one snagging visit per phase; further visits charged at day rates". That line costs nothing to write and keeps returns from eating the margin.

What changes for fire alarms, EICR, EV chargers and solar?

Each specialism has a trap of its own.

AI tendering for electricians

General electricians most often price a bill without checking it against the drawings, and take on design without noticing. AI helps by counting symbols, reading the spec for design wording, and listing containment and testing items. It can't tell you how long your team takes on a busy site or whether the consultant's design works.

AI tendering for fire alarm and security installers

The common mistake is pricing a fire alarm system when the spec never states its category. The Fire Industry Association's guidance says a reference to BS 5839-1 without a system category is "virtually meaningless", and that the choice of category rests with the fire safety specialist, not the designer or contractor. AI can flag a missing category and count devices, but the category decision is not yours or the software's to make. Ask for it in writing.

AI tendering for electrical testing contractors

EICR contractors bidding term work often price per property when the cost driver is circuits and access. In England, rented homes need inspection and testing at least every five years, and remedial work found must be done within 28 days or sooner if the report says so. Social landlords' initial inspections for existing tenancies were due before 1 November 2026, so expect re-tendered term contracts. AI can read a stock list and group properties; it can't predict no-access rates. See AI tendering for term and maintenance contracts.

AI tendering for EV charger installers

EV installers lose money when the existing supply can't take the load and nobody priced the upgrade. Read the pack for the supply capacity and maximum demand, and check whether the network operator needs to approve the connection first. AI can pull the supply details and charger schedule from the pack; the load assessment and the network operator's answer are yours to get. Funding schemes sit in our retrofit and low-carbon guide.

AI tendering for solar PV installers

Solar installers get caught by network approval times. MCS guidance says systems up to 16A per phase can be notified to the network operator within 28 days of commissioning under G98, while larger systems under G99 need permission before connection. AI can read the array size and inverter rating and flag which route applies. The application, and the wait it adds to the programme, are yours to manage.

Common questions