Pricing a tender when drawings are indicative and there's no site visit

When drawings are indicative and you can't visit, price firmly only what the documents show. Put named provisional sums or rates against what they don't, add a stated risk allowance for what you can't see, and list every assumption as a qualification. That way your price is competitive on the known work and protected on the unknown.

Why is a tender without a site visit risky?

Because you're pricing things nobody has shown you: the state of the existing building, access, services, ground conditions. If those turn out worse than you assumed, the cost is yours unless your tender says otherwise.

Clients do have duties here. Under CDM 2015, commercial clients must provide pre-construction information to every designer and contractor bidding for the work or already appointed. For domestic jobs those client duties normally pass to the contractor. In practice, tender packs are often thin, and "drawings are indicative" is a warning that the design isn't finished.

What should you ask for before pricing?

Ask early, in writing, inside the tender's clarification period. A good question can save you a provisional sum, and on public tenders the answer usually goes to all bidders.

If the client won't provide something, that answer goes into your qualifications too.

How do you split the price between firm, provisional and risk?

Sort every item into one of three groups, and price each differently. This keeps your firm price competitive while showing the client where the uncertainty is.

Under RICS NRM2, a provisional sum is a sum for work not completely designed. If it's "defined" (described enough to plan for), the contractor is taken to have allowed for it in programme and preliminaries; if it's "undefined", the contractor isn't. A risk allowance is a separate lump sum the contractor prices for named risks the client wants to pass over. Both should exclude overheads and profit, which are priced elsewhere.

A worked example: a small refurbishment tender

A ground-floor office refurbishment, 120 m², drawings marked indicative, no site visit offered. Here's how a small contractor might split it.

If the floor turns out level, the client saves £2,160 and you've lost nothing. If it doesn't, you're paid for it. A rival who buried the same risk as a hidden extra £5,000 in their partitions rate looks dearer on the work the client can see.

What wording should go in your tender?

Plain, specific wording. Name the drawings you priced from and each assumption, so that if something changes, it's obvious it was a change.

Our tender is based on drawings numbers and revisions and specification reference, date, which are marked indicative. No site visit was available.

We have assumed:
1. Existing floor slab is level to within ±5 mm over 3 m and needs no screed.
2. Existing incoming electrical supply is adequate for the new load.
3. Free access during normal working hours, 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday, with parking for one van.
4. No asbestos-containing materials in the areas of work.

Provisional sums included: floor levelling £2,160; asbestos removal £2,500. These will be adjusted against the work done.

Excluded: structural alterations; drainage below slab; out-of-hours working; making good beyond the work area.

If any assumption proves incorrect, we will notify you before proceeding and agree the cost in writing. We are happy to visit site before contract to confirm our price.

For more on exclusions wording, see tender qualifications and exclusions. If the tender comes with a pricing schedule, the guide to filling in a schedule of rates covers where these items go.

What if your price is much lower than the others?

Check it before you submit. A low price on a tender with no visit often means a missed item rather than an efficient firm. Under the Procurement Act 2023, a public buyer that thinks a tender is abnormally low must tell the supplier and give it a reasonable opportunity to show it can do the work for that price before disregarding it.

So keep your take-off and workings: they're your answer if you're asked. Plenty of owners find this part hard.

A methodical split like the one above is most of the answer. The take-off guide covers the measuring, and the real cost of tendering helps decide whether a thin tender is worth pricing at all.

Common questions