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Sample bid package

Here is the entire bid package. Open it.

Six files on a full Division 5 scope, with nothing behind a form. This is a demonstration package built on an invented job — a 4-storey Type III podium multifamily over a Type I concrete garage — because we do not publish anybody's plans. The shape of every document is exactly what lands in your inbox in 24–48 hours.

Email your plan set What it costs →

No form. No email wall. Just the files.

Most estimating outfits show you one redacted screenshot and ask for your email. This page is the package itself, laid out in the order you would open it — workbook first, because that is the one you will argue with.

What you are actually checking is one thing: does every number trace back to a sheet? Look at the SHEET REF column below. An estimator handed a bid he did not build will spot-check three or four quantities against the drawings before he trusts any of it, and a sheet reference turns that check from an afternoon into thirty seconds.

The six files

Six deliverables, in the order you open them.

Structural steel and miscellaneous metals — CSI Division 5 — on one bid.

Demonstration package. The job below is fictional and was invented for this page. The building, the drawings, the sheet numbers, the quantities and the dollars are all illustrative — none of them come from a client, and none of them are a price for any real work. We never publish, excerpt or anonymise a client's plan set or bid documents. What is real here is the structure of each document: that is exactly what ships.

1 · Takeoff workbook

.xlsx

One row per member, the sheet it was measured on, and the weight. Nothing is locked and nothing is hidden. Deck, connection hardware, finishes and the labor build-up sit on their own tabs.

TAB 2 — STRUCTURAL & MISC STEEL, WEIGHT SUMMARY · Bay Area 4-storey podium multifamily · demonstration data
Mark Description Sheet ref Qty Unit Weight (lbs)
B-1W12x26 beam, podium framing, 24'-0"S2.118EA11,232
B-2W16x40 beam at courtyard opening, 28'-0"S2.16EA6,720
B-3W10x22 infill beam, podium slab, 16'-0"S2.122EA7,744
C-1W14x53 column, garage to podium, 11'-6"S3.114EA8,533
C-2HSS6x6x3/8 column at trash enclosure, 10'-0"S3.28EA2,163
X-1HSS6x6x3/8 brace, garage shear frame, 18'-6"S4.112EA6,003
EP-1Embed PL 3/4"x12"x12" w/ (4) 3/4"∅ headed studsS4.2/346EA1,794
BP-1Base PL 1"x16"x16" w/ (4) 1"∅ anchor rodsS3.114EA1,302
SS-13/4"∅ x 4-3/16" shear stud, composite deckS2.21,340EA710
ST-1Metal-pan stair flight, 12 risers, 4'-0" wideS6.14FLT7,400
LDG-1Stair landing, intermediate and top, 4'-0" x 8'-0"S6.14EA2,480
GR-1Guardrail, 42" high, tube steel picket, podium edgeS5.2186LF2,604
HR-1Handrail, 1-1/2"∅ Sch 40 pipe w/ wall bracketsS6.296LF518
LAD-1Roof access ladder w/ safety cage, 14'-0"S6.32EA930
TOTAL — SHEETS S2 THROUGH S6 · 30.07 TONS60,133

2 · Marked-up plan sheets

PDF

Every counted member gets a bubble, and the bubble carries the mark that appears in the workbook. Below is one enlarged framing bay — enough to show the convention without redrawing anybody's building. When you check a quantity, you are looking at the same sheet the estimator was. Where a member is bubbled on the framing plan but scheduled somewhere else — columns on S3.1, braced frames on S4.1 — the workbook records the sheet the quantity was measured on, not the sheet it was bubbled on.

3 4 5 B C 24'-0" 28'-0" B-1 B-2 C-1 X-1 B-3 S2.1 — LEVEL 2 PODIUM FRAMING (ENLARGED) 1/4" = 1'-0"

3 · Branded proposal

.docx · PDF

Your letterhead, your logo, your name at the bottom. Ours appears nowhere in it. The black bar is where a real package carries the shop's own identity.

Your company name and logo here  ·  Structural Steel & Miscellaneous Metals

PROJECT: BAY AREA — 4-STOREY PODIUM MULTIFAMILY (DEMONSTRATION) · BID DATE: 03 SEP 2026 · OUR REF: 26-DEMO-01 · BASIS: S-SERIES DRAWINGS DATED 12 AUG 2026

We propose to furnish all labor, material, equipment and supervision to fabricate and erect the structural steel and miscellaneous metals shown on the S-series drawings and described in the attached scope of work — podium transfer framing, garage columns and braced frames, composite deck and studs, metal-pan stairs, guardrail, handrail and roof access ladder — complete and in place.

LUMP SUM: $327,400.00 · three hundred twenty-seven thousand four hundred dollars. Base bid; no alternates carried.

  1. TAXES — California sales and use tax on material is included. Priced as private open-shop work; prevailing wage and PLA labor are not included.
  2. GALVANIZING — Hot-dip galvanizing is included at the podium-edge guardrail and the roof access ladder only. All other steel receives one coat of shop primer.
  3. EMBEDS — Embed plates and anchor-bolt assemblies are furnished loose for installation by the concrete contractor. Setting, surveying and grouting are excluded.
  4. HOISTING — Crane and operator for the structural frame are included. Hoisting of miscellaneous metals after the podium pour is by others.

Pricing held thirty days. Addenda issued after the date above are subject to review.

4 · Scope of work

.docx · PDF

The proposal wins the job. The scope of work decides whether it makes money. This is the page a project manager reads at buyout, written plainly enough that nobody can claim six months later that grouting the base plates was implied.

Scope of Work — Division 5, Structural & Miscellaneous Metals

ATTACHMENT A TO PROPOSAL 26-DEMO-01 · BAY AREA 4-STOREY PODIUM MULTIFAMILY (DEMONSTRATION)

INCLUDED

  • Furnish and erect structural steel per S2.1 through S4.2: beams, columns, braced-frame members, base plates and all connection material.
  • Composite floor deck and field-welded shear studs at the steel-framed infill bays on the podium level, furnished and installed.
  • Embed plates and anchor-bolt assemblies furnished loose to the concrete contractor.
  • Metal-pan stairs, landings, and the handrail and guardrail at Stair 1 and Stair 2, garage level to podium.
  • Guardrail at the podium edge and one roof access ladder with safety cage.
  • One coat of shop primer on all steel; hot-dip galvanizing where scheduled.
  • AWS D1.1 welding by qualified welders, and cooperation with the owner's special inspector.
  • As-bid quantities and a schedule of values for the first pay application.

EXCLUDED

  • Concrete, grout, reinforcing steel, and the setting of embeds and anchor bolts.
  • Cold-formed metal framing, light-gauge joists and roof trusses.
  • Elevator guide rails, pit ladders, sump covers and cab work.
  • Fireproofing, intumescent coating and any painting beyond shop primer.
  • Sawcutting, coring, patching and repair of work installed by others.
  • Temporary shoring, and structural stability prior to completion of the deck diaphragm.
  • Permits, testing and special-inspection fees, and any third-party or deferred-submittal engineering.
  • Overtime, premium time and off-hours work unless directed in writing.
  • Anything not listed under INCLUDED above. Where the drawings and the specification disagree we have bid the drawings and raised an RFI.

5 · RFI list

.docx · PDF

Every plan set has gaps. Found during the bid period they cost a question; found after award they cost a change order you will not get paid for. These came out of the takeoff itself.

Bid-Period Requests for Information

26-DEMO-01 · SUBMITTED 5 WORKING DAYS PRIOR TO BID · RESPONSES REQUESTED BY ADDENDUM

  1. RFI-001 · S4.2, Detail 3 — The embed schedule calls for EP-1 at each stair-landing bearing, but Detail 3/S4.2 shows a bolted bearing angle with no embed. Confirm which governs. The difference is 16 embeds and the concrete placement sequence they sit in.
  2. RFI-002 · S6.1 vs A6.1 — Structural stair plan S6.1 shows 12 risers per flight, garage slab to podium; architectural section A6.1 shows 13. Confirm the riser count and the floor-to-floor dimension so the stringers are laid out to the correct rise.
  3. RFI-003 · S5.2, Note 4 — Note 4 requires galvanizing at “exposed steel” without defining exposed. Confirm whether that means the podium-edge guardrail and roof ladder only, or all steel above the podium slab. The two readings are not close in cost.
  4. RFI-004 · S2.2, deck plan — The infill-bay deck at the podium is called out as 3" composite deck, but no gauge appears on S2.2 or in the deck schedule. Confirm gauge and finish.

6 · Pay-app template

.xlsx

The schedule of values is pre-built off the same line items as the takeoff, so your first billing does not become a week of arguing about how the contract was broken out. Bill straight off it or drop the values into the GC's G702 and G703.

SCHEDULE OF VALUES — APPLICATION No. 3 · PERIOD ENDING 30 NOV 2026 · stored material is billed separately and is not carried in completed-to-date · demonstration data
Line item Scheduled value % complete This period Stored materials Completed to date
Mobilization & submittals24,000100%0024,000
Structural steel — material96,00070%28,80019,20067,200
Shop fabrication78,00060%23,400046,800
Misc metals — stairs, rails, ladder61,40025%15,350015,350
Erection — structural frame52,00015%7,80007,800
Field welding, touch-up & punch16,0000%000
TOTALS (USD)327,40049.2%75,35019,200161,150

How this package was built

The same way yours would be, and on the same clock.

  1. You email the plan set to bids@topoutapp.com with the job name and the bid date. A Drive or Dropbox link is fine; size does not matter.
  2. An AI takeoff does the counting and the measuring — every beam, every embed, every foot of rail — and writes each quantity against the sheet it was measured on.
  3. A professional estimator reviews every quantity before anything ships — not a spot check. That review is the reason the sheet references exist.
  4. Six files come back in 24–48 hours in Excel, Word and PDF, carrying your logo and your rates. A 24-hour rush is +35%.
  5. You review it, change whatever you want, and send it to the GC under your own name.

Every line traces back to a sheet. If a quantity cannot be pointed at a drawing, it has no business being in a bid — and you should not have to take our word for where it came from. It is also why the package above is invented rather than borrowed: your plans are never shared, never used to bid against you, and deleted on request.

More on the workflow under how it works.

What is not in the package

TopOut prices the work and builds the paperwork. It does not detail the steel, stamp it, or buy it. No shop drawings, no sealed calculations, no PE stamp, no erection engineering, no material procurement, no model. Those belong to your detailer, your engineer of record and your supplier, and the estimate is written to hand off cleanly to all three.

Structural steel and miscellaneous metals are the live trade. Concrete, framing, mechanical, plumbing and electrical are not, and will not be until each meets our internal bar. The six files above are the entire product.

Your first package is free — a real one, on your own plans, not this one. After that: Starter $299–399 for small scopes, Standard $549–899 for a typical commercial bid, Complex $1,200–2,500 for large or multi-building work, plus 35% for a 24-hour rush. The breakdown is on the pricing section.

Get this built on your own plans.

Send one plan set with the job name and the bid date. The first package is free — no card, no contract, no form. If you would rather talk the scope through first, call.

Email your plan set (408) 306-0094

Keep reading

Steel estimating services What gets taken off on a structural bid, and how the package is priced. Misc metals estimating Stairs, rails, ladders, embeds, grating and floor plate — the scope that eats margin when it is guessed. Pricing First package free, then $299–$2,500 per bid package. Add 35% for a 24-hour turnaround.