Estimate and proposal review ·
Construction Bid Alternates: Keep the Base Bid and Options Separate
A client should be able to choose an option without leaving your estimator to guess what came out of the base bid.
By Chris Randall · Synthetic scope exercise and software evaluation
The buying question
Can you explain the selected scope as clearly as the selected total?
For a residential contractor evaluating estimating or proposal software, bid alternates are a useful test. Ask the vendor to preserve one base bid, show exactly what each option changes and reproduce the final offer after selections change.
An additive alternate increases the offered amount; a deductive alternate reduces it. A substitution may produce either result. The important review question is what work is removed, added or retained. A label such as “door upgrade” leaves too much to inference.
This guide provides a working convention for an internal estimate and client proposal. Follow the actual project's bid instructions and forms where they prescribe a different presentation. It does not establish contract requirements or authorize work.
One starting point
Freeze the base before comparing options.
Record the estimate revision, governing document issue, included locations and assemblies, quantities, quote references, exclusions and pricing date. Keep this baseline available even after the client selects an option. Otherwise, an alternate can quietly become part of the base and then be added again.
Use the scope of work checklist for the starting package. If drawings or specifications change, use the plan addendum checklist to decide which base and alternate revisions must be reviewed again.
Give each alternate a complete record
Use a stable alternate ID and revision; the base revision it refers to; an exact description of removed and added work; affected items and locations; quantity and unit changes; supporting quotes; price basis; exclusions; related options; availability or validity conditions; and review status. Name the estimator and the person responsible for resolving open questions.
Keep selection separate from readiness. “Client interested” does not mean priced, reviewed, accepted or released for work. A selected but unpriced combination should remain an open decision.
Synthetic scope exercise
Twelve doors can stay twelve doors while the scope changes.
Every identifier, quantity and scope choice below is invented for this educational exercise. It is not a customer project, a product output, a specification or a price quotation. Assume a small interior-door package. Hardware, frames, finishes, installation and disposal still need explicit coverage in a real estimate; this example establishes selection logic only.
BASE / revision A
- Scope
- 12 painted hollow-core interior doors, D-01 through D-12.
- Review rule
- The complete starting scope for this exercise. No storage-room doors are included.
ALT-01 / substitute
- Scope
- Replace the same 12 doors with painted solid-core doors.
- Review rule
- Remove the base door package once and add the replacement package once. The count stays 12.
ALT-02 / add
- Scope
- Add two painted hollow-core storage-room doors, D-13 and D-14.
- Review rule
- This adds scope to the base. The two new doors are outside ALT-01 unless that alternate is revised.
ALT-03 / dependent option
- Scope
- Use a stain-grade door package with the specified stained finish on D-01 through D-12 with ALT-01.
- Review rule
- This changes the ALT-01 package. It cannot be accepted independently or treated as paint plus stain.
Reconcile the selected package
With ALT-01 alone, the result is 12 painted solid-core doors. With ALT-01 and ALT-02, it is 12 painted solid-core doors plus two painted hollow-core storage doors, for 14 total. “All 14 upgraded” is a different scope and needs a revised option.
If ALT-03 is added, review a combined ALT-01/ALT-03 package for the original 12 doors. The two storage doors remain unchanged unless the revised record explicitly includes them. Do not simply add a full stain-grade package to a full painted package.
Declining ALT-01 must also clear or flag ALT-03, because its stated prerequisite is gone. A system that preserves ALT-03 as an independent accepted item has lost the meaning of the selection, even if its arithmetic still adds up.
The estimate review
Price the net change, then check the whole package.
For a substitution, reconcile the complete affected scope: start with the base, remove the applicable base package once, then add the complete replacement package once. Review material, labor, hardware, freight, disposal and any affected trade interfaces. A supplier's material-only difference does not automatically cover your installed-scope difference.
Use one sign convention. For example, store an addition as a positive adjustment and a credit as a negative adjustment, then calculate “base offer plus accepted signed adjustments.” Do not subtract a credit a second time just because the line is called deductive.
Define how tax, overhead, markup and rounding apply to the affected lines and the final offer. Follow your established estimating basis and applicable project requirements. These fields must not enter once inside an alternate and again as an unnoticed global adjustment.
When options overlap, obtain or calculate a reviewed combined adjustment. In the door exercise, ALT-03 replaces a finish already carried in ALT-01. The reviewed combination needs to remove that finish once. Adding two standalone totals without checking their inclusions can count the same work twice.
No prices or standard adjustment rates are supplied here. Use current project-specific quotes and your own reviewed cost basis. The subcontractor bid-leveling checklist helps identify exclusions and unanswered coverage before a quote enters the estimate.
The client-facing offer
Show the decision without exposing the working estimate.
The proposal should identify its base revision, describe each offered alternate, state whether its amount adds to or deducts from the base, and explain any dependency or mutually exclusive choice. Show the selected configuration and its total separately from options still under consideration.
Keep internal costs, supplier comparisons, private notes and unapproved assumptions out of the customer export. At the same time, keep enough internal traceability to reconstruct the offered scope and amount. Review the actual exported document, not only the estimate screen.
- Read the base description. Can the customer tell what is included if no alternate is chosen?
- Read each accepted option against it. State which items change and which remain in the base.
- Resolve combinations. Dependent options and overlapping replacements need a reviewed combined scope and amount.
- Match the offer to its record. Keep the exact proposal revision, selection state, reviewer and issue date. Preserve declined and pending options internally.
- Keep later changes identifiable. A revised selection after an offer is issued needs a new reviewed record and the project's applicable acceptance process. Do not silently overwrite the issued version.
An estimating selection does not itself establish customer acceptance, an award or permission to order materials. Keep those decisions identifiable in your own workflow.
A repeatable buying test
Change the selection and inspect the export.
Use this fictional door package in a spreadsheet or vendor demonstration. These are evaluation criteria, not a statement that True to Plan currently automates alternate dependency checks or this full workflow.
- Save the base. Confirm that the original 12-door package remains reproducible after any option is selected.
- Select and deselect ALT-01. The count stays 12 while the door specification changes and returns. Check scope, pricing basis and export together.
- Add ALT-02. The count becomes 14, with the two storage doors separately identified. They must not inherit ALT-01 by accident.
- Select ALT-03, then remove ALT-01. Require an explicit dependency conflict or a new reviewed definition, rather than an apparently valid unsupported combination.
- Export the selected offer. A second estimator should reconstruct the selected scope and signed adjustments from the saved records. The customer document should exclude internal costs and show the intended options only.
If the tool cannot enforce a rule, document the manual review required and who owns it. The useful buying decision is whether that combination of software and process makes your offers reproducible, not whether a checkbox can be clicked quickly.
True to Plan early access
Bring one base bid and one difficult option.
Explore estimating, proposals and the True to Plan product workflow. Use a fictional or approved sample to discuss how your team reviews alternate scope and issues an offer.
True to Plan is in development. An early-access request expresses interest; it does not create an account or guarantee access. If the pilot is a match, availability and next steps are discussed together. Confirm the current behavior you need during that conversation.