Bid revision guide ·
Plan Addendum Checklist: Update Your Construction Bid
An addendum is handled only when its effect reaches the scope, quantities, trade coverage and exact proposal you intend to issue. A replacement drawing in the folder is just the starting point.
By Chris Randall · Synthetic worked example and buyer checklist
The buying question
Can you explain what changed without rebuilding the bid?
For a general contractor or estimator working through a live bid revision, the useful software question is specific: can the team follow a changed requirement to the affected takeoff, trade package, quote and customer proposal while keeping the earlier offer identifiable?
The plan-to-proposal estimating guide covers the full workflow. This checklist focuses on the handoff after a new document arrives during bidding. The worked example is a method you can use in an existing spreadsheet or request in a product evaluation.
What changed in the source?
Identify the sheet, schedule, note or specification and its prior and replacement revisions.
What work changes?
Identify affected quantities, assemblies, work areas and trade responsibilities, including items whose count did not change.
What changes in the offer?
Review quote coverage, pricing assumptions and unresolved items before issuing the next proposal revision.
Synthetic worked example
One added opening. One changed finish. Several downstream checks.
This remodeling bid, its document identifiers and all quantities below are fictional. The example is editorial guidance, not a customer project, measured result or demonstration of automatic True to Plan output. No prices are supplied.
The estimator has issued Proposal 01 based on Estimate 01 and document set A. Addendum 02 now replaces floor plan A2 with revision B and changes the door schedule on A6. The revised set adds one interior door opening and changes one existing door from a paint finish to a stain finish.
Door openings: 8 becomes 9
The revised floor plan adds one opening. The net count is +1. Update the affected scope and review framing, the door and hardware package, adjacent finishes and trim responsibility. Replacing the old count with 9 avoids accidentally pricing both 8 and 9.
One finish changes; its count stays 1
The existing door is already included in the nine-opening total. Its revised finish may change the door selection and finishing scope even though its count is unchanged. Do not add a tenth door to represent the finish change.
The prior quote covers set A
The earlier door quote does not establish coverage for Addendum 02. Request confirmation or a revised quote for the added opening and changed selection. Record who carries finishing and hardware; keep any missing coverage visible.
Proposal 01 remains the earlier offer
After review, Estimate 02 can support Proposal 02. The new proposal states its document basis and reviewed scope. Preserve Proposal 01 with its original estimate basis so the team can explain the difference.
Keep one change record until the handoffs are complete
A useful record for the added opening reads: Addendum 02 / A2 revision B; added interior opening; 8 to 9, net +1; framing and door package review assigned; revised quote pending; Estimate 02 in review; Proposal 02 not issued. Record the finish change separately because it has a different quantity and pricing effect.
Each record needs a source reference, affected package, responsible reviewer, next action and status. “Drawing reviewed” closes the source check; it does not close a pending quote or prove that the proposal has been updated.
Six handoff checks
Work from the incoming issue to the outgoing proposal.
Use the checks below for a pre-award bid revision. Keep unresolved work assigned and visible. If an item materially affects the offer, decide whether to obtain clarification, carry a stated assumption or allowance, make a clear exclusion where appropriate, or hold the revised proposal.
Register the incoming issue
Record the addendum identifier, issue date, received date, revised sheet list and any changed schedules or specifications. Identify the earlier issue it modifies. A received file is not automatically the complete governing set.
Confirm the document basis
Assemble the applicable unchanged sheets together with their replacements and the addendum instructions. Mark superseded material. If a schedule and drawing conflict, assign a clarification rather than quietly choosing one.
Map changes to work
For each revision, identify affected scope, work area, assemblies and trade interfaces. A note or selection change can affect cost even when geometry and counts stay the same.
Reconcile quantities and quotes
Replace the affected takeoff basis, check dependent components and manual corrections, and request revised trade coverage where needed. Record whether each quote includes the new issue and its qualifications.
Review the commercial result
Carry current labor, material, equipment and subcontract assumptions into the revised estimate. Resolve or explicitly treat open selections and responsibility gaps. A refreshed quantity does not make an old quote current.
Issue an identifiable proposal
Publish the reviewed scope, total, alternates, allowances, exclusions and document basis as a new proposal revision. Preserve the earlier issued version and make clear which revision the recipient should evaluate.
Keep the stage of the project clear
This example concerns updating an offer during bidding. If the work has already been awarded, use the project's agreed change process and approval requirements. An updated internal estimate alone does not establish an approved change to scope, price or time.
A useful evaluation
Ask for the revision path, then inspect the outputs.
A comparison view can help locate changed content. The buying decision depends on what happens next. Ask the vendor to walk through a known revision with these expected behaviors:
- Source identity: show the old and replacement document basis, including unchanged sheets that still apply.
- Two different effects: show an added quantity and a changed requirement whose count stays the same.
- Manual judgment: retain the estimator's correction and reason; show whether the new revision requires it to be reviewed again.
- Trade coverage: keep an old quote distinguishable from confirmation that it covers the addendum.
- Downstream result: identify affected packages and reconcile the revised estimate with the new proposal, including allowances and exclusions.
- Earlier publication: reopen the issued proposal and its original basis without replacing them with the latest working state.
If the source changes but a total does not, ask why. Some revisions have no price effect; others are waiting on a selection, responsibility decision or quote. The useful result is an explainable state, not a forced price delta for every cloud on the drawing.
The AI estimating buyer guide provides the broader evaluation questions. The scope of work checklist helps check the trade interfaces that a simple quantity difference can miss.
Product context & next step
Evaluate the connected workflow in early access.
True to Plan's public Plan Review, Takeoffs and Proposals pages describe the intended connection between governing documents, reviewable quantities and identifiable customer offers. The product tour shows actual interface views using synthetic demonstration data.
True to Plan remains in controlled early access while the engine, trade logic, product experience and commercial account flow are hardened for a broader pilot. This checklist describes what to evaluate; it does not promise that every revision case or trade is supported today.
Request early access with the type of work you estimate and the revision problem you want to test. Confirm the supported workflow and an approved way to share documents before providing a plan set. During an evaluation, use a known project you are authorized to share and compare the full chain with your estimator's reference.