The new What-If-Bid package provides a predictive analytics engine that can enhance win rates and protect margins without disrupting established workflows. By democratising advanced mathematics and analytics, What-If-Bid equips estimators with real-time insights, akin to having a personal data scientist at their fingertips. Unlike standalone bidding platforms, its click-and-drag scenario means decision-making liveboards are automated, synchronised, and provide intuitive predictive analytics, drawing data from systems like HeavyBid and B2W. Many in the industry are showing strong enthusiasm for What-If-Bid’s promise to streamline bidding and drive smarter outcomes.
The package offers the potential to transform bidding through real-time visual modelling, enabling estimators to explore “what-if” scenarios with unprecedented speed and precision. Rather than replacing trusted tools like HeavyBid or B2W, it enhances them by pulling data directly from these systems, ensuring synchronised insights without workflow disruptions. This seamless approach has sparked positive initial feedback, as contractors recognise the value of leveraging their existing data to make more informed, competitive bids.
Instant pricing insights with KPI benchmarking
Imagine a contractor preparing a bid for a $2 million bridge-rehabilitation project under a tight deadline, needing to balance competitive pricing with sustainable margins amidst fluctuating material prices. In such scenarios, What-If-Bid’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface, resembling a mobile app, allows estimators to test pricing scenarios in seconds. Adjusting labour or material inputs easily produces immediate visual feedback on profitability.
The platform benchmarks the bid against comparable projects using key performance indicators (KPIs) like material cost percentage and markup thresholds, updating dynamically with any assumption change. Estimators can view how bid scenarios compare to prior won and lost bids, as well as budget versus actual performance, providing automated benchmark guidance that effectively puts the whole bid and job history of the contractor at the service of the estimator team.
What-If-Bid is capable of delivering a precise bid price that maximises competitiveness while maintaining profitability, eliminating the delays and errors of traditional spreadsheets and analysis. Early adopters say the platform can reduce bid preparation time and enhance line of sight with robust cost and margin simulations.
Quick setup and seamless integration
Estimators preparing a bid for a multi-lane highway resurfacing project, for instance, rely on HeavyBid or B2W for cost data, but can struggle with slow, manual scenario analysis. What-If-Bid integrates with existing ERP and bidding tools, requiring no replacements or data migrations. Setup is swift and usage is intuitive, requiring very little training. Push-button visuals, such as dynamic cost-ratio charts or KPI dashboards, streamline bid refinements, allowing estimators to experience best-in-class mathematics, rather than eliminating the room for exercising judgement, unlike many traditional tools. What-If-Bid enables estimators and company leadership to optimise the bid in minutes, enhancing responsiveness to RFPs. Initial feedback highlights the platform’s potential to shorten bid cycles, allowing firms to pursue more opportunities efficiently.
This non-competitive stance sets What-If-Bid apart. Rather than displacing tools like HeavyBid or B2W, it leverages data into a predictive analytics driven decision-making tool, automating data synchronisation to keep analytics current. For estimators, this means focusing on strategy rather than data management, a significant advantage in fast-paced contexts like emergency road repairs. The platform’s compatibility with existing ecosystems is driving positive interest, as contractors appreciate its minimal disruption to established processes.
Smart scenario analysis with AI insights
A contractor bidding on a $5 million interchange upgrade can face challenges such as rising fuel costs and subcontractor availability that threaten profitability. But What-If-Bid’s predictive engine runs thousands of scenarios in seconds, delivering clear visuals of probability-adjusted outcomes. Powered by AI-driven insights, it simulates cost and margin probabilities, showing confidence intervals for maintaining profitability despite market swings. Estimators can adjust assumptions—like labour productivity—via drag-and-drop, and the platform recalibrates instantly. What-If-Bid is capable of providing data-driven clarity, enabling secure bids. This interactive approach makes complex probabilities accessible to all team members.
This feature is compelling in today’s volatile market. Highway construction faces rising costs and regulatory pressures, yet What-If-Bid’s real-time analytics allow estimators to navigate these challenges. By embedding advanced mathematics into an intuitive interface, it levels the playing field, allowing firms to compete with larger players. Initial interest suggests that contractors see the platform as a way to achieve more consistent bids, avoiding profitability pitfalls due to unforeseen risks.
This accessibility to sophisticated analytics is a game-changer. Historically, predictive modelling was reserved for firms with specialised data teams. What-If-Bid democratises this capability, enabling the use of tools like Monte Carlo simulations into the estimator’s workflow. For highway projects facing uncertainties—weather delays, supply chain disruptions—this offers objective risk quantification, replacing guesswork with data-driven clarity. The platform’s visuals capture each adjustment, fostering institutional knowledge and enabling teams to refine strategies over time.
Accelerating the use of applied intelligence in construction
What-If-Bid accelerates the digital transformation sweeping highway construction. This meets the increasing demand for efficient, data-driven bidding. The platform supports the shift by optimising resource allocation, contributing to sustainable project outcomes. Its risk modelling also helps anticipate disruptions, such as material and equipment cost variances, fostering resilient bidding strategies.
Adoption requires embracing analytics, and What-If-Bid’s app-like interface—vivid, responsive, and jargon-free—eases this transition. Estimators can adapt to its feedback loop quickly, building trust in its predictions, as noted in early implementation feedback. For leadership, the promise is clear: fewer lost contracts, steadier cash flows, and a competitive edge in a budget-constrained market. The platform’s ability to deliver these outcomes, without system overhauls, makes it an attractive solution for contractors.
What-If-Bid’s real-time KPI benchmarking, contractor-specific, data-trained simulations, and drag-and-drop ease address the challenges of slow analysis, system silos, and cost uncertainties. By utilising existing data ecosystems, it unlocks high-value decision-making—automated, synchronised, and accessible. With growing industry interest, this predictive engine promises to empower contractors to win more projects and sustain profitability, redefining bidding precision in an era of opportunity.
Produced in association with ActiveGraf
