Preconstruction

Estimate and bid a job before you win it — then convert the awarded pursuit into a live project that carries its budget and bought-out subs.

Track a pursuit

Follow a pursuit from lead through award on the Preconstruction stage board before it becomes a real project.

Preconstruction is its own top-level section (in the left sidebar, for company admins). It is where pursuits live before they are won — each pursuit can hold its own estimates and bid packages, all of which carry into the project when you win the job.

  1. Open PreconstructionClick Preconstruction in the sidebar. The stage board shows every pursuit in columns from Lead → Qualified → Proposed → Awarded, plus a Lost column for win/loss tracking.
  2. Click New pursuitCapture the project name, the prospect / owner, an estimated value, and a win probability. Only the name is required — the value and probability feed your weighted-pipeline forecast at the top of the board.
  3. Open the pursuitClick a card to open its detail page. The Overview tab carries the stage controls; the Estimating and Bidding tabs are where you price and bid the work.
  4. Move it through the funnelOn the Overview tab, click a stage button (Qualified, Proposed, Awarded) as the pursuit progresses, or Mark lost with a reason. Awarding stamps the win so the pursuit is ready to convert.
Note
The metrics row totals your open pursuits, your weighted pipeline (each pursuit’s value × its win probability), and what you’ve won — a quick read on the backlog you’re chasing.

Build an estimate

Price a pursuit by cost code with quantity, unit cost, markup, and OH&P — the total rolls up to a GMP.

Estimating lives on the pursuit (and on a project, after award). Open a pursuit and switch to the Estimating tab.

  1. Click New estimateGive it a title (e.g. “GMP Estimate — proposal”) and set the overhead, profit, and contingency percentages. Those markups apply on top of the line subtotal.
  2. Add lines by cost codeEach line is a CSI cost code, a description, quantity, unit, unit cost, and an optional per-line markup. The extended amount and the running GMP update as you type — every field saves on blur.
  3. Mark the chosen estimate FinalWhen an estimate is the one you’re standing behind, click Mark final. The Final estimate is the one FieldsDesk carries into the project budget when you win — keep iterating in a draft if you’re still pricing.
Tip
You can keep several estimates on one pursuit — a quick budget number and a firmed-up GMP, for example. The latest Final estimate (or, if none is Final, the latest with lines) is the one that seeds the budget on conversion.

Send out bids and level them

Bundle a scope from your cost codes, email subs a no-login bid form, and level their bids side by side.

You can bid work out from a pursuit (to firm a number before you’ve won) or from a project (buyout after award). Open the Bidding tab.

  1. Create a bid packageTitle it, pick the cost codes in scope, set a due date, and add instructions to bidders. The scope codes are what each sub prices.
  2. Invite subsPick subcontractors from your directory. FieldsDesk uses their contact email on file.
  3. Send invitationsEach sub gets a private link to a bid form — no account, no login. They open it, enter a price per scope line, add notes, and submit. The link expires after 30 days.
  4. Level the bidsAs bids come in they appear on the leveling board: a side-by-side matrix of every sub’s price per cost code, with the low number on each line and the low total highlighted.
  5. Pick the winnerClick Pick winner on the leading bid. On a pursuit this records the winner only — the draft commitment is created when you convert to a project. (On a project, awarding drafts the commitment immediately.)
Note
A sub can revise their bid from the same link until you award — the leveling board always shows their latest numbers.

Convert a pursuit to a project

Win the job and promote the pursuit into a live project that carries its budget, GMP, and awarded subs.

Converting is where preconstruction pays off: the project starts populated instead of blank.

  1. Award the pursuitOn the Overview tab, move the stage to Awarded. The Convert to project button lights up.
  2. Click Convert to projectEnter the project number for your office’s numbering scheme. FieldsDesk reuses the pursuit’s owner, address, and value, so you don’t retype anything.
  3. The budget seeds itselfYour chosen (Final) estimate is rolled into the new project’s budget by cost code — folding in overhead, profit, and contingency — and the GMP is set to match. The estimate and any bid packages re-home onto the project.
  4. Awarded bids become commitmentsEvery bid package you awarded on the pursuit becomes a draft commitment on the new project, pre-filled with the winning sub and their priced lines — ready to review and execute.
Tip
Nothing is lost on conversion: the pursuit stays on record (with its win/loss timing) and links to the project it became, so your pipeline analytics stay intact.

Project templates

Reuse your standard cost-code structure, contact roles, and starter schedule so every job starts consistent.

A project template captures the scaffolding you reuse on every build — the CSI cost-code structure, the standard contact roles, and a starter set of schedule tasks. Cloning a template at project creation means a new job starts with structure instead of a blank page.

Save a template

Open a project whose structure you want to reuse and choose Save as template from the project actions menu. The cost-code tree, role placeholders, and schedule task list are copied into a reusable template. Dollar amounts are not carried over — only the structure.

Use a template

When you create a project or convert a pursuit, pick a template in the clone step. You can always adjust everything afterward; the template just gives you a faster, more consistent starting point.

Tip
Most firms keep two or three templates — for example one for ground-up custom homes and one for renovations — so the cost-code structure already matches the job type.