Bid Management for zzTakeoff

Bid Management Functionality

I wanted to suggest a Bid Management feature that would enhance zzTakeoff and make it a more comprehensive estimating solution. Right now, zzTakeoff is great for takeoffs, but adding bid management would allow users to track, manage, and submit bids directly from the platform.

Suggested Features for Bid Management System:

1. ✅ Bid Templates – Auto-fill bid documents using takeoff data, including a company logo or letterhead template for a professional presentation. The template should also include a timestamp of when the bid was generated and a response deadline to indicate how long the pricing is valid. Additionally, a disclaimer can be added to notify customers that pricing may change due to fluctuations in labor, lumber, or material costs if the bid is not accepted within the stated time frame.
2. ✅ Bid Versioning – Streamline the ability to save multiple versions of bids without manually duplicating and renaming projects, while also tracking what was covered in each bid version. Once a bid is submitted, the plans should be locked to preserve the bid amount, preventing further changes. If the customer requests modifications, a new revision number will be created while keeping the old version unchanged. This ensures that when revisions come in—such as a customer initially requesting a two-car garage, then later deciding to scale down to a one-car garage due to budget constraints—users can easily refer to previous bids to see what was originally included. While the takeoff will still need to be adjusted to match the new plans, having a locked record of past bids ensures clarity, maintains pricing history, and allows customers to revert to an earlier bid if they change their mind.
3. ✅ Bid Status Tracking – Mark bids as pending, accepted, rejected, or won, either as a property within each project or by allowing users to move bids into designated status folders for better organization.
4. ✅ Approval Workflows – Option to review/approve bids before submission.
5. ✅ Deadline Reminders – Notify users of upcoming bid due dates.

Since zzTakeoff already supports exporting to Excel and PDF, these bid tracking tools would make it easier for users to manage bids within the platform before exporting final versions.

With these features, zzTakeoff could become a one-stop platform for estimating and bid submission, eliminating the need for external bid management tools.

Right now, zzTakeoff is already the best at what it does—just like a nail gun is the best tool for driving in nails efficiently. While adding new features, like bid management, could be useful, it’s important to consider whether they truly enhance the workflow rather than just adding extra functionality for the sake of it. For example, attaching a saw to a nail gun might sound like a cool idea, but it wouldn’t necessarily make it a better tool for either task. These are just ideas that could complement zzTakeoff’s core strengths and might work well as future features.

I know there are higher priorities, but let me know if this could be considered for the roadmap later on.