Bidfident for grading contractors
Estimating software for grading and earthwork
Bidfident is built for estimators who price grading by the square metre and the cubic metre. Strip topsoil, cut and fill, fine grade, proof roll and respread on separate lines, give the dozer, motor grader and roller their own hours apart from the operator's, carry survey and grade checks as a subtrade, and keep silt fence and erosion control in the site costs.
Enter your email and Bidfident sends you a sign-in link. New companies start with a starter rate library. Who runs Bidfident, and what it keeps about you.
Sound familiar?
Dozer and grader time lumped in with the crew
Rough grading and fine grading use different machines for very different hours, but a spreadsheet row often has one blended rate. In Bidfident each line names its own equipment with its own hours per unit, apart from the operator's.
Big areas, tiny rates
On a 14,500 square metre field, a slip in hours per square metre moves the price by thousands. Bidfident keeps the bid total in view and briefly shows how much it moved after each change, so a slip shows at once.
The same area on five lines
Strip, fine grade, proof roll and respread all use the field's area, and when it changes some rows get missed. In Bidfident the sheet fills down like Excel, and every change is one undo step if you go too far.
How Bidfident fits your work
Dozer, grader and roller for their own hours
A cut and fill line can carry the dozer at its own hours per cubic metre, and fine grading the motor grader at its own hours per square metre. Each machine is charged for the time it runs.
Every pass on its own line
Strip, cut and fill, fine grade, proof roll and respread each get a line with a quantity, a unit, crew hours per unit and equipment. Totals update as you type.
Production rates kept in the library
Save tasks with their hours per unit, like fine grading per square metre, in the company library. Every estimate picks up the same production rates.
Survey and grade checks as a subtrade
Enter each surveyor's price side by side, see the lowest flagged, and carry it or another you pick.
Group by field, parking or access road
Tag lines with an area, like the main field, the parking area or the access road, and group the sheet with a subtotal for each.
Erosion control and supervision in site costs
Silt fence as a lump sum, the superintendent by the week. Linked weekly items follow the job duration, even part weeks like 4.5.
Worked example: rough and fine grading for a school sports field
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 27 lines of your own work, 3 subtrades and 5 overhead items over a 5-week job. The 5 lines this page talks about are listed one by one, and the rest are added up in one row. It's the same job you can open as an example project in Bidfident, so every figure below matches it.
To open this job in Bidfident: sign in and set up your company in Canada, then on the Projects screen, under Example project, pick "Civil and site work" and "Grading" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Strip and stockpile topsoil, 14,500 m2
| $19,227.00 |
Cut and fill on site, 6,200 m3
| $30,132.00 |
Fine grading to plus or minus 25 mm, 14,500 m2
| $14,964.00 |
Subgrade compaction and proof roll, 14,500 m2
| $5,974.00 |
Respread topsoil, 150 mm, 14,500 m2
| $18,183.00 |
22 more lines of your own work
| $124,063.50 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Surveying and grade checks
| $7,600.00 |
Compaction testing
| $5,800.00 |
Imported topsoil if the site stock runs short, allowance
| $12,000.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Site superintendent
| $14,500.00 |
Silt fence and erosion control
| $4,800.00 |
Mobilize and demobilize equipment
| $7,200.00 |
Site trailer and portable toilet
| $1,525.00 |
Water truck, dust control
| $7,800.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| $212,543.50 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | $84,042.00 |
| Subtrades | $25,400.00 |
Overhead
| $35,825.00 |
Direct cost
| $273,768.50 |
Contingency
| $8,213.06 |
Fee
| $28,198.16 |
| Subtotal before bonding | $310,179.72 |
Bonding
| $3,101.80 |
Insurance
| $1,550.90 |
Bid total
| $314,832.42 |
GST, for reference
| $15,741.62 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
Can the dozer and grader run fewer hours than the operator?
Yes. Each line's equipment can have its own hours per unit. Leave it blank and the machine runs for the crew's hours.
Can I keep my production rates per square metre?
Yes. Save them as tasks with hours per unit in the rate library, and pick them from the line picker by typing a description.
Does it work out cut and fill from survey data?
No. Bidfident doesn't read survey files, drawings or maps. Enter the volumes your survey or software gives you.
Can I price in square yards or acres?
Units are free text, so any unit works. Bidfident doesn't convert between units, so price each line in the unit its rate is in.
Can erosion control go in as a lump sum?
Yes. Add it as an overhead item by lump sum, beside weekly items like the superintendent.
What if wet weather adds a week to the grading?
Change the job duration and the superintendent, and every other weekly or monthly item linked to it, updates. Part weeks are allowed.
Does Bidfident work with Claude or ChatGPT?
Not yet, but it's coming. You'll be able to connect Bidfident to your own Claude or ChatGPT account and ask about your estimates in plain English. The answers will come from Bidfident's own figures, so they match the estimate. It will use the account you already have: Claude first, ChatGPT to follow.
Price your next grading bid in Bidfident
Enter your email and Bidfident sends you a sign-in link. New companies start with a starter rate library. Who runs Bidfident, and what it keeps about you.