Bidfident for turnaround contractors
Estimating software for turnarounds
Turnaround bids are big, and the crew rates, rentals and inspection quotes all have to land in one number. Bidfident prices exchanger bundles, valves, flange bolting and pump changeouts by the piece, with boilermakers, pipefitters and millwrights at their own rates, a bundle extractor charged for its own hours, inspection bids side by side, and the crane and supervision by the week.
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?
The extractor billed for every crew hour
Pulling a bundle takes the crew two days, but the extractor is only on it for a few hours. Price it for the crew's hours and the bid is too high. In Bidfident a line's equipment can have its own hours per unit, so the extractor is charged for its own time.
A turnaround in a thousand rows
Hundreds of valves, flanges and exchangers, and finding one line means scrolling. In Bidfident Ctrl+F finds lines by description, code, area, unit or trade, and sorting by any column puts the biggest costs on top.
Rates that move before the award
Turnaround bids can sit for weeks before award, and by then the rates sheet has moved on. In Bidfident a submitted bid keeps the labour and equipment rates it was priced with, and version history compares any saved version with now.
How Bidfident fits your work
The bundle extractor for its own hours
Give the extractor its own hours per unit, say 6 hours a bundle against the boilermakers' 48. It's charged for its own time, not the crew's. Leave it blank and it runs for the crew's hours.
Boilermakers, pipefitters and millwrights at their own rates
Each trade carries its own rate from the rate library, and every line takes its trade's rate. Change the boilermaker rate once and every bundle and tray line follows.
Inspection bids side by side
Enter each inspection and testing bid. The lowest is flagged and carried unless you pick another, and a declined bid is ignored.
Crane, supervision and tool crib by the week
Put the 90 t crane, supervision and the site trailer in as weekly items linked to the job duration. If the turnaround grows to 3.5 weeks, they all follow.
Night-shift bolting at a line's own rate
Flange bolting on nights gets its own rate on that line only. It's marked in purple, so the premium is easy to find when the bid is checked.
Every cost code totalled
The cost report totals the turnaround by cost code under each division, filters by area or cost type, and copies as CSV when the owner wants a breakdown in their own spreadsheet.
Worked example: a three-week process unit turnaround
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 27 lines of your own work, 4 subtrades and 5 overhead items over a 3-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 "Industrial shutdowns" and "Turnarounds" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Pull, clean and reinstall exchanger bundles, 6 ea
| $49,296.00 |
Column tray inspection and repair, 2 ea
| $18,640.00 |
Flange bolting and gaskets, night shift, 180 ea
| $49,860.00 |
Replace control and block valves, 24 ea
| $102,240.00 |
Pump and seal changeouts, 8 ea
| $46,912.00 |
22 more lines of your own work
| $262,089.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Inspection and testing
| $29,800.00 |
Hydroblasting of exchanger bundles
| $22,900.00 |
Relief valve shop testing and recertification
| $10,400.00 |
Insulation removal and reinstatement, allowance
| $12,000.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Turnaround supervision
| $21,600.00 |
Hydraulic crane, 90 t
| $49,500.00 |
Tool crib and site trailer
| $4,200.00 |
Night-shift supervision
| $11,400.00 |
Mobilization and demobilization
| $9,500.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| $529,037.00 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | $68,128.00 |
| Subtrades | $75,100.00 |
Overhead
| $96,200.00 |
Direct cost
| $700,337.00 |
Contingency
| $56,026.96 |
Fee
| $75,636.40 |
| Subtotal before bonding | $832,000.36 |
Bonding
| $8,320.00 |
Insurance
| $8,320.00 |
Bid total
| $848,640.36 |
GST, for reference
| $42,432.02 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
Can equipment run fewer hours than the crew?
Yes. Give the line's equipment its own hours per unit, such as a bundle extractor at 6 hours a bundle. Leave it blank and it runs for the crew's hours.
Can I split the turnaround by unit or area?
Yes. Tag each line with a WBS area or a location and group the sheet by it, with a subtotal for each. The cost report filters by area too.
If the boilermaker rate goes up, does a turnaround bid I've sent change?
No. A submitted bid keeps the labour and equipment rates it was priced with, so a new boilermaker rate or a dearer extractor doesn't move a turnaround price you've already sent.
Can I price bolting by the flange and bundles by the bundle?
Yes. Units are free text, so flange bolting, column trays and exchanger bundles each go in by the piece (ea). Bidfident doesn't convert between units, so price each line in the unit its rate is in.
Can I carry scaffold, insulation and inspection as separate subtrades?
Yes. Each subtrade has its own bids side by side, with the lowest flagged and carried unless you pick another. Carry a plug amount for any subtrade still waiting on bids.
Does it build the turnaround schedule?
No. Bidfident prices the work. It doesn't schedule crews or track time. The turnaround's length in weeks drives the weekly items, such as the crane and supervision.
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 turnaround 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.