Bidfident for fibre contractors
Estimating software for fibre runs
Pricing a fibre run in Bidfident starts with the metres. Put cable pulled in conduit and aerial fibre lashed to strand on their own lines, each with its hours per metre and a waste percentage on the cable. The bucket truck is charged for its own hours, handholes and slack loops go in by the each, locates as a subtrade, and traffic control by the week.
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Sound familiar?
Aerial and underground at one rate
A lineworker on the strand costs more than a technician pulling cable in conduit, but one blended rate in the spreadsheet hides it. In Bidfident each line takes its own trade's rate from your library.
Cable waste guessed on a separate row
Slack, tails and cut-offs get added as a lump at the bottom, or forgotten. In Bidfident each line's material price has its own waste percentage, so the extra cable is priced in the line it belongs to.
Traffic control that doesn't follow the job
The route slips a week and the traffic control row still says five. In Bidfident weekly items like traffic control and supervision follow the job duration, so change the weeks and they follow.
How Bidfident fits your work
Lineworkers and technicians at their own rates
Put aerial lashing on the lineworker, cable pulls on the fibre technician and handholes on the labourer. Each line takes its trade's rate from your library.
Metres of cable with waste built in
Each line takes metres, hours per metre, a cable price with its waste percentage, and equipment by the hour. Copy a run down the sheet like Excel and the totals keep up.
A bucket truck for the hours it runs
Give the bucket truck its own hours per metre on the aerial line. It's charged for those hours, not every hour the crew spends lashing.
Traffic control by the week
Traffic control and the foreman go in by the week and follow the job duration. Stretch the job from 5 weeks to 6 and they follow.
Each segment with its own subtotal
Tag lines with a segment, a street or a pole line, then group the sheet by it to see what each stretch of the route comes to.
Locates quotes side by side
Enter each locates bid, see the lowest flagged, and carry it or the one you pick. No quotes yet? Carry a plug amount so the bid isn't short.
Worked example: fibre to a rural business park
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 25 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 "Telecom and fibre" and "Fibre runs" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Fibre cable, 144-count, pulled in conduit, 6,200 m
| $30,888.40 |
Handholes, set and backfilled, 12 ea
| $9,888.00 |
Slack loops and storage brackets, 18 ea
| $1,917.00 |
Aerial fibre, lashed to strand, 2,400 m
| $16,161.60 |
Strand and pole hardware, 2,400 m
| $7,200.00 |
20 more lines of your own work
| $49,683.80 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Utility locates
| $3,150.00 |
Directional bore at the creek crossing
| $8,900.00 |
Pole owner make-ready, allowance
| $8,000.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Site supervision, foreman
| $8,500.00 |
Traffic control
| $7,000.00 |
Project manager, part time
| $3,000.00 |
Road use and pole attachment permits
| $2,200.00 |
Mobilize crews and equipment
| $2,500.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| $115,738.80 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | $13,341.00 |
| Subtrades | $20,050.00 |
Overhead
| $23,200.00 |
Direct cost
| $158,988.80 |
Contingency
| $4,769.66 |
Fee
| $16,375.85 |
| Subtotal before bonding | $180,134.31 |
Bonding
| $1,801.34 |
Insurance
| $900.67 |
Bid total
| $182,836.32 |
GST, for reference
| $9,141.82 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
Can I price aerial and underground fibre differently?
Yes. Put each on its own line with its own trade, hours per metre and material price. The aerial line can carry the bucket truck by the hour.
Can I add waste for slack and cut-offs?
Yes. Each line's material price has a waste percentage, so the extra cable is priced into the line.
Can I price cable by the foot?
Yes. Units are free text, so m, ft or lf all work. Bidfident doesn't convert between units, so keep each line in the unit its price is in.
Does traffic control follow the length of the job?
Yes. Weekly and monthly items follow the job duration in weeks, and part weeks such as 1.5 are allowed.
Can it measure the route from a map?
No. Type your metres in, or copy and paste them from your own spreadsheet.
Can I keep an underground option beside the aerial route?
Yes. Put the underground lines in and switch them off. They stay on the sheet struck through, and what they come to is shown beside the totals, not counted in the bid.
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 fibre 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.