Bidfident for dry lining subcontractors
Estimating software for dry liners
Dry lining and ceiling contractors price in square metres and metres, and Bidfident lets you do the same. Metal stud partitions, plasterboard on both sides, taping and jointing by a taper at their own rate, suspended ceilings with a scissor lift that runs less than the gang, and bulkheads by the metre. Skips go in by the number exchanged, and supervision follows the programme.
- Electrical
- Plumbing and mechanical
- HVAC and ductwork
- Dry lining
- Roofing
- Painting and decorating
- Flooring
- Brickwork and blockwork
- Concrete
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Sound familiar?
Jointing priced at the dry liner's rate
When everything sits on one labour rate, the taping and jointing is priced like the boarding and the tender is off. In Bidfident each line takes its trade's rate, so the taper and the dry liner are each priced at their own.
Board waste added in your head
Ten percent on plasterboard, five on studs, all worked out at the end. In Bidfident each line carries its own waste percentage, so the materials are right line by line.
Floors that don't add back to the total
Three floors on three tabs, and a change on one never reaches the summary. Bidfident groups one estimate by floor or area with subtotals, and it all adds up exactly.
How Bidfident fits your work
Dry liners and tapers at their own rates
Give the partition and boarding lines the dry liner's trade and the jointing line the taper's, and each takes its rate from the library. Add a new trade in the Trade cell without leaving the sheet.
Square metres and metres, line by line
Partitions, plasterboard and ceiling tiles by the square metre, bulkheads by the metre. Each line takes a quantity, hours per unit, a material price with a waste percentage, and plant by the hour.
Floor by floor, with subtotals
Tag each line with a floor or area and group the sheet by it, with a subtotal for each. Collapse the groups to see all three floors at once.
Change a whole floor at once
Tick the lines for the first floor, then set their area, trade or plant on all of them in one go. The totals for just the ticked lines show as you pick them.
The lift on the ceiling line only
The scissor lift on the suspended ceiling gets its own hours per square metre, so it's charged for the time it's used, not every hour the gang is on the line.
Insulation quotes side by side
Enter each quote for acoustic insulation in the partitions, see the lowest flagged, and carry it or the one you pick. No quote yet? Carry an allowance.
Worked example: dry lining and ceilings for a three-storey office
A made-up job, priced in Bidfident: 33 lines of your own work, 3 subcontract packages and 5 preliminaries items over a 12-week programme. 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 the UK, then on the Projects screen, under Example project, pick "Specialist subcontractors" and "Dry lining" and press Add example project.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Metal stud partitions, 92 mm studs at 400 mm centres, 560 m2
| £8,794.80 |
12.5 mm plasterboard, both sides, 1,120 m2
| £9,396.80 |
Taping and jointing, ready for decoration, 1,120 m2
| £4,121.60 |
Suspended ceiling, 600 x 600 tiles on exposed grid, 900 m2
| £23,157.00 |
Bulkheads, framed and boarded, 70 m
| £4,305.00 |
28 more lines of your own work
| £168,991.40 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Acoustic insulation in partitions
| £11,770.00 |
Fire stopping to penetrations and joints
| £6,930.00 |
Stair core scaffold, allowance
| £2,475.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Supervision, part-time site supervisor
| £8,400.00 |
Contracts manager, part time
| £3,655.38 |
Small tools, screw guns and stilts
| £1,260.00 |
Board delivery and crane offload
| £1,870.00 |
Skips, exchanged
| £1,980.00 |
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
Own work
| £218,766.60 |
| Excluded lines, not counted | £853.44 |
| Subcontractors | £21,175.00 |
Preliminaries
| £17,165.38 |
Direct cost
| £257,106.98 |
Contingency
| £7,713.21 |
Overheads and profit
| £26,482.02 |
| Subtotal before the bond | £291,302.21 |
Bond
| £0.00 |
Insurance
| £1,456.51 |
Tender total
| £292,758.72 |
VAT, for reference
| £58,551.74 |
See it in Bidfident
Coming soon Ask your estimate anything. Claude first, ChatGPT to follow. See how it will work
Questions
Can I price in square metres?
Yes. Units are free text, so m², m, nr and item all work. Bidfident doesn't convert between units, so price each line in the unit its rate is in.
Can taping and jointing have a different rate from boarding?
Yes. Set up a taper as its own trade with its own rate, and give the jointing line that trade. Each line then takes its trade's rate.
Can I build a partition type as one line?
Yes. Save it in the rate library as an assembly, such as a metal stud partition boarded both sides. Pick it from the line picker and it fills the whole line at once.
Can I price each floor separately?
Yes. Tag each line with an area or location, then group the sheet by it to see a subtotal for each floor.
Does it measure walls from the drawings?
No. Bidfident doesn't read quantities from drawings. Type your square metres in, or paste them from a spreadsheet.
Can I price skips by the number exchanged?
Yes. Add skips to your preliminaries as each, with the number of exchanges and the price per skip. Supervision can sit beside them by the week, following the programme.
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 dry lining tender in Bidfident
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