Complete FAQ

Smart Movers Club is an outsourced bid management and procurement department for general contractors and specialty subcontractors. We source qualified opportunities, coordinate estimating, develop proposals, manage submissions, and follow up after the bid. We are not software, a marketing agency, or a consultancy — we run the function.

Yes. We work exclusively with general contractors and specialty subcontractors. We understand plan sets, ITBs, RFQs, prequalification and the GC/sub relationship, and every system we run is built for that work.

BidEngine is the internal operating system our team runs your bid department on. It reads RFPs, RFQs, IFBs, ITBs and plan sets, flags requirements and compliance, and drafts the submission package. Clients do not have to learn it or log into it — our team operates it on their behalf.

We own sourcing, qualification, compliance review, estimating coordination, proposal development, submission and post-bid follow-up. You own final pricing, your scope decisions, and the go/no-go approval on every bid.

Bid Management is $1,500 per month for up to six managed pursuits, with a 90-day initial engagement and no onboarding fee. Managed Preconstruction is $5,000 per month and month-to-month. Performance fees are simple: 0% on opportunities you already have, and a modest fee only on new opportunities we source and you win.

Only when we bring you new work and you win it. On Bid Management, opportunities you source carry a 0% fee, and opportunities SMC independently sources carry a 2% fee if awarded. On Managed Preconstruction, client-sourced projects carry 0%, and opportunities SMC sources and helps carry through award carry 3%. There is no fee on submitted bids that do not award.

The original awarded contract value attributable to the opportunity SMC sourced — nothing else. It does not apply to change orders, extensions, renewals, or unrelated future work with the same customer. If you already have the work, we get paid to manage it. If we bring you new work and you win it, we participate modestly in the upside.

Only after you get paid. The success fee is due after the contractor receives payment from the awarded project — never before, and never on bids that do not award.

Construction sales cycles do not happen overnight. A bid submitted this month may not be awarded for several weeks or months. The initial 90-day period gives us enough time to build a real pipeline, submit work, follow up and give the contractor meaningful activity and data to evaluate.

Managed Preconstruction is a larger operating relationship. We want contractors to continue because the service is creating value, not because they are trapped in a long agreement.

Yes. That is exactly how some relationships should begin. If your initial problem is bid capacity, start there. If the bottleneck later becomes subcontractor solicitation, estimating coordination, quote coverage or buyout, we can expand into Managed Preconstruction.

No. Award decisions depend on pricing, competition, owner decisions, project timing, qualifications and many other factors outside of our control. We manage the process, increase consistency and improve the visibility and capacity around bidding and preconstruction.

No. Full subcontractor procurement, ITBs, quote chasing, vendor development and quote leveling are part of Managed Preconstruction.

Up to six managed bid pursuits per month. More complex or higher-volume bidding needs may require a custom scope or Managed Preconstruction.

You book a 20-minute bid strategy call. We learn your trade, territory, bonding capacity and bid volume, then map the buildout and the first 30 days of pursuit work.

Yes — that is the entire point. Most of our clients are GCs and subs running crews. We run the bid desk behind you and bring you decisions, not homework.

Not necessarily. Bid Management keeps the pursuit pipeline organized around your existing estimating capacity. Managed Preconstruction adds estimating coordination, quote coverage and deeper pre-award support.

Bid Management includes monthly reporting. Managed Preconstruction adds a weekly working meeting plus monthly reporting.

No. We build and run bid departments for general contractors and specialty subcontractors across every trade — electrical, mechanical, concrete, roofing, finishes and beyond.

Consultants advise and hand you a deck. We do the work: sourcing, qualification, compliance, estimating coordination, proposal writing, submission and follow-up.

Bid Management begins with a 90-day initial engagement and then continues month-to-month. Managed Preconstruction is month-to-month.

Yes. Although NAICS officially replaced SIC in 1997, SIC codes are still required by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), most commercial banks for credit underwriting, many state procurement portals, insurance carriers for class-rating, and the SEC's EDGAR system. Construction contractors typically need both their SIC and NAICS codes on file.

It depends on the building type. Single-family residential GCs use SIC 1521; multi-family/hotel GCs use 1522; industrial/warehouse GCs use 1541; and commercial/institutional GCs use 1542. Heavy/highway is in Major Group 16, and specialty trades are in Major Group 17.

Electrical contractors use SIC 1731 (Electrical Work), which covers wiring, low-voltage, fire alarm, security, and telecom installation. The NAICS equivalent is 238210 — Electrical Contractors and Other Wiring Installation Contractors.

Plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors all share SIC 1711. NAICS splits these out — plumbing/HVAC/mechanical typically falls under 238220.

Look up your primary business activity in the OSHA SIC Manual or the U.S. Census Bureau's classification tools. For construction, the table on this page covers every 4-digit code in Major Groups 15, 16, and 17. Pick the code that best matches your primary revenue source.

Baseline for most prime contracts: $1M/$2M CGL with per-project aggregate, products-completed operations, additional insured endorsements (CG 20 10 + CG 20 37); $1M commercial auto; statutory WC with $1M employer's liability; $5M umbrella; waiver of subrogation. Add pollution (CPL) if you disturb soil or do demo/abatement, and professional liability for design-build.

Insurance protects you against your own losses (you pay the premium, you collect on the claim). A surety bond protects a third party (the obligee) against your failure to perform (you pay the premium, but the obligee collects if you default — and the surety then comes after you for reimbursement under the indemnity agreement).

Not by law. Whether one is required depends entirely on the contract. Most private commercial owners require performance + payment bonds at 100% of contract for projects above a threshold (often $500K–$2M). Subs may be bonded back by the GC under similar thresholds.

Below 1.00 is below industry average — anything below 0.85 is excellent and a strong prequalification advantage. Above 1.00 means worse-than-average losses; most major GCs use 1.00 as a hard cap on subcontractor prequalification.

Typical bond premium runs 0.5%–3.0% of contract value depending on contractor financial strength, project size, and bond type. Standard-market contractors with strong financials get rates around 0.6%–1.2%. SBA-supported programs and contract surety bonds for newer contractors run 2.0%–3.0%.

A 1931 federal law requiring contractors and subcontractors on federally funded or federally assisted construction projects over $2,000 to pay laborers and mechanics no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits for similar projects in the area. Administered by the Department of Labor Wage & Hour Division.

When the project is federally funded above $2,000 (Davis-Bacon), federally assisted under one of 70+ Davis-Bacon Related Acts (HUD, DOT, EPA, FAA, etc.), or covered by a state 'little Davis-Bacon' prevailing wage law. About 30 states have their own prevailing wage rules for state-funded work.

A DOL-issued schedule listing the minimum hourly wage and fringe benefit rate for every construction classification in a specific county and construction type (Building, Residential, Highway, Heavy). It must be incorporated into the contract and posted at the job site. Find current WDs at SAM.gov (formerly WDOL.gov).

Weekly form (Federal: WH-347) that each contractor and subcontractor must submit listing every worker on the federally-funded project, their classification, hours, wages, fringe payments, and deductions. Signed under penalty of perjury. False certification is a federal crime.

No. Fringes can be paid as cash on the paycheck OR contributed to bona fide fringe benefit plans (health, pension, vacation, apprenticeship). Most contractors split — pay health/pension to the plan, pay the residual as cash. Either way, the total wage + fringe must equal or exceed the WD rate.

DOL determines prevailing wage either from the union collective bargaining agreement rate (when a single CBA covers ≥50% of workers in the classification in the area) or from a WHD wage survey of recent projects. CBA rates are typically higher; survey rates more reflective of local non-union market.

BuildingConnected (owned by Autodesk) is a preconstruction platform that helps general contractors invite subs to bid and helps subcontractors track invitations to bid (ITBs). It's primarily a bid invitation network and bid management workflow — it does not estimate, take off quantities, or write proposals for you.

BuildingConnected is a manual bid tracking platform — you still read the plans, do the takeoffs, price the scope, and write the proposal yourself. BidEngine is automated bid analysis — upload the PDF plans and specs and AI extracts scope, quantities, compliance flags, and produces a starting estimate and proposal in minutes.

Yes. Many subcontractors receive ITBs through BuildingConnected and then run those plan sets through BidEngine to analyze them and produce the bid. For managed clients, our team also sources ITBs and solicitations directly, so the invitation pipeline is covered as well.

BuildingConnected pricing is custom and typically quoted per-seat per-year (often $1,500–$3,000+/seat/year for the paid Pro tier; the basic Bid Board is free for subs). BidEngine is not sold as a per-seat subscription; it is the operating system included in the SMC managed bid department engagement.

The slowest steps in any commercial bid are reading the plan set, doing the takeoff, and writing the scope narrative for the proposal. Automating those three with AI plan analysis is the single biggest lever — it's why contractors switch from manual platforms to BidEngine for the analysis layer.

Product Service Code — a 4-character code published by GSA that describes WHAT the government is buying. Construction is in the Y group (new construction) and Z group (maintenance, repair, alteration). PSC codes are paired with NAICS codes on virtually every federal solicitation; the contracting officer uses PSC to define the requirement and NAICS to set the size standard.

PSC describes what's being bought (the product or service). NAICS describes who provides it (the industry). A solicitation for VA hospital roof replacement might use PSC Z2DA (Repair of Hospitals) and NAICS 238160 (Roofing Contractors), with the SBA size standard from the NAICS code determining small-business eligibility.

Go to SAM.gov, get a Login.gov account, request a UEI (Unique Entity Identifier), then complete the entity registration. You'll need your EIN, banking info for EFT, NAICS codes (use our NAICS reference), business size by NAICS, reps and certs, and any small-business socioeconomic certifications. Standard registration takes 7–10 business days.

Yes. SAM.gov registration is free directly through sam.gov. Third-party services that charge $500–$1,500 are not affiliated with the federal government — you do not need them. The only legitimate gov registration is at sam.gov.

Annually. Entity registration expires 365 days after the last update. Renew early — an expired registration disqualifies you from award even if you're the apparent low bidder. Set a calendar reminder 60 days before expiration.

SBA size standards by NAICS code determine whether your firm qualifies as a small business for set-asides. Most construction NAICS codes use a revenue standard ($19M–$45M average annual receipts over the last 5 fiscal years). See our NAICS reference for the standard tied to each code.

Most states regulate contractors at the state level (CA, FL, NV, AZ, NC, TN, VA, OR, WA, LA, MS, AL, AK, HI, MN, MD, NJ, NM, ND, RI, SC, UT, WV, plus DC). Others (CO, IL, IN, KS, KY, ME, MO, MT, NH, NY, OH, OK, PA, SD, TX, WY) leave general contracting to municipalities, but still license trades (electrical, plumbing, HVAC) at the state level.

Thresholds vary widely. California requires a CSLB license for any job $500+. Tennessee requires a state license at $25,000+. North Carolina at $40,000+. Louisiana at $50,000+ commercial. Always check the state board directly — thresholds change and local jurisdictions can be stricter than the state floor.

Yes — every state where you contract requires its own license. Some states have reciprocity agreements (LA/AL/MS/AR/GA/SC/TN/NC for trade exams), but most require separate application, bond, and proof of experience.

Used in Mississippi, Florida, and a few others — it's an entity-level credential that lets your company bid public-works projects above a threshold. Different from the qualifying-agent license held by an individual.

Most state-licensed jurisdictions require a contractor surety bond ($1,000–$25,000 typical for residential, higher for commercial). Some (NC, LA, MS, TN) require a financial statement / net-worth proof instead. Bond amount sometimes scales with project size or license class.

Almost always, yes. A state contractor license authorizes you to perform the work; a city/county business license authorizes you to operate as a business within that jurisdiction. They're separate. Many cities also require a contractor registration in addition to the business license.

Authority Having Jurisdiction. The local code official who reviews plans, issues permits, performs inspections, and signs off the certificate of occupancy. Always confirm requirements directly with the AHJ — interpretation of model codes (IBC, IRC, NEC) varies and amendments are common.

No. The permit must be pulled by the licensed contractor performing the work, or by the homeowner if owner-builder rules allow. Pulling permits for an unlicensed contractor is illegal in most states and exposes you to civil and criminal liability.

Trade permits (electrical, plumbing, mechanical) in most metros are over-the-counter or same-day. Residential building permits run 1–4 weeks. Commercial permits run 4–12 weeks for first review, longer with revisions. Many cities offer express/expedited review for an additional fee.

Stop-work orders, double or triple permit fees, fines, mandatory uncovering of completed work for inspection, voided insurance coverage, voided manufacturer warranties, and personal liability for any future defect. Resale of the property triggers disclosure of unpermitted work, which routinely kills deals.