Dodge Report?

Our marketing model has changed slightly from years past and we want to know when city, schools, counties and others are taking bids on roofing projects.

I spent $150/mo for Dodge reports for 12 months and didn't get a single job worth bidding on last year.

What are you guys using to know when area entities are taking roof bids?

We do alot of public work and there are numerous sources that we use. Dodge is NOT one of them. In Illinois Public work has to post of the project publicly and send it out to bid. Therefore if you read the newspapers (or their websites actually, who reads newspapers anymore) you can see the jobs posted. There are also aggregate websites I have found which compile all these "public notices" into one place for easy viewing and finding.

I also went though and personally signed up to each and every village website bid request list. There are SOOOOO many lists however, because each village has their list, each school district, each county, each county forest preserve etc etc... it's been daunting to say the least signing up for all these lists and I am sure I barely scratched the surface because I get most, but not all, of the bid requests.

bidtool is a service we use most often. Also Isqft. We used to use bidclerk. thebluebook. There are alos quite a few "plan room" websites which the villages also use to host their plans and spcs. BFHX is one that comes to mind, but contracts can not only purchase prints from them but also see what jobs are open for bid.

Dodge, local builders' exchanges/plan rooms are especially effective & go-to's for start-ups & subcontracting - However, your entering an extremely competitive market; Even though it can be a PIA, eventually you'll want to get on each municipality/entity as a qualified bidder, so as you will receive ITB's directly.

Have you ever tried an online plan room?

Dodge and the local Builder's Exchange

We have a local plan room that gets a lot of commercial bids. I also watch the public notices online, I search for roof every weekend and it gives me a list of everything that hits the papers in all of IL.