Public work pays well in every American city — but portals, deadlines, addenda, and eligibility gates bury contractors in every trade. Our team reads the federal, state, and local postings every business morning and matches opportunities to your trade — general contracting, plumbing, electrical, welding, HVAC, roofing, painting, heavy civil — bridges, tunnels, roads, and public works — and every other licensed trade. We flag the gates before they cost you, and we prepare your estimates and proposals. You approve. You sign. You bid.
Who it's forBuilt for builders, contractors, mechanical firms, plumbers, electricians, and every other trade — from solo operators and small shops to mid-size and larger multi-crew firms.
Our specialists match bids across federal, state, and local sources by hand — built for every trade: general contractors, plumbers, electricians, welders, HVAC and mechanical firms, roofers, painters, masons, carpenters, concrete, flooring, fire protection, low voltage, sitework, and heavy civil. You see only projects matched to your own trade and licenses — never another trade's noise. Every trade, every kind of project: new construction, renovations, tenant build-outs, design-build, job-order and term contracts, and service agreements — across residential, commercial, institutional, industrial, and infrastructure / civil & heavy work — bridges, tunnels, roads, and public works. A deadline calendar our team keeps current, so nothing slips. Gate flags up front — registration, prequalification, licensing, insurance, bonding. Document intake, addenda tracking, draft estimates in CSI format with marked-up takeoffs, proposal packages, follow-up drafts, and a monthly pipeline report showing what you bid and who won. And if you only need one job priced, any company can upload drawings and order a single pay-per-estimate — no subscription required.
A look at the screens and documents our team runs for you — your bid board, your estimates, your client area, your proposals, and the digest that lands in your inbox.
The work is out there, in every city. The desk makes sure you see it in time.
No percentages of your contracts. No long-term lock-in. Cancel with 30 days' notice.
Two weeks free on the Bid Desk tier — sign up on this page to start; no card required, nothing auto-charges. It includes one full estimate with bid proposal preparation (one per trial). Your bid proposal arrives in Word — edit anything, then sign and submit. Then, founding-client pilot: $299/month for 60 days — three spots, in exchange for feedback and a testimonial. Add-ons: extra estimates $450–$3,000 · registration-readiness package $1,500–$3,500 · Permit Support for contractor clients from $599/month. Launch pricing — join now and your rate stays yours as long as you're subscribed. Every plan includes 3 team seats — your own people, each with their own sign-in; additional users are $150/month each. Included in every plan: our Invoice Desk module — invoice cadence to owners and GCs, payment reminders, retainage and lien-deadline tracking, and a weekly aging report.
Built for builders, contractors, mechanical firms, plumbers, electricians, and every other trade — from solo operators and small shops to mid-size and larger multi-crew firms. No subscription required. Send the drawings, specifications, addenda, and bid deadline. A senior estimator reviews your drawings personally — we review the complete set first and confirm one fixed fee, then we prepare your estimate and send you a preview in slides, so you see the finished work before you pay anything. Your payment link arrives with the preview — never before the work — and the full package is delivered the moment payment lands. Turnaround within 4–6 hours to your estimate ready and its preview sent. Bridge, tunnel, and other heavy-civil sets are priced differently: a senior estimator reviews the drawings and the pricing first, and your fixed fee is confirmed only after that review — never on sheet count alone. Your two weeks free includes one full estimate with bid proposal preparation — one per trial, on a real bid you pick: the free job skips the payment step (preview in slides first, then the full package plus the prepared bid proposal — proposal letter + completed price schedules/bid forms, delivered as an editable Word document (.docx) alongside the PDF copies). Your bid proposal arrives in Word — edit anything, then sign and submit. You sign and submit your own bid — we never submit for you. Extra estimates during a trial are regular paid estimates.
Small 1–2 family homes run $250–$300. Standard projects run $450–$3,000, priced by the size of the drawing set — most single-project estimates fall in that range, based on drawing count, project size, trades, specifications, and deadline. Rush service is +50% when capacity allows.
A real estimator prepares your estimate — a senior estimator reviews your drawings, measures the work, and prices it. Every estimate is priced carefully from the takeoff, using the material and labor costs of the state your project is in. You review and approve the final price, sign, and submit. Nothing is submitted in your name.
Add Permit Support to your National Bid Desk project file, and the paperwork follows the job from the bid gate to closeout: requirements flagged early, filing packages prepared, and every permit, inspection, and renewal date tracked in one place.
Priced by the number of active projects, jurisdictions, and filing volume. Permit Support is available wherever a city permit playbook exists — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, and more, with new cities added as clients join.
We prepare and track the paperwork only. You — or your licensed filer, engineer, or architect — review and submit. National Bid Desk never files, stamps, or submits a permit on a client's behalf.
Your trades, service area, capacity, registrations, insurance, and bonding — completed once.
Our team reads federal, state, and local sources each morning and matches them to your profile by hand. Your desk team compiles a short digest for you every Monday and Thursday.
Files organized, gates flagged, estimates and proposals drafted for your review.
Nothing is submitted, signed, or priced in your name without your explicit approval.
Start with the step-by-step demonstration, then watch the full videos and Shorts on how the desk works and why bids get away.
🔴 CLOSING SOON
Requirement contracts in your trade, due dates front and center, with every gate listed: registration, prequalification, insurance, bonding.
🟡 ON THE HORIZON
Projects in preview, tracked weekly, so you're ready the day documents drop.
✅ YOUR GATES
The one missing item between you and the next bid, named plainly — and how to close it.
Procore, Buildertrend, BuildingConnected, The Blue Book, and Dodge Construction Central are respected names — and they are software and data platforms. They sell you tools, listings, and project data, and your team does the bid work inside them. National Bid Desk is a different category: a bid department run by real people, who do the work for you. Built for builders, contractors, mechanical firms, plumbers, electricians, and every other trade — from solo operators and small shops to mid-size and larger multi-crew firms.
| The work | Software & data platforms | National Bid Desk |
|---|---|---|
| Finding the bids | You search the database, the plan room, or the network yourself — the leads are there, the hunting is yours. | Our team scans public postings nationwide every business morning — federal, state, and local — and brings the bids to you. |
| Scoring the fit | Filters and dashboards show you everything; judging what fits your trade, licenses, and bonding is on you. | Every bid is scored to your profile before it reaches you, and the gates — registration, prequalification, insurance, bonding — are flagged with the fix. |
| Deadlines & addenda | The platform tracks what you enter into it. Miss an addendum and the bid can be thrown out. | A deadline calendar our team keeps current, with addenda monitored on every bid you chase — nothing slips. |
| Pricing the estimate | Estimating modules are another tool for your team to staff — the takeoff and the pricing are still your hours. | Send the drawings: a real estimator prepares your takeoff and priced estimate, for a fixed fee confirmed first — and you see a preview in slides before you pay anything. |
| Preparing the proposal | Templates and forms live in the software. Assembling the package is your office's job. | We prepare the full proposal package — letter, price schedules, required forms — delivered in editable Word alongside PDF copies. You edit, sign, and submit. |
| How you start | A sales process, a platform rollout, and training before the tool does anything for you. | Sign up online in about a minute. Your two weeks free starts immediately — no card required — and includes one full estimate with bid proposal preparation on a real bid you pick. |
| What you pay for | A software or data subscription — plus every hour your own team spends working inside it. | A service, from $299/month, month-to-month. No percentages of your contracts. The work is included, because the work is the product. |
Already run a platform for the projects you've won? Keep it — it manages your jobs. The desk sits in front of it: finding, pricing, and packaging the public work that becomes those jobs. Start your two weeks free →
No app store, no waiting. The National Bid Desk app installs directly from nationalbiddesk.com and puts your whole desk in your pocket: matched bids for your trades, a deadline calendar our team keeps current, gate checks, and a state board covering all 50 states — with state coverage you control yourself. The early look is open now with sample listings so you can see exactly how your desk will work; our team is opening client accounts into this same app, and your real digests will be compiled by the people on your desk.
Apple installs web apps from Safari — there is no file to download, and that's normal.
Open the National Bid Desk app →
Inside the early look: set your trades, project types, and sectors; pick the states you cover (all 50 + DC, changeable anytime); browse matched sample bids with deadline and gate views; and jump straight to Estimating On Demand or Permit Support. In the early look your profile stays on your own device — it is not sent to our team yet.
Sign up below and start your two weeks free yourself — no phone call, no sales conversation, no card, nothing auto-charges. Your two weeks free starts the moment you submit this form, and your login invite follows by email. After the free weeks, Bid Desk is $599/month; on day 12 of your trial we’ll send the subscription link so you can decide — nothing is charged unless you subscribe. No guarantees of winning — anyone who promises that is lying to you. Your two weeks free includes one full estimate with bid proposal preparation — one per trial, on a real bid you pick, prepared the standard way (PlanSwift-style takeoff, priced for your project's state) and delivered in full after its preview in slides; the bid proposal (proposal letter + completed price schedules/bid forms) arrives as an editable Word document (.docx) alongside the PDF copies. Your bid proposal arrives in Word — edit anything, then sign and submit. You review, sign, and submit your own bid — we never submit for you. What we promise: no missed deadlines, no surprise gates, and a bid pipeline that runs every week.
Our desk is in New York; our clients are everywhere.
From the desk
Practical reading from the people who run the desk — how estimating is priced, and the tracking system that keeps a bid from slipping past its deadline.
What actually drives an estimating fee — sheet counts, trades, specifications, and deadline — with our own published scale as the worked example.
Read the guide →A simple, honest system for finding public bids, watching addenda, and holding every deadline — whether you run it yourself or hand it to a desk.
Read the guide →More from the desk: browse all articles.
Questions
Bid Watch is $299/month, Bid Desk is $599/month, and Bid Desk + Estimating is $1,199/month. There are no percentages of your contracts. You can start with two weeks free on the Bid Desk tier — no card required, nothing auto-charges — and the founding pilot is $299/month for 60 days.
Yes — every plan includes 3 team seats, so three people from your company get their own sign-in to your desk. Additional users are $150/month each.
Two weeks free on the Bid Desk tier, starting the moment you sign up, with no card required. The trial includes one full estimate with bid proposal preparation on a real bid you pick. The bid proposal is delivered in editable Word alongside PDF copies, so you can edit anything, then sign and submit.
No. We prepare — matched opportunities, estimates, and proposal packages. You review, approve, sign, and submit your own bid. National Bid Desk does not submit bids, sign attestations, or file legal documents on a client's behalf.
Estimating On Demand is priced by the size of the drawing set: up to 10 sheets $450, 11–25 sheets $750, 26–50 sheets $1,250, 51–100 sheets $2,000, and over 100 sheets $3,000. Small 1–2 family homes run $250–$300. Rush service is +50% when capacity allows. Bridge, tunnel, and other heavy-civil sets are reviewed by a senior estimator first, and the fee is confirmed only after that review. There is no advance payment: you see a preview in slides before you pay.
Builders, contractors, mechanical firms, plumbers, electricians, and every other trade — general contractors, welders, HVAC, roofing, painting, and every other licensed trade — from solo operators and small shops to mid-size and larger multi-crew firms. If public work fits your licenses, the desk fits your firm.
Real people — Abeed Brahamn, Founder, and the National Bid Desk team, headquartered in New York, NY. Talk to a person at [email protected], Monday–Friday, 9 AM–5 PM ET.
