M04.01
Leads, qualification, and award
From a phone call to a frozen job file. Most wasted estimating hours start here.
- Qualify a lead in ten minutes
- Open a job file the same day as award
- Freeze the bid set so we stop estimating a moving target
- 01Lead in Zoho
- 02Qualify
- 03Estimate
- 04Quote + follow-up
- 05Award — open job file
- 06Submittals / COI
- 07Mobilize
- 08Prep → install
- 09Punch
- 10Closeout / retainage
- 11Warranty tickler
Lead intake (same day, in Zoho)
- 01Who
Company, contact, role (owner, GC, architect, plant engineer).
- 02Where
Site address, vertical (auto, pharma, health, school, other).
- 03What
SF if known, existing floor, chemicals, downtime window, spec or not.
- 04When
Bid due date, install window. If they needed it yesterday, say so in the record.
- 05Next
Site walk, drawings request, or polite no-bid. Always a dated next action.
At award
Create the job number. Copy the bid file into a live job file (do not keep estimating in the same folder as construction). Request the contract / PO. Issue the kickoff checklist. Request insurance requirements. Tell field nothing is mobilizing until COI and executed paper are in — unless Eric explicitly accepts the risk in writing.
Takeaways
- Bad leads steal time from good ones. Qualify without being rude.
- Award is a control point, not a party.
- No job number, no spend.
SOPSOP Section 5 — Sales, CRM & EstimatingSOP Section 4 — Administrative Staff