Tender vs. Client vs. Internal Exports
Pick the right export options for each audience: subcontractors pricing your quantities, clients reviewing your bid, or internal review.
Tender vs. Client vs. Internal
The Excel export is the same dialog, but the right options are different for each audience. Get this wrong and you either give your margin away or hand a subcontractor the answers.
The three presets
Going out to tender — to subcontractors
You want them to price blind so you can compare like-for-like.
| Option | Setting |
|---|---|
| Rates and totals | Off |
| Component breakdowns | Off |
| Notes column | Off (unless notes are sub-facing) |
| Group by section | On |
Why: the spreadsheet contains your scope and quantities only. Each subcontractor returns it priced. You compare.
Sending to a client
You want a clean, professional pricing schedule with no internal noise.
| Option | Setting |
|---|---|
| Rates and totals | On |
| Component breakdowns | Off |
| Notes column | Off |
| Group by section | On |
Why: the client wants the bottom line and the structure. They don’t want to see that your slab rate is 60% concrete + 25% rebar + 15% labour — that’s your business.
Internal review
You want full transparency — yourself, your team, your QS — on how every rate was built.
| Option | Setting |
|---|---|
| Rates and totals | On |
| Component breakdowns | On |
| Notes column | On |
| Group by section | On |
Why: when something looks wrong, the breakdown sheet tells you whether it’s a bad rate, a wrong quantity, or a stale supplier price.
A quick decision guide
“Who am I sending this to?”
- A subcontractor I want to price my work → tender pack, rates off.
- A client deciding whether to award me the job → client pack, rates on, breakdowns off.
- My team / my QS / future-me → internal pack, everything on.