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Field notes

The part of the job nobody teaches you.

Bidding, markup, exclusions, proposals, and the awkward conversations in between — written for contractors who want to be the easy pick. Practical estimating and margin notes mixed in. No listicles.

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All posts
Bidding
Markup & margin
Change orders
Running the office
Markup & margin04 Jun 2026
Markup is not margin, and the difference is your whole year.

A 15% markup is a 13% margin. On $2M of work that gap is a truck. The arithmetic, done slowly, once.

6 min
Change orders21 May 2026
The change order conversation goes better in writing.

Original contract, this change, new total. Three lines and a date stop most of the argument before it starts.

5 min
Bidding09 May 2026
Say no to the bid you are going to lose anyway.

Hit rate is a number you can manage. How to read an invitation and tell whether you are the price check.

7 min
Bidding24 Apr 2026
Exclusions: the section that saves the relationship.

Eleven lines we recommend on almost every commercial proposal, and the wording that keeps them from reading as hedging.

8 min
Running the office10 Apr 2026
Your cost library is worth more than your CRM.

Assemblies you price twice a month should be typed once. How to build one in an afternoon without pausing work.

6 min
Markup & margin27 Mar 2026
What contingency is actually for.

It is not padding and it is not profit. Where to put it, what to call it, and why owners stop objecting once it is named.

5 min
Bidding19 Jul 2026

A stronger supply chain means more projects

Supply-chain reliability changes which projects you can take. Practical notes tying procurement to bidding.