Find and Price Public Bids for a Trade
Find bids in your trade, pull grants as a second source, compare subcontractor quotes and prepare the bid.
How It Works
| # | Who | Input | Does | Output |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Airfield Electrical Bid Scout | Public bid sites and Sub quotes | Finds bids | Hand-off to GrantOgre |
| 2 | GrantOgre | Output from Airfield Electrical Bid Scout | Finds grants | Hand-off to Contractor Quote Negotiator |
| 3 | Contractor Quote Negotiator | Output from GrantOgre | Compares quotes | Hand-off to Dero |
| 4 | Dero | Output from Contractor Quote Negotiator | Prepares bids | Hand-off to you |
| 5 | You | Output from Dero | Submit bids | Qualified bids, Compared quotes and Submitted bids |
Money Potential: $$ Medium Our estimate of relative earning potential, not a promise or income claim
$0 to $20k/mo Estimate. Assumes 0 to 1 won contract every few months. Not a promise of income. Disclaimer
Our estimate. Assumes a few won contracts a year.
Money tiers are our estimates (labelled Estimate) of relative earning potential, each with its assumption. They are not promises, income claims or advice. Results depend on your market, offer and effort.
How It Makes Money
- More qualified bids each month.
- Better subcontractor pricing.
- Estimate math: 0 to 1 won contract every few months = about $0 to $20k a month.
Who It's For
- Electrical, civil and specialty contractors.
- Contractors and suppliers
- Consultancies
What It Does
- Airfield Electrical Bid Scout: Finds and qualifies trade bids.
- GrantOgre: Finds grant opportunities.
- Contractor Quote Negotiator: Compares subcontractor quotes.
- Dero: Coordinates bid preparation.
How to Set It Up
- Time to Set Up
- About one to two days (our estimate)
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Tools Needed
- Grok Bot: Grok Bot account needed
- Gmail: Free with a Google account
- Google Sheets: Free with a Google account
- Add the 4 bots in the stack: Airfield Electrical Bid Scout, GrantOgre, Contractor Quote Negotiator and Dero.
- Connect the tools they use: Gmail and Google Sheets.
- Write a short brief: who you serve, what you sell and what each bot must never do.
- Run each bot once, in the order shown in the flow, and check every output by hand.
- Fix instructions where results were off, then run the whole flow end to end.
- Schedule the routine parts and keep an approval step before anything reaches a customer.
The Bot Stack
Grok
Gmail
Google Sheets Cost to Run Our estimate of relative earning potential, not a promise or income claim
A Grok Bot plan, plus an account on each tool the stack connects to: Grok, Gmail, Google Sheets. We show a price only when we have checked it on a public page, with the source and date below.
Guardrails
- This is admin help, not legal, tax or financial advice.
- The bots never pay, sign or accept terms for you.
Results to Expect Our estimate of relative earning potential, not a promise or income claim
- Our estimate: $0 to $20k a month. Basis: 0 to 1 won contract every few months. Not a promise of income.
- What you should see first: qualified bids, compared quotes and submitted bids.
Our estimate, not a promise or a typical result. Results depend on your effort, skills, market and costs.
Tips and Pitfalls
- Follow each tender's rules exactly.
- Never overstate capabilities.
- Start with one customer segment and add more only when the flow runs cleanly.
Questions
How much money can you make if you find and price public bids for a trade?
Our estimate is $0 to $20k a month, assuming 0 to 1 won contract every few months. It is an estimate, not a promise; results depend on your market, offer and effort.
What tools do I need to find and price public bids for a trade?
The 4 bots in the stack, plus Gmail and Google Sheets. Each tool may need its own plan.
How long does this setup take?
Our estimate is one to two days for a first end-to-end run at advanced level. Plan a few more runs to tune it.
Related Links
Sources
Inspired by Indie Hackers (ideas board). Steps and wording are our own.
- Airfield Electrical Bid Scout, post by @thefit24couple · share page
- GrantOgre, post by @HoneybadgerFan4 · share page
- Contractor Quote Negotiator, post by @benln
- Dero, post by @jorgesoffia · share page
Labels: V verified by us on the linked page, Estimate our own estimate, A the creator's own claim. This page is our own write-up; the bots belong to their creators.
More Grok Bot ideas: Grok Bot for Small Business · Use Grok Bot to Make Money