Owners are sending out more ITBs, pricing windows are tighter, and you often find yourself bidding just to stay in the game. In such cases, your bid win rate tells you how often your bids convert into contracts — a clear indicator of whether you’re pursuing the right work and pricing it accurately. Ultimately, it shows whether the time and effort you invest in each proposal is actually turning into awarded work.
So, what counts as a good win rate? It varies by project type and market, but multiple industry sources show that many contractors average around a 25% win rate — roughly one win for every four bids. If you’re submitting hard competitive bids, a typical range is 10–20%, while negotiated or selective bids can land much higher, often between 30–50%.
You’ll also hear benchmarks like a 5:1 bid-hit ratio, meaning one win for every five submissions. Ratios improve as you refine your pursuit strategy: qualifying opportunities more realistically, tightening quantities, and presenting clearer, more complete proposals.
One factor that quietly influences win rate is how well you manage RFIs during preconstruction. When drawings are incomplete or unclear, your estimate is only as accurate as the assumptions you make. Contractors who raise RFIs early — especially around scope gaps, conflicting details, or missing utilities and site information — tend to submit stronger, more defensible bids.
Owners increasingly prefer proposals with fewer gray areas. When RFIs help you remove ambiguity before pricing, your numbers become more accurate, your scope aligns better with expectations, and your bid stands out against competitors who relied on guesswork. Over time, disciplined RFI management directly supports a higher win rate by reducing risk and increasing owner confidence.
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