Brickwork and groundworks tenders: finding subcontract packages and pricing them properly
Brickwork and groundworks firms live on packages let by main contractors and developers. The frustration is that those packages are rarely advertised; they go to the three subbies the quantity surveyor already knows. Getting onto that list, and finding the packages that are advertised, is a process you can run deliberately.
Where the packages come from
- Main contractors on public projects, who are required to advertise subcontract opportunities above a certain size and often do so on Find a Tender or their own supply-chain portals
- Housebuilders letting brickwork and groundworks by phase on sites of 20 to 300 plots
- Housing associations and councils on new-build and remodelling schemes
- Civil engineering frameworks for drainage, highways and flood work
- Private developers, commercial clients and other trades who post tenders directly
TenderPilot's Brickwork preset and the Groundworks and drainage preset cover the public notices and the privately posted packages, and expand the search to masonry, blockwork, facing brick, foundations, drainage, substructure and external works.
Getting on a main contractor's list
Most main contractors run a supply-chain approval process. Typically they want Constructionline (Gold is becoming the norm), SSIP accreditation, insurance certificates, your accounts, CSCS and CPCS cards for the team, and references. Register on their supply-chain portal, then phone the buyer or the regional QS and ask what packages are coming up. Buyers remember subbies who turn up with a complete pack and a specific question.
Supply-and-fix versus labour-only
Labour-only is priced per 1,000 bricks or per square metre of blockwork, with extras for cavity trays, lintels, cills, weep vents, feature courses and scaffolding handling. Supply-and-fix adds materials at your buying rates plus waste, delivery and storage, and carries the price risk on bricks, blocks and mortar for the duration.
For groundworks, the measured items are excavation by depth, disposal, concrete by grade and volume, drainage by pipe size and depth, manholes, and hardstandings. Prelims matter more than in brickwork: plant, fuel, welfare, pumping, and the cost of waiting for the site to be ready.
Price from a proper take-off. EstiMate's AI take-off measures wall lengths, openings and areas from the drawings and produces brick and block counts with each quantity traced back to the sheet, which is exactly the backup a QS wants to see when a measure is queried. For quick checks on site, the free brickwork and concrete calculators do the arithmetic.
Terms to watch in subcontract tenders
The price is only half of it. Read the subcontract for: retention percentage and release dates, payment terms and whether they are pay-when-certified, attendance (who provides scaffold, forklift, skips, welfare), damages for delay, design responsibility for anything you are asked to design, and the valuation dates. A 5% retention held for 18 months on a £300,000 package is £15,000 of your money; price for it or negotiate it. Our guide to retention in construction contracts covers what you can push back on.
Quality submissions for subcontractors
Main contractors score subcontractors too, usually on health and safety, programme and quality. Give them your site-specific RAMS, your gang structure with named supervisors, your quality checks (brick bond, cavity cleanliness, DPC, lintel bearings, photographed), and your realistic output rates. A site diary with daily photos is also the evidence you need when a delay claim starts.
After the award
Measure every valuation against your take-off, submit applications on the contract dates, and issue pay-less notice challenges in time. Track the actual cost per plot or per section with job costing so you know by week three whether the rate is holding. Then keep the next package in view with a saved search on TenderPilot.
More from the blog
- How to find construction tenders in the UK: the 2026 guide for every trade
Where UK construction tenders are actually published, what the Procurement Act changed, and how small firms in any trade can find work worth bidding for without paying an agency.
- How to price a single-storey extension in 2026: a builder's worked example
A step-by-step build-up for a 24 m² rear extension: groundworks, structure, roof, openings, services, finishes, prelims and margin, with the items builders most often forget.
- Planning applications: the lead source most builders ignore
Every approved extension, loft, conversion and new build is published by the council before the work goes out to price. Here is how to turn planning registers into a steady stream of enquiries.
- CIS explained for subcontractors and contractors: rates, returns, statements and the mistakes HMRC fines
The Construction Industry Scheme in plain English: who it applies to, the 20%, 30% and gross rates, verification, monthly returns, deduction statements, and how to reclaim what you are owed.
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