A tender set that is incomplete converts into variations at contractor rates. Six review failures that let it happen, and the checks that catch them.
The review before documents go out for pricing is the cheapest quality control in a project and the most frequently rushed. Everything left unresolved in that set becomes a variation, priced by a contractor who now has no competition. These are the six failures that recur in pre-tender reviews, and the specific checks that close them.
Why these keep happening
The pattern is that the pre-tender review is treated as an aesthetic review rather than a completeness review. Somebody looks at the plans and elevations, comments on the design, and nobody checks whether the drawings, the specification and the bill describe the same building. The commercial risk is not in the appearance of the set, it is in the gaps between its documents, because a contractor prices what is drawn and claims for what is not.
1. Reviewing drawings without the specification beside them
Drawings show arrangement, the specification shows quality, and the bill shows quantity. Reviewing one alone cannot reveal the most expensive kind of gap: a drawing that shows an element the specification never describes, or a specification clause that no drawing locates.
- Avoid it by: Reviewing drawings, specification and bill together, element by element, against one checklist.
- Proof it is closed: A signed review checklist showing each element traced across all three documents.
What it costs you: A priced item nobody can define, resolved after award at a rate you did not compete.
2. No discipline clash check
Structure, services and architecture are drawn by different people, and a duct through a beam or a riser that lands in a bathroom is a design error that becomes an on-site problem. Clash detection is routine work, and skipping it saves days at tender and costs weeks in construction.
- Avoid it by: Requiring a documented clash review across disciplines before the set is issued.
- Proof it is closed: A clash report with each item closed out and the resolution drawn.
What it costs you: Site stoppages, rework and variations at a moment when the contractor controls the programme.
3. Provisional sums used to cover unfinished design
A provisional sum is legitimate for work that genuinely cannot be defined yet. Used to paper over design that is merely incomplete, it hands the contractor an item to be instructed later at rates that were never competitively tested, and it removes the incentive to finish the design.
- Avoid it by: Listing every provisional sum, justifying each one, and setting a target for the total before tender.
- Proof it is closed: A schedule of provisional sums with a reason and a value cap for each.
What it costs you: A meaningful share of the contract sum falling outside competitive pricing.
4. Site constraints left out of the preliminaries
Access, working hours, storage, neighbour restrictions, the crane position and the route for deliveries all affect price. If they are not described, each bidder assumes something different, the bids are not comparable, and the winner claims when reality appears.
- Avoid it by: Writing a site logistics section into the preliminaries, informed by a visit with a contractor.
- Proof it is closed: A logistics and constraints section in the tender documents, issued to every bidder.
What it costs you: Bids that cannot be compared, followed by disruption claims that nobody priced.
5. Interfaces with authorities and utilities left vague
Who applies for connections, who pays authority charges, who arranges inspections and who carries the risk of a requirement changing all have to be allocated. Left unstated, they arrive as claims. Requirements themselves must be confirmed with the relevant authority rather than assumed by the designer.
- Avoid it by: Including a responsibility matrix for approvals, connections and inspections in the tender documents.
- Proof it is closed: A signed responsibility matrix issued as part of the tender set.
What it costs you: Delay and cost for work everybody assumed somebody else was handling.
6. No check that the set still matches the budget and the appraisal
Designs grow. Between developed design and tender, elements get added, specifications rise and areas shift. If nobody reconciles the tender set against the cost plan and the appraisal, the first time you learn the project has drifted is when the bids arrive.
- Avoid it by: Running a final cost check on the tender set and comparing net areas against the appraisal.
- Proof it is closed: A pre-tender estimate compared with the appraisal, signed off before documents are issued.
What it costs you: Tender returns above budget, with no time left to redesign before the programme suffers.
A short check before you sign
- A completeness checklist tracing each element across drawings, specification and bill.
- A documented clash review with all items closed.
- A schedule of provisional sums with reasons and caps.
- A site logistics and constraints section in the preliminaries.
- A responsibility matrix for approvals, connections and inspections.
- A pre-tender estimate reconciled against the appraisal and the net area schedule.
If it has already happened
If you have already tendered on an incomplete set, do not simply award and hope. Use the tender period to close the gaps: issue clarifications to all bidders on the same day, convert the largest provisional sums into defined scope where you can, and require each bidder to list its assumptions and qualifications. Then normalise the bids against those lists. It is slower than awarding immediately, and much cheaper than negotiating the same items later with a contractor who is already appointed.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What should be checked before construction drawings go out to tender?
Completeness first: that drawings, specification and bill describe the same building, that a clash review has been done and closed, that provisional sums are justified and capped, that site constraints and logistics are described, that responsibility for approvals and connections is allocated, and that a pre-tender estimate reconciles with the budget and the appraisal.
How do incomplete drawings lead to variations?
A contractor prices what the documents describe and is entitled to be paid for what is instructed afterwards. Anything undrawn, unspecified or ambiguous becomes an instruction once work is under way, priced without competition and often with a programme claim attached. The cost of finishing the design before tender is always lower than the cost of finishing it on site.
Who should carry out the pre-tender design review?
Someone who did not produce the documents. A cost consultant, a development manager or an experienced contractor acting as reviewer will find different things from the design team, which is checking its own work. If the same office designs, reviews and administers the contract, at least commission one independent completeness review before issue.
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