Item lists - getting quotes priced line by line
Send the lines and every supplier prices the same ones, so the quotes compare to the penny.
Most packages do not need an item list. A foundation sub brings his own material and quotes off the plans; an electrician prices per opening. You need a list only when YOU are buying the material and somebody has to count it - lumber, trusses, moldings, windows, fixtures. That is exactly when a total-only quote tells you nothing.
- 1Open a quote request and expand Item list under the scope questions.
- 2Import a takeoff (Excel or CSV), paste rows straight out of a spreadsheet, or add lines one at a time.
- 3Each line is an item, a quantity, a unit, and an optional spec note. Fix anything the import got wrong before you send.
- 4Send as usual. Every bidder gets the same lines on their link.
On their side, the supplier enters a unit price per line and the total adds itself up - no arithmetic, no transcription. They can leave a line blank if they do not carry it and add a note saying so, which is information you want.
Back on the quote request, "Compare line by line" opens a table: your items down the side, each bidder across the top, the low price on every line in green. That is where you see the one line that is triple on one bid and missing on another - the thing a total hides.
Importing a takeoff reads the sheet's own header row when it has one (Description / Qty / Unit) and falls back to a best guess when it does not. Always skim the lines before sending.
No item list? The quotes still compare - just on totals plus the scope questions every bidder answered. The scope panel on the request tells you which kind of comparison you are setting up.
On a labor-only package like framing, ask the framer for his material list with the bid. That list becomes the item list you send the lumber yard.