Bid Hit Ratio for Subcontractors: What's Good, What's Not, and How to Fix Yours

Quick question: out of the last ten jobs you bid, how many did you actually win? If you just guessed, you're in good company. Your bid hit ratio — the number of bids it takes you to land one job — might be the most useful number in your whole business, and most subcontractors have never sat down and calculated it. The good news? Figuring out your bid hit ratio as a subcontractor takes about ten minutes and a list of your last 20 or 30 bids. Here's how to calculate it, what a good number looks like, and how to move yours in the right direction.

What Is a Bid Hit Ratio, Exactly?

Your bid hit ratio is just your bids-to-wins math. If you send out five bids and win one, you're running a 5:1 hit ratio. Some folks flip it around and call it a win rate — 5:1 is the same thing as winning 20% of your bids. Same number, different outfit.

One wrinkle worth knowing: track it two ways. By count (how many bids turned into jobs) and by dollars (how much of the work you priced turned into contract value). A concrete sub who wins two small jobs out of ten bids has a 5:1 count ratio — but if the one big job got away, the dollar version tells a very different story. Both numbers matter when you're deciding where to spend your estimating hours.

What's a Good Bid Hit Ratio for Subcontractors?

It depends on the kind of work you chase. According to benchmarks published by Sunflower Bank, typical bid hit ratios for subcontractors look like this:

• Public works: 7:1 to 11:1 — lots of bidders, low bar to get on the list, so wins are rarer
• Private bid work: 4:1 to 6:1 — shorter bid lists and more relationship-driven
• Negotiated work: 3:1 to 4:1 — you're often one of only a couple numbers in the room

The same article cites a survey of more than 5,000 construction and subcontracting companies where hit ratios ranged from a best case of 1.5:1 all the way out to 35:1. That 35:1 sub is paying an estimator to lose 34 times for every win — and probably only winning when the number was too low to make money anyway. The rule of thumb: if you're consistently above 10:1 or 11:1, your estimating overhead is eating you alive.

Why Most Subs Can't Answer the Question

Here's the stat that should sting a little: in a survey of over 2,000 construction companies, fewer than 6% knew their bid-hit ratio and tracked it. Ninety-four out of a hundred contractors are pricing work with no idea whether their batting average is .300 or .030.

Picture this: a drywall sub who's been at it fifteen years tells you, "We win about half of what we bid." Feels true — the wins are the jobs you remember. But when he digs through his sent folder and counts, it's 22 bids last quarter and 3 wins. That's about 7:1, not 2:1. Every decision he's made about pricing and which GCs to chase was based on a number that was off by a factor of three. (That's a composite, not a real customer — but if it sounds familiar, that's the point.)

How to Track Your Hit Ratio Without Extra Paperwork

You don't need software or a full-time admin. You need a running list, kept in one place, with a handful of columns:

• GC and project name
• Date you submitted the bid
• Your bid amount
• Outcome: won, lost, or still open
• If you lost — who won and at what number, when you can find out

That last column is where most subs give up, because GCs are famously quiet after bid day. Ask anyway. Even hearing "you were third, about 8% high" is worth real money on the next bid. Here's a copy-and-paste email that works because it's short and easy to answer:

Send that a week or two after bid day, every time, and within a few months you'll have real data on who wins, at what spread, with which GCs.

How to Improve Your Bid Hit Ratio (Hint: Bid Less)

The counterintuitive part: the fastest way to improve your hit ratio usually isn't bidding harder — it's bidding less, and aiming better.

Cut the long shots first. If a GC has used the same electrical sub on their last ten projects, your bid is a formality — you're free pricing for their negotiation. Same goes for public jobs with a dozen names on the bid list. Every hour your estimator spends on a bid you were never going to win is an hour not spent tightening a bid you could.

Then rank your GCs. Once you've got a few months of tracking, sort by hit rate per GC. Most subs find something like a 2:1 ratio with two or three GCs and 15:1 with everyone else. Feed the relationships that feed you.

This matters more right now than it used to. Per the AGC's 2026 hiring and business outlook, 82% of construction firms report difficulty filling hourly craft positions, and about 60% have had a project postponed or canceled in the past six months. Translation: your crews' hours are scarce and some of the jobs you're bidding will never break ground. Aim at GCs whose jobs actually go — and who actually award you work.

One more picture: a roofer pulling invites from three plan rooms, bidding everything that moves — 15 to 20 bids a month, winning maybe one. When he finally tracked it, nearly all his wins came from the same two GCs he'd worked with for years. He cut his bid volume in half, spent the freed-up time on site visits and tighter takeoffs for those two, and his hit ratio went from roughly 15:1 to 5:1 without adding a single new customer.

The Bottom Line

You can't manage a number you don't know. Count your last 20 or 30 bids, do the division, and see where you land against the benchmarks: 4:1 to 6:1 on private bid work is healthy, above 10:1 anywhere means something needs to change — the GCs you're bidding, the jobs you're chasing, or the number you're carrying. A spreadsheet works fine to start; if you'd rather not build and babysit one, a simple bid-tracking tool like Sub CM (sub-cm.com) keeps the wins and losses in one place and does the math for you. Either way, start counting. The subs who know their number are the ones who get to improve it.

FAQ

What is a good bid hit ratio for subcontractors?

Industry benchmarks put subcontractors at 7:1 to 11:1 on public works, 4:1 to 6:1 on private bid work, and 3:1 to 4:1 on negotiated work. Lower is generally better, but the right number depends on your market and how much estimating capacity you have.

How do I calculate my bid hit ratio?

Divide the number of bids submitted by the number of jobs won over the same period. 24 bids and 4 wins is a 6:1 ratio, or about a 17% win rate. Use at least 20-30 bids so one lucky streak doesn't skew the math, and calculate it by dollar value too.

Is a lower bid hit ratio always better?

Not automatically. A very low ratio can mean your prices are too low and you're winning unprofitable work. The goal is winning a healthy share of bids at margins that make money — pair your hit ratio with job profitability before you celebrate.

Why is my bid hit ratio so high?

Usually one of three things: you're bidding jobs with too many competitors, bidding GCs who already have a favorite sub, or your pricing is consistently above the winning spread. Tracking outcomes per GC — including who won and at what number — will show you which one it is.

Start here

We built a free Bid Follow-Up Template that lays this out for you: submission log, follow-up schedule, and status tracking in one sheet.

Download the free template here. No account needed, and it works in both Excel and Google Sheets.

If you want the automated version, with reminders when follow-ups are due, a pipeline view of every open bid, and alerts when a job goes quiet, that's what SubCM is for. 

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