Careers

Where do I start, a day in the life of a bid coordinator especially at this moment in time for Glencar – a successful fast paced growing company – it is full of adrenaline rushes, gratitude and a sense of satisfaction!

I moved to Glencar in April 2020 so I am fast approaching my 1 year anniversary however, it genuinely feels like I’ve been here for only a short period of time, they say time flies when you’re having fun. From the first month of joining Glencar the following months workload have increased drastically which has enabled me to take on Morgan Patterson as a Trainee Bid Coordinator, part time, for an initial 6 month period with the hope of full time employment at the end of this time.

Now a day in the life for myself is very hard to define as no two days are ever the same, however the outcome is consistent in regards to a sense of relief for submitting on time and the feeling of accomplishment for making the team’s vision come to life with a full robust submission document completed to a high level of quality.

Each day varies depending on what is required to be completed. I will receive an email notification which will detail what is requested from Glencar to be submitted. From this moment Morgan and I are responsible for taking the EOI/PQQ/Tender from email request to submission and interview stages if required.

The process very briefly includes, but definitely is not limited to; organising the chosen team’s diaries, creating and completing aesthetically pleasing InDesign templates and producing quality presentations for client appearances. Each individual process includes an extensive amount of input and consideration from Glencar as a team to become a successful offer and we take great pride in fulfilling the client requests.

I must say one of the best things about being a bid coordinator is seeing a project through from conception to completion, the satisfaction from submitting a bid electronically to being awarded the project and physically watching it come to life through construction on site is incomparable to me.

A day in the life of a quantity surveyor is typically regimented, although it is also very common for curveballs to be thrown our way.

The day typically starts with general administrative duties, this entails catching up with any emails or notifications from the day prior. It is well known that some of the most important correspondence gets forwarded outside of normal business hours. There are also paperwork duties that are key requirements in our role, such as the engrossment of subcontract warranties, collation of subcontract orders and any material/plant purchasing.

Once the actions resulting from the above have been taken care of, this is now a great time to have a walk around site. The purpose of this is to review the overall progression of the project, this will provide us with all the information required to put an accurate application for payment into the client’s quantity surveyor.

With this information we can also verify the subcontractor’s applications and certify their works accordingly, knowing that they are being paid fairly for the level of work completed. Loaded up with all the information gained from our walk around site, we can now to work on the next item on our agenda – payments!

It is imperative that our supply chain is paid on time, or early if possible. To ensure that we fulfil our duties, we must constantly be reviewing invoices and liaising with our accounts department, checking that all necessary paperwork has been completed to allow the transactions to sail through.

As with anything in life, construction projects are subject to multiple changes… That is why a small part of the day is invested in checking the drawings and scope for any change, liaising with the design team at all points in an effort to get best value for money.

Once a change has taken place, we will need to review whether this is a client directed change or design development. Both options will result in the completion and issuing of order amendments/instructions to the contractors covering those elements of work. The only difference being a client variation order will be submitted for approval, if it is client driven. With our roles being typically deadline driven, our days are usually rounded off with a calendar and workflow check. This will give insight into tomorrow’s tasks and help prioritise and programme the weeks ahead. The sequencing of tasks is forever changing dependent upon what each day brings, keeping some form of live document to track work commitments is essential.

A day in the life of a QS depends where you are in the month.

Some periods are especially busy, for instance when we have subcontractor payments to assess, internal reporting deadlines or when it’s time to submit our applications for payment to the client.

Other weeks are quieter as nothing is due and this is when you get a chance to catch up on emails and progress on site – however even the quieter weeks can be manic!

A typical day for me would be to get to site for 8am- as we can be working anywhere in the country this can involve an early start, although Glencar try to keep you within an hour’s commute where practically possible.

I’ll then catch up with the site team on the plans on site for the week ahead and walk out with the Project Manager to discuss any issues that have arisen since my last visit. Hopefully a bacon sandwich is involved somewhere and then I’ll spend some time catching up on unanswered emails from the day before.

Once all of that is sorted, its back to the bread and butter tasks we need to complete to ensure the project is successfully managed commercially.

One of the key tasks is ensuring all of the subcontract packages are procured in good time so as to maintain our target programme. I will refer back to the procurement schedule to see which packages are coming up and then before we get someone on board; I will send out enquiries, analyse tender returns and ultimately make a recommendation to the senior team. There may be other small, albeit important items to procure to keep the site team happy such as cabin furniture or consumables and then typically there will be at least one meeting in the day, either internally, with the client or a subcontractor.

This is how three or four days of the week look and then the rest of the time is based in the office catching up on the more administrative tasks such as managing payments and maintaining a live forecast which shows the overall position of the job.