Whitaker Paving saves a day a week on the search
A family paving company spent a morning a day on notices. Now it opens a shortlist, bids on more, and chases less.
Sam WhitakerOwner, Whitaker Paving
Key results
A morning a day cut to ten minutes
More bids submitted, fewer wrong ones started
One alert when a strong match lands, no noise
“I do in ten minutes what used to take a morning. I think it easily saves me a day a week. We bid more and chase less.”
Sam WhitakerOwner, Whitaker PavingMeet Whitaker Paving
Whitaker Paving resurfaces roads, lots and airfields for county and federal customers across three Midwestern states. Sam Whitaker took the company over from his father, and took the bidding with it.
The company runs two paving crews and a milling crew in season. Off season is when the bids get written, which meant the search had to happen in season, between jobs.
“Dad read the paper for bids. I read SAM.gov. Same job, more pages.”
A morning a day
Sam read notices before the crews rolled out, then again at lunch. Most of it was work the company could not do, in places it did not go. Airfield work in Alaska. Bridge decks. Parking lots six states away.
The notices that did fit took the rest of the morning. Sam read the package, checked the bonding, checked the dates, and started the estimate. Then a requirement on page thirty ended it.
“I would start three bids a month and finish one, because two turned out to be wrong for us halfway through.”
The profile knew the plants
Setup read the company website and drafted the profile. Sam added the asphalt plants the crews haul from, which set the radius the company can actually bid, and the bonding capacity.
“I put in where the plants are. After that it stopped showing me jobs we could not haul to.”
Every notice is now scored against that, so the wrong ones never reach him. A match alert lands when something strong posts, and the Monday summary covers the rest.
Ten minutes and a shortlist
Sam opens the shortlist with coffee and is done before the crews leave. The matches show the fit score, the bonding line and the due date, and the requirement list is already pulled when he decides to bid.
“I do in ten minutes what used to take a morning. We bid more and chase less.”
The company finished more bids last season than it started the season before. The two abandoned bids a month are gone, because the notices that would have caused them never make the list.
