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01Commercial Fit Out · Kent · No Win, No Fee

Commercial Fit Out bid writer in Kent — no win, no fee.

You price the fit-out. We craft the proposal. Founder-led bid writing for commercial fit-out contractors tendering £50k–£5m packages.

Book a 15-minute callRequest the sample pack
£1,500 minimum success fee · 2% above £75k · Founder-led · Also covering Sussex, Greater London, Essex (via Dartford)
02The honest problem

Fit-out bids are decided on how you handle the occupied building.

Most commercial fit-out tenders today happen in occupied buildings. Cat A refresh while a floor below trades. Cat B reconfiguration over a long weekend. Phased decant where the tenant doesn't leave.

The main contractor isn't worried about whether you can fit a partition. They're worried about whether you'll close the floor by Monday morning, contain the dust, manage the lift bookings, and not produce a complaint at the building's front desk.

Most fit-out subs have done all of this dozens of times. The few who put that operational discipline into the bid pack — explicitly — win the framework slot.

03What’s hard about it

The three problems that cost you the appointment.

  1. 01

    Occupied-building protocol framed properly

    Out-of-hours work, dust control, lift bookings, security passes, deliveries to a live building. A bid pack that addresses this head-on signals the operational maturity the QS is looking for.

  2. 02

    Phased handover plan, not 'TBC'

    Tenants need specific dates for specific zones. The bid pack should propose a phased handover plan tied to the programme, with snagging and benchmark dates baked in. Vague handover narratives lose points.

  3. 03

    Finishes alignment & benchmark approach

    Fit-out tenders increasingly require sample panels, benchmark areas and a documented finishes-approval process. Submissions that propose this proactively read as more professional than ones that wait to be asked.

04Kent market context

Why bid evaluation in Kent works the way it does.

Kent's commercial bid activity is heaviest around Ashford, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury, Medway and the Dartford / Gravesend corridor. The Channel port, HS1 high-speed rail link, Kings Hill business park and the Thames Estuary infrastructure programme give Kent a deeper logistics-and-infrastructure mix than Sussex or Surrey — alongside the standard commercial, healthcare, education and council framework activity.

Kent contractors often work cross-border into Greater London and Essex (via the Dartford crossing). Main contractors evaluating Kent supply chain are often London-headquartered (Mace, Skanska, ISG, Galliford Try) and apply London tender standards — even for Kent-only packages. The submission has to read as if it's competing in a tier-1 evaluation, even for a £200k local sub-package.

05How it works

From tender on the desk to submission-ready pack.

  1. 01

    You send us the tender

    Brief, scope, return-by date, your draft price.

  2. 02

    We write the proposal pack

    Method statement, programme narrative, commercial fit-out-specific compliance evidence, and the supporting documents your evaluator wants to read — in the main contractor's QS language, not yours.

  3. 03

    You review and submit

    Your name on it. Your win.

  4. 04

    You pay only if you win

    £1,500 minimum, 2% of contract value above £75k. Don't win, don't pay.

Founding-team UK firm. Kent-covering. Karl runs it.

06Inside the pack

What you get in a commercial fit-out proposal pack.

  • 01
    Method statement covering Cat A / Cat B works
    Stripout, partitioning, finishes, joinery, services interface — sequenced for the live environment.
  • 02
    Occupied-building protocol
    Out-of-hours, dust / noise, lift bookings, security, deliveries, public-area protection.
  • 03
    Programme narrative with phased handover
    Zone-by-zone handover plan with snagging, benchmark approval and tenant-acceptance milestones.
  • 04
    Dust, noise & out-of-hours approach
    Hoarding, negative-pressure containment, acoustic mitigation, noisy-works windows.
  • 05
    Finishes schedule alignment
    Sample panels, benchmark areas, finishes approval process, lead-time control.
  • 06
    Snagging & benchmark approach
    Pre-snag, joint snag with client representative, defects-period plan.
  • 07
    Sustainability & waste
    Where the tender scores it — segregation strategy, recycled-content selections, BREEAM credit support.
  • 08
    Experience matrix
    Past fit-outs mapped to the tender's evaluation criteria.
07Why no win, no fee

A first-tender risk-sharing offer.

We only get paid if the bid wins. £1,500 minimum success fee (binds on contracts up to £75k), 2% on contract value above £75k. Eligible on opportunities over £50k. Founding offer — capped at the first ten Kent contractors who take it up.

08Sample pack

See what one actually looks like.

We’ve put together a sample bid pack — fictional contract, watermarked, real format. Request it via the link below. No commitment to engage; we just want you to see what one looks like.

Request the sample pack →
09Frequently asked

Commercial Fit Out bid writing — practical answers.

01How much does a no-win-no-fee bid writer cost for a Kent commercial fit-out tender?
£0 if your bid doesn't win. £1,500 minimum if it does, or 2% of contract value on tenders above £75k. There's no upfront fee, no retainer, no hourly rate. The fee is invoiced once you confirm the contract award. Eligible on opportunities over £50k.
02What's included in a commercial fit-out proposal pack?
Method statement covering Cat A / Cat B works, occupied-building protocol, programme narrative with phased handover plan, dust / noise / out-of-hours management approach, finishes schedule alignment, snagging and benchmark approach, sustainability and waste section, and experience matrix mapped to evaluation criteria.
03How do you handle occupied-building fit-out in the bid pack?
Head-on. The pack frames the out-of-hours approach, dust / noise containment, lift bookings, security passes, public-area protection and tenant-communication protocol — the operational discipline that decides framework awards in occupied environments. Most submissions hide this; we surface it.
04How long does a fit-out bid pack take to write?
A standard sub-package takes 3–6 working days. Cat B reconfigurations and multi-floor fit-outs take 7–12 days because the phasing and handover narrative is substantial. We won't compress that on a tight return-by date.
05Do you frame BREEAM or Skanska / Mace QA processes properly?
Yes. If the tender scores BREEAM credits we frame the contribution clearly. If the main contractor has a named QA process (Skanska's, Mace's, ISG's etc.) we align the inspection regime to it so the QS doesn't have to reconcile two systems.
06Do you understand the Kent and South-East tender market?
Yes. Kent is part of our warm geography along with Sussex and Surrey. We work with subcontractors across Ashford, Maidstone, Tunbridge Wells, Canterbury, Medway and the Dartford corridor — and into the cross-border Greater-London projects that Kent contractors often pick up. We also work UK-wide on cold opportunities up to £5m contract value.
10Next steps

Worth a 15-minute call?

If you’ve got a live commercial fit-outtender on the desk now, let’s look at it together. Karl will run through what the proposal pack would cover, and we’ll agree the engagement terms before any work starts.

Book a 15-minute callRequest the sample pack
Karl
Bidwright · bidwright.co.uk
Prefer email? karl.gleave@bidwright.co.uk