Bidwright
Discuss
01Commercial Painting · Sussex · No Win, No Fee

Commercial Painting bid writer in Sussex — no win, no fee.

You price the work. We craft the proposal. Founder-led bid writing for commercial painting and decorating 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 Surrey, Kent, Hampshire
02The honest problem

Painting bids are decided long before the brushes come out.

Painting and decorating sits at the end of the programme. Whoever wins the tender has to absorb every preceding trade's slip, hit the snagging window without compromising drying times, and leave a defect-free finish that survives end-user occupation.

Most painting tenders are still won on price. The framework appointments — the long-term value — are won on something else: surface-preparation discipline, low-VOC compliance, sample-panel and benchmark process, snagging protocol, and the ability to deliver in occupied environments without complaints.

If the bid pack treats painting as a commodity trade, the evaluation drops. If it treats it as an end-of-programme delivery problem, the evaluation rises.

03What’s hard about it

The three problems that cost you the appointment.

  1. 01

    Surface preparation evidenced properly

    Most failed paint jobs are preparation failures. The bid pack should frame the substrate inspection, primer selection, moisture testing and prep methodology — not assume 'standard prep' covers it.

  2. 02

    Low-VOC and sustainability framing

    BREEAM credits, occupant-health requirements and corporate sustainability commitments increasingly drive paint selection. Bid packs that frame low-VOC compliance, EU Ecolabel certification and air-quality contribution earn marks.

  3. 03

    Occupied-building & out-of-hours protocol

    Most commercial painting now happens in occupied buildings or live operational environments. The protocol — drying-time management, smell containment, lift bookings, public-area protection — needs to be in the pack.

04Sussex market context

Why bid evaluation in Sussex works the way it does.

Sussex sits between the South-East commercial corridor and the South-Coast economic strip. Bid activity is heavier in the Brighton, Crawley, Gatwick Diamond, Worthing and Eastbourne corridors. The mix is commercial fit-out, hospitality refurb, schools and universities, healthcare estates, and a steady stream of council-framework work.

Most Sussex subcontractors win locally on relationships and lose nationally on submissions. The big main contractors running South-East frameworks (Wates, ISG, Willmott Dixon, BAM, Vinci) want the regional sub's site capability — but evaluate the bid pack against the same standard they apply to their tier-1 supply chain. That's where well-priced Sussex firms get out-bid by national rivals with bigger bid teams.

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 painting and decorating-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. Sussex-covering. Karl runs it.

06Inside the pack

What you get in a commercial painting and decorating proposal pack.

  • 01
    Method statement
    Substrate prep, primer selection, application method, drying-time control, finishing protocol.
  • 02
    Surface preparation approach
    Substrate inspection, moisture testing, primer compatibility, defect rectification before application.
  • 03
    Low-VOC & sustainability framing
    Low-VOC product selection, EU Ecolabel evidence, BREEAM credit support where the tender scores it.
  • 04
    Occupied-building protocol
    Out-of-hours, drying-time and smell management, lift bookings, security, public-area protection.
  • 05
    Sample & benchmark approach
    Sample panels, benchmark areas, client approval process before main rollout.
  • 06
    Snagging & rectification process
    Pre-snag, joint snag with client representative, drying-time and re-coat protocol, defect-correction approach.
  • 07
    Programme narrative
    Drying-time and re-coat sequencing tied to the main programme, follow-on trade coordination.
  • 08
    Experience matrix
    Past painting projects 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 Sussex 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 Painting bid writing — practical answers.

01How much does a no-win-no-fee bid writer cost for a Sussex commercial painting and decorating 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 painting proposal pack?
Method statement, surface-preparation and substrate compatibility approach, low-VOC / sustainability section, occupied-building and out-of-hours protocol, sample and benchmark approach, snagging and rectification process, programme narrative tied to drying and recoat times, and experience matrix mapped to evaluation criteria.
03How do you handle BREEAM and low-VOC requirements?
Explicitly. If the tender targets BREEAM credits we frame the low-VOC product selection, EU Ecolabel evidence and air-quality contribution. If the occupant is healthcare or schools we frame the safer-product selection. Generic 'we use low-VOC paint' lines lose evaluation points.
04How long does a painting bid pack take to write?
Standard sub-package takes 2–3 working days. Frameworks for hotels, schools, healthcare or commercial Cat B fit-outs — where the occupied-building protocol is heavier — take 4–7 days.
05Are you tied to any specific paint manufacturer?
No. We write to whatever brand you've priced (Dulux Trade, Crown Trade, Johnstones Trade, Tikkurila, Zinsser, Bedec, Leyland Trade). The proposal frames your chosen brand's environmental credentials, drying times and product-specific guarantees in the main contractor's language.
06Do you understand the Sussex / South-East tender market?
Yes. Sussex is part of our warm geography. We work with the regional supply chains around Gatwick, Brighton, Crawley, Worthing, Eastbourne and Chichester — and the frameworks run out of those corridors (universities, healthcare, schools, council estates). We also cover Surrey and Kent within the same warm region, and we 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 painting and decoratingtender 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