Bidwright
01Drylining · Sussex · No Win, No Fee

Drylining bid writer in Sussex no win, no fee.

You price the drylining. We craft the proposal. Founder-led bid writing for drylining and suspended-ceiling subcontractors tendering £50k–£5m packages.

£1,500 minimum success fee · 2% above £75k · Founder-led · Also covering Surrey, Kent, Hampshire
02The honest problem

Drylining firms are losing tenders on the documentation — not the price.

You can price drylining faster than most. Estimating is the part you know. The Friday-night problem is the rest of the bid pack — the method statement, the programme, the fire-rating evidence, the acoustic build-up data sheets, the F-rating certificates, the CHAS and insurance framing.

That's the half that decides whether the main contractor's QS reads your number as fair value or as expensive.

Most drylining and ceiling sub-packages are now losing more on the documentation than on price. CHAS, £10m PL and Fermacell approvals don't tell that story on their own. The document around them has to.

03What’s hard about it

The three problems that cost you the appointment.

  1. 01

    Acoustic & fire data sheets in the QS's language

    Most drylining tenders score acoustic and fire performance. Most subcontractors hand the QS a manufacturer datasheet stapled to a quote. The QS reads that as effort, not evidence.

  2. 02

    F-rating evidence that the inspector will accept

    Tender returns increasingly ask for F-rating substantiation against the actual specified build-up — not the generic certificate. Without that, scoring drops before commercials are even read.

  3. 03

    Programme tied to first-fix M&E sequencing

    Drylining sits in the critical path with mechanical and electrical first fix. A bid pack that ignores the M&E sequence reads as naïve and gets discounted.

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, drylining-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 drylining proposal pack.

  • 01
    Method statement
    Partition systems, suspended ceilings, SFS, fire-rated builds — written to the specific tender.
  • 02
    Programme narrative
    Tied to your price assumptions and the M&E first-fix sequence.
  • 03
    Acoustic build-up data sheets
    Framed for the QS, not pulled from the supplier brochure.
  • 04
    F-rating evidence
    Mapped to the build-up you've priced, with Fermacell / Knauf / Siniat approval framing.
  • 05
    Quality assurance & inspection regime
    Sample panels, hold points, snagging process, defect-free handover plan.
  • 06
    Sustainability & waste
    Where the tender scores it — material returns, recycling routes, low-VOC selections.
  • 07
    Experience matrix
    Mapped to the tender's evaluation criteria, not a generic CV.
  • 08
    CHAS / accreditation framing
    Written to earn evaluation points, not just be listed.
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.

09Frequently asked

Drylining bid writing — practical answers.

01How much does a no-win-no-fee bid writer cost for a Sussex drylining 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 drylining proposal pack?
Method statement, programme narrative, acoustic and fire-rating data sheets, F-rating evidence, quality assurance approach, sustainability section, accreditation framing, and experience matrix mapped to the tender's evaluation criteria. Each pack is written for the specific tender, not pulled from a template.
03How long does a drylining bid pack take to write?
A standard sub-package proposal takes us 2–4 working days from the brief. Frameworks and larger one-off tenders take 5–10 days. We won't take a tender on if the return-by date is inside 72 hours — there isn't time to do it justice.
04Will the pack work with the build-up we've already priced?
Yes — we write to the build-up you've priced. If you've quoted a 70mm metsec stud with two-layer Fireline both sides, that's what the F-rating evidence, acoustic data and methodology references. We don't substitute systems to suit a template.
05Are you tied to British Gypsum, Knauf or any one supplier?
No. We write for the tender — whatever system you've priced (British Gypsum, Knauf, Saint-Gobain, Fermacell, USG Boral, Siniat). The proposal frames your chosen system's compliance, fire-rating, and acoustic credentials 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 dryliningtender 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.

Karl
Bidwright · bidwright.co.uk