Where construction work actually comes from
There are three main streams. Most firms only watch one, then wonder why the pipeline is thin.
1. Planning applications, the earliest signal
Every significant building project starts with a planning application to the local council. These are public. They appear months, sometimes years, before anyone is on site. For a contractor or supplier, a planning application is the first sign that a project is real and moving.
Watching planning data lets you reach the people behind a project, the agent, architect or developer, before the specification is fixed and before a main contractor has picked its subcontractors. There is more on this in how to track planning applications.
2. Public tenders, mid stage and formal
When a public body, a council, NHS trust, school or housing association, needs work done, it has to advertise. These are tenders, and they are free to find on government sites. The two main ones are Contracts Finder and Find a Tender, which cover different value bands. See Contracts Finder vs Find a Tender.
3. Private work and invitations
Private clients and main contractors do not have to advertise. Here the work comes through relationships: invitations to tender from main contractors, repeat clients and referrals. The earlier you are known to a project team, the more likely you are invited.
Free sources you can use today
- Council planning registers: every council publishes its planning applications online, searchable and free
- Contracts Finder: lower value public contracts in England, over £12,000
- Find a Tender: higher value contracts across the UK
- Public Contracts Scotland, Sell2Wales and eTendersNI for the devolved nations
These are genuinely free and official. The cost is your time, because the work is spread across hundreds of separate sites and updates every day.
Paid tools, and when they are worth it
Paid construction data tools exist because monitoring everything by hand does not scale. They pull planning and tender data into one place, match it to your trade and area, and link the companies and contacts behind each project. The established names are Glenigan and Barbour ABI, built for large enterprise teams and priced on a sales call. Newer tools publish their pricing and are built for smaller firms. See how the options compare.
A paid tool is worth it when the time you spend searching, or the work you miss, costs more than the subscription. For a one person firm chasing local jobs, free sources may be enough. For a team that needs a steady pipeline across a region, a tool pays for itself by not missing work.
Why early beats fast
By the time a project is out to tender, the design is largely fixed and the main contractor often has a shortlist of subcontractors in mind. Firms that engage at the planning and design stage can influence the specification and build a relationship before the competition even knows the job exists. Getting in early is worth more than bidding fast.
Turning leads into won work
- 1Qualify fast: does the project match your trade, size and patch? If not, drop it
- 2Find the people: the agent, applicant, architect or main contractor behind the record
- 3Reach out early, while you can still influence the specification
- 4Track it: stage, next action and due date, so nothing slips
This is the workflow Strukta is built around: planning and tenders in one place, the companies and contacts linked to each, and a simple way to act. Pricing is published from £19.99 a month.