Industries · Construction and engineering
Ask a construction director what the business will turn over in eighteen months and they’ll open a spreadsheet. Forty tenders out, a dozen being priced, three at preferred bidder. The tender register belongs to the bid manager, the relationships live with two or three directors, and the margin on last year’s jobs is locked in the ERP. The CRM, if there is one, finds out about the job after it’s won.
What's coming, what it costs to win, what it's worth
40
contractors, engineering firms and architecture practices
52
clients including building products
21
on bespoke HubSpot implementations
11
on ongoing support with us today
Periti Digital is a HubSpot Elite Solutions Partner and an Anthropic partner. We work with everyone from specialist subcontractors to general contractors, developers and global engineering consultancies. Kirby Group Engineering, the mechanical and electrical contractor building data centers, pharmaceutical plants and industrial facilities across Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe, has run on HubSpot with us for years. Across every sector, we’ve delivered 2,000+ projects for 900+ customers from Dublin, London, Rotterdam, Munich, Lisbon, Boston and New York.
The biggest mistake
So the company loads a contact list and asks directors to log deals. The tender register stays in its spreadsheet because the CRM has nowhere to put it. A year later nobody can say what the win rate is by client, sector or job size, how much the business spent pricing work it lost, or which consultants keep bringing it onto winning teams.
We build HubSpot around the bid. It becomes the revenue nerve center: where client and consultant relationships, the bid pipeline, bid/no-bid decisions, tender outcomes and the margin on delivered jobs meet.
| Area | What the CRM assumes | How construction works |
|---|---|---|
| Where work comes from | Leads a salesperson finds | Tenders, framework call-offs, repeat clients and consultants |
| Who decides to pursue | The salesperson | Directors, at bid/no-bid |
| Who does the heavy lifting | Sales | Estimators and bid managers |
| Where the decision lives | In the CRM | In Excel, if anywhere |
Structure
Build it to answer four questions: what’s out there, should we bid, did we win, and was it worth winning? We usually design around projects as a custom object, bids as deals with stages that match how you work, the clients and consultants around them, and outcome and margin data pulled from finance.
The project object matters most for specialist contractors. A façade, roofing or M&E subcontractor often prices the same scheme for three or four main contractors. In a standard pipeline that shows up as four deals worth four times the job, and the forecast is fiction. One project linked to four bids shows the real opportunity and which main contractor won.
Example: for a US commercial exterior restoration contractor, we built a Properties custom object at the center. Restoration work comes back to the same buildings year after year, through the same property managers and condominium boards, so every inspection, estimate, job and referral hangs off the building.
One scheme, counted once in the forecast, however many contractors you price for.
Construction relationships tend to belong to a director who has known the developer’s head of delivery for fifteen years. When that director retires, the business finds out how much of its pipeline was one person. We design HubSpot so relationship history, contacts and bid outcomes belong to the company, while directors still lead their clients. Your managing director has to make that call, and we raise it in the first workshop.
Bid/no-bid
Make it a stage with rules, approvals and a record of the decision. It’s the most expensive decision a contractor makes every week, and most firms make it with no data on how similar bids went.
Pricing a tender costs real money: estimator time, design input, subcontractor quotes, director review. Firms that bid on everything burn that money on jobs they were never likely to win, then wonder why their estimators are exhausted and their win rate is flat.
For an Irish general contractor delivering data center, life sciences and healthcare projects, we built a bid/no-bid pipeline with approval workflows as part of a Sales Hub Enterprise and Marketing Hub build, starting from the design we’d proven with Kirby Group Engineering. Every bid decision gets an owner, a reason and an outcome.
Record why you lost. Most firms track that they lost. Few track why or who won. We add a short, mandatory loss reason and the winning bidder, because a lost bid tells you about price, relationships and competition when someone writes it down.
Adoption
Stop asking them to type. Directors are on site, estimators are buried in drawings, and project managers measure their day in RFIs. A CRM that depends on any of them entering notes at a desk will be empty by the summer.
For Kirby Group Engineering, we delivered a full implementation with legacy data migration, mobile app configuration, Outlook and Teams connectors and dashboards. Kirby then moved onto multi-year support with a semi-embedded Periti consultant, because a contractor of that size keeps changing and the CRM has to keep up.
For the US restoration contractor, we trained estimators by role, using their own buildings and jobs. Estimators see a CRM differently from directors, and generic training misses both.
Who keeps HubSpot up to date
System boundaries
HubSpot should handle winning work and keeping clients. Your ERP, estimating software and project platforms should handle pricing it in detail, building it and accounting for it. Contractors who rebuild cost plans or job costing inside HubSpot end up with two systems doing the same job badly.
HubSpot sees everything here.
| Job | System of record | What HubSpot sees |
|---|---|---|
| Estimating, take-offs, cost plans | Estimating software | Bid value, margin assumption, submission date |
| Tender documents and drawings | Egnyte, SharePoint or ACC | Links where useful |
| Project delivery, RFIs, site progress | Autodesk Construction Cloud, Procore | Project stage, start and completion dates |
| Job costing, valuations, retentions | ERP: Sage Intacct, Business Central, Dynamics 365, SAP | Contract value, invoiced to date, final margin |
| Fees, time and resourcing (consultancies) | WorkflowMax, CMAP | Fees billed, hours against budget by job |
| Maintenance contracts and aftercare | Service Hub or FM system | Renewal dates, open issues by client |
One rule sits behind that table: data comes into HubSpot only if it drives an action or a decision. Final margin by client tells a director which relationships to chase. A completion date tells marketing when to ask for a case study and business development when to talk about the next phase. Ten thousand cost lines tell nobody anything, so they stay in the ERP.
Integrations
Start with finance and job costing, then project and document systems, then email and calendar. Anything HubSpot can’t see, it can’t act on, and neither can your agents. See our integration approach.
Start here
Margin is the number construction leaders care about most and the one their CRM almost never has. We’re connecting Sage Intacct for the US restoration contractor, delivered a SAP Business ByDesign integration on AWS Lambda for a fit-out business, set up Xero and migrated from WorkflowMax for a consulting engineer, and supported a Microsoft Dynamics integration for a global engineering consultancy.
Then
Business development needs to know where a won job stands without phoning the project manager. We sync project stage and key dates from Autodesk Construction Cloud and link the relevant Egnyte folders, so HubSpot shows the status of every live job against the client.
Consultancies
Engineering consultancies run on fees, time and utilization. For a US utilities and facilities engineering firm, we implemented Marketing and Sales Hub with a native CMAP integration, so business development sees fees and project history next to the client.
Larger firms
Larger contractors already report from a warehouse. For the Irish general contractor, we built a pipeline from HubSpot into its Microsoft Fabric data warehouse, so the bid pipeline sits next to finance and operations data in the reports leadership already uses.
Migration
We’ve moved contractors and engineers off Salesforce, Pipedrive, SugarCRM and spreadsheet tender registers. For a UK construction and property services group, HubSpot replaced a poorly adopted Salesforce setup. We bring across what will drive action and leave the rest.
A Zapier connection to your ERP will pass testing. Then a bid moves back from won to negotiation after a client query, gets marked won again a week later, and Zapier creates a second job in the ERP. Finance now has two job numbers for one contract, and nobody notices until a valuation goes out against the wrong one.
For business-critical connections we build on Microsoft Azure or AWS, with error handling, retries and monitoring. We don’t sync an ERP through Zapier.
Quoting
For repeat, standardized work, often. For tendered projects priced from drawings and bills of quantities, no.
HubSpot handles quotes, line items, approvals and e-signature well. In the right business that removes a spreadsheet and speeds up response times. In the wrong one it creates a second estimating system nobody trusts.
For a specialist roofing contractor, we built custom quote modules in HubSpot. For a main contractor pricing a hospital from a full set of drawings, we’d never suggest it.
Go-to-market data
Track the signals that tell you work is coming before the tender lands. By the time an invitation to tender arrives, the design team is chosen, the shortlist is set and your competitors have already had the conversation.
01
When a developer’s project director, or a cost consultant who recommended you, moves on, you get the warmest introduction in the industry. When a key contact leaves a client, that relationship is at risk.
02
Which architects, engineers and cost consultants are on the design team when you win? They’re your best source of early introductions.
03
A planning approval, funding announcement or new data center campus tells you a project is coming months before procurement.
04
When you lose a main contract bid, the winner still needs specialists. Award notices are free intelligence most firms ignore.
05
Track when yours expire and when new ones open, so you prepare the submission before the deadline lands on your desk.
06
Which clients have grown or cut their capital programs, and which haven’t given you work in eighteen months?
07
Practical completion triggers case studies, testimonials, aftercare and the next-phase conversation. HubSpot prompts each one.
Our GTM Engineering team builds outreach, enrichment and AI agents on your client and project context.
Frameworks and public procurement
Track frameworks as relationships with terms, and track call-offs and mini-competitions as bids against them.
The procurement portal holds the documents and the submission. HubSpot should hold everything around it: which frameworks you’re on and until when, which lots, which clients use them, every call-off and its outcome, and the pre-qualification content you reuse. We build GDPR consent and retention rules in from the start, which matters when your marketing reaches public bodies and private developers alike.
AI with Claude
They read tenders, draft responses from your past work and spot opportunities early, provided the context underneath them is sound. Through our Anthropic partnership, we build Claude automations that bring that context into HubSpot:
On a CRM full of stale contacts and missing bid history, agents give directors bad answers with total confidence, so we build the context layer first.
Groups and roll-ups
Construction and building services are consolidating. Every acquisition brings another CRM, another tender spreadsheet and another set of directors convinced their way is right. We help groups build one CRM, with a repeatable playbook for bringing each new company into it, while each operating company keeps the pipelines it needs.
For the US restoration contractor, we delivered a group-wide HubSpot Enterprise rollout across five operating companies, with harmonized pipelines, a shared data model, data migration and referral and commission workflows. For a UK construction and property services group, we’ve worked with business units on their own terms, from a Sales Hub build to a LaunchRight onboarding.
1,200 users
The largest HubSpot implementation in EMEA.
Some contractors ask us for a CRM when their real problem is estimating capacity: they can’t price the work they’re invited to, and no pipeline will fix that. Others win nearly all their work from one or two main contractors, and a well-kept relationship and a spreadsheet would serve them better. When that’s the case, we say so. Sometimes the right first project is a few weeks agreeing your bid criteria and target clients, or a small HubSpot setup for business development. We’d rather sell you the smaller project that works than the bigger one that doesn’t.
Who works on your project
Every Periti project is run by a lead consultant who has delivered at least 50 projects. They own the design, run the workshops with your directors, estimators and bid team, and make the hard calls.
When a project needs integration with your ERP, project management or document systems, we assign dedicated engineers rather than stretching consultants into developer roles. Our directors review the work and hold every project to the same standard.
How a project runs
01
Map how work comes in: tenders, frameworks, repeat clients, consultants and direct inquiries. Design the project and bid model, bid/no-bid rules, boundaries, integrations and AI.
02
Configure in sprints and demo regularly, so directors and estimators see progress early and can correct course while changes are cheap.
03
Bring in the data that serves a purpose, including your tender register, connect ERP, project and document systems, and test against real bids.
04
Train directors, estimators, bid managers and marketing by role, on your own projects and clients.
05
Agree a roadmap so the system keeps pace as you add regions, sectors and acquisitions.
Where to start
Most firms
Where most of our construction and engineering engagements start. You leave with a design your leadership team agrees on, whoever builds it.
Fast start
Our industry-specific onboarding package, with a configuration built for construction. A UK construction and property services group used it to get a business unit live quickly.
Ongoing
Ongoing support from a team that knows your portal. 11 of our construction, engineering and architecture clients are on it today.
Ongoing
An experienced Periti operator runs your revenue operations as part of your team. Kirby Group Engineering works with us this way.
Growth
Outreach, enrichment and AI agents built on your client and project context, to reach developers and consultants before the tender is out.
Firms we work with
General contractors, developers and homebuilders are our largest segment, followed by engineering contractors and consultancies. Our specialist and trade contractors cover roofing, façades, glazing, fire protection, cleanrooms, plumbing, flooring and restoration.
We also work with 12 building products manufacturers and distributors, covered on our manufacturing page.
Questions
Yes, for client and consultant relationships, the bid pipeline, bid/no-bid decisions and marketing. Run estimating, project delivery and job costing in the systems built for them. The companies that get the most from HubSpot connect them, so directors see margin and project status next to every client.
Yes. We build the pipeline around your bid stages, from identified through bid/no-bid, pricing, submission and award, with the tender documents left in your document or procurement systems. The bid value, dates, decision and outcome all live in HubSpot.
We turn your bid criteria into required fields, route the decision for approval at the right level, and record the reason and outcome. After a few months you can see your win rate by client, sector, procurement route and job size, which changes what you choose to bid.
Use a project custom object with one bid per main contractor linked to it. Your forecast then shows the real opportunity once, and you can see which main contractor won and whether you were on their team.
Yes. We're connecting HubSpot to Autodesk Construction Cloud for a US contractor, alongside Sage Intacct and Egnyte. HubSpot should see project stage and key dates, while RFIs, drawings and site progress stay in the project platform.
Yes. We've worked with Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics, Business Central, SAP Business ByDesign and Xero in construction and engineering. For anything finance depends on, we build on Azure or AWS middleware, never Zapier.
For repeat service work, small works and configurable products, often yes. For tenders priced from drawings and bills of quantities, keep estimating in your estimating software and bring the bid value and margin into HubSpot.
Remove the data entry. Outlook and Teams logging, the HubSpot mobile app set up for site, synced finance and project data, and short director views do more for adoption than any amount of training.
Yes, for winning and growing fee work. Connect it to your practice or job management system, such as WorkflowMax or CMAP, so business development sees fees and project history next to each client.
The most useful ones triage tenders and inquiries, brief directors before bid/no-bid, draft pre-qualification and tender responses from past work, analyze lost bids and watch for planning and award notices. They depend on good bid and project history in the CRM, so we build that first.
No. We review what each record and field will do in HubSpot and bring across what's useful, cleaned and restructured. Old tender registers are often worth migrating, because the win and loss history is what makes bid/no-bid decisions smarter.
Yes. We delivered a group-wide rollout across five operating companies for a US contractor, and our largest rollout, for Franchise Brands, brought 1,200 users across multiple brands and countries into one HubSpot environment. It takes careful design of permissions, pipelines and reporting.
With a Design and Strategy project. We map how work comes into the business and design the bid model, integrations and reporting before anything is built. Firms that want a faster start can use LaunchRight, our industry-specific onboarding package.
You might be moving your tender register out of Excel, connecting HubSpot to your ERP and project systems, bringing acquired companies onto one platform, or trying to get directors and estimators to use the system you already pay for. Tell us where you are. We’ll tell you how we’d get you there, including the parts you might not want to hear.