Site walk

What is a site walk?

A site walk is an on-site visit to see conditions and scope a job before pricing it. The estimator or seller checks access, existing equipment, ceiling heights, shutdown windows and anything the drawings miss. On public work it is often formal: the federal site visit clause says bidders are urged and expected to inspect the site, and an organized site visit may be scheduled for all of them.

Why it matters to a revenue leader

Margin is often lost before the bid goes in, through scope the estimate missed. A good site walk protects margin and also sells, because it is often the first time the seller meets the facility manager, the maintenance lead and sometimes the decision maker in the same place. For a revenue leader, site walks are a leading indicator of bid quality and a chance for sellers to ask the questions that shape scope in the company's favor. Skipping them to save time tends to come back as change orders and disputes.

A mechanical contractor bidding a chiller replacement at a hospital walks the site with the facility director. The seller learns the crane path crosses the ambulance entrance and the work must happen in a two-week winter window. The bid prices night crane work and states the window, which the competitor who skipped the walk misses.