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Standard · MTR-STD-02
Version · 2026.01
Articles · VIII
Signatories · 317 shops

A public standard for bid packages

The Scope-Clarity Standard.

Preamble

Specialty subcontractors bid into packages that withhold the information required to price them — and then absorb the consequences of that withholding.

This is not a market failure. It is a practice that has been tolerated because no one named it.

We are naming it. The following eight articles are the minimum a bid package must contain before a sub should be asked to price it. We hold ourselves to them. We invite the industry to do the same.

The eight articles

I – VIII
  1. Article I

    Drawings shall be current, sealed, and accompanied by a log.

    The latest sealed set, plus a revision log going back no fewer than two revisions. A package without a change history is a package without a memory.

  2. Article II

    Specifications shall be divisible.

    Each scope identifiable by CSI MasterFormat division. 'See drawings' is not a specification.

  3. Article III

    Schedule shall be named, not gestured at.

    Start, substantial completion, and at least three intermediate milestones tied to this trade. Quarterly windows do not constitute a schedule.

  4. Article IV

    Logistics shall be written.

    Access, staging, lay-down, working hours, parking. Premium for nights and weekends stated in advance. Verbal-only logistics shall be treated as no logistics at all.

  5. Article V

    Bonding & insurance shall be disclosed at invitation.

    Bonded thresholds and insurance limits are conditions of entry, not surprises. Subs are entitled to know whether they may even bid.

  6. Article VI

    Payment terms shall appear in the bid package verbatim.

    Net days, retention percentage, retention release, lien waiver format. The paragraphs that will appear in the subcontract, in the package, before pricing.

  7. Article VII

    Change-order procedure shall be operative, not nominal.

    Who approves, in what timeframe, at what markup. 'Per standard terms' is not a procedure.

  8. Article VIII

    The award timeline shall be stated, and honored.

    Bids-due date, leveling window, interview schedule, award notification. Subs are managing finite estimating capacity — opacity here is a cost imposed on the trade.

Signed by

317 shops, and counting.

Subcontractors who have adopted the standard for their own inbound bid review — and who will decline to price packages that fail it.

Sign on→
  • Northline Drywall · Denver, CO
  • Patton Mechanical · Atlanta, GA
  • Klein Glazing · Toronto, ON
  • Salinas Electric · San Antonio, TX
  • Beaumont Fireproofing · Houston, TX
  • Cordillera Framing · Boise, ID
  • Atelier Millwork · Montréal, QC
  • Six Rivers Plumbing · Portland, OR
  • Quincy Low-Voltage · Boston, MA
  • Otsego Roofing · Minneapolis, MN
  • Verde Flooring · Phoenix, AZ
  • Crowne Glass & Façade · Vancouver, BC

Cite this standard

Reference it in your bid responses.

CharterTrades Scope-Clarity Standard,
v.2026.01 (MTR-STD-02).
mortar.build/resources/
  scope-clarity-terms

Open. Free to use. No license required.

Changelog

Updated when the trade tells us to.

2026.01
Article III tightened: 'at least three' milestones (was two).
2025.07
Articles V, VI separated from a single combined article.
2025.01
Initial release — eight articles, signed by 64 shops.
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