Where to find drywall & framing bids in Florida: plan rooms and bid sources

Short answer: there is no single place to find drywall and framing bids in Florida. Public work is spread across the Florida DOT and its district offices, city purchasing and construction-bid pages such as Tampa's and Jacksonville's, and university bid pages such as UF's. Private work mostly comes by invitation from general contractors. This page lists only the sources we could open and read, and says plainly where we could not check one, including the state's own procurement portal.

Neighboring states: Georgia · Alabama

How public and private bids work in Florida

Public projects are advertised by the owner: a state agency, a city or county, a university or a school district. The bid notice, plans, specifications and addenda are normally posted on the owner's own site or plan room, and every project shows its bid date. Read each notice for bond, licensing and document requirements.

Private projects are usually bid by invitation. A general contractor or owner decides who receives the documents, and the plans typically sit in a regional plan room, a bid service, or the GC's own portal. As a drywall, framing, insulation or CMU sub you usually price your scope to the GCs who are bidding, so being on the right planholder list matters.

Florida bid sources by type and region

Use the access column as a starting point, not a guarantee.

The State of Florida's own procurement portal (MyFloridaMarketPlace) did not render any readable content in our check, so we cannot describe how it handles construction bids. The Florida Vendor Bid System address we tried returned an error. The City of Jacksonville's main procurement page, Miami and Miami-Dade, Orlando, the AGC of Florida chapters, FSU and UCF did not load or did not give us a confirmed bid page. They are left out rather than guessed at. FDOT lettings are highway and bridge work and rarely include drywall or framing scopes.

Tips for subs

• Register as a planholder through the official channel. That is how you receive addenda, and some owners publish planholder lists that GCs use to find subs. Where a portal offers alerts by category or commodity code, turn them on.
• Go to the pre-bid meeting when there is one. Whether a meeting exists, and whether attendance is mandatory, is stated project by project in the notice. Read how scope is split between trades while you are there.
• Track addenda until bid day. Wall types, ceiling heights and scope can change, so reprice from the final set and re-check the day before the bid is due.
• Get the official set. Bid notices commonly say which plan room or design professional holds the controlling documents. Plans from another source may be incomplete.
• Check plan quality before you commit. Open the PDF and try to select a line or text. If you can, it is a vector file that can be measured exactly. If the page behaves like one picture, it is a scan and will take longer by hand. Also confirm the wall type legend is on the set; see what happens when it is missing.
• Check bonding and licensing before you price. Public notices often call for bid security and proof of licensing. Read the notice for the exact form.

Once you have the plans

ReadMyBlueprint is takeoff software, not a bid board. It reads vector plan sets for drywall, metal framing, wood framing, insulation and CMU. In our Freeport Square test (21 pages), 68.9% of walls were auto-matched and 99.8% after one "Confirm all." That was one plan set, so treat it as a single data point, and see the tour for how the review step works.

FAQ

Where do I find public construction bids in Florida?

There is no single place. FDOT advertises road and bridge work, cities such as Tampa and Jacksonville post their own bids, and universities such as UF and USF run their own bid pages. We could not read the state's MyFloridaMarketPlace portal, so check it directly. The table above lists each source we could open and how it describes its access.

Do I need to register to bid on City of Tampa work?

The city's Purchasing page states vendors must register on its OpenGov platform to receive bid documents and notices for goods and services solicitations. Construction project bids are handled through the Contract Administration department, so read that page and each notice for the exact steps.

Is there one statewide plan room or builders exchange for Florida?

Our searches did not find a single statewide Florida plan room, and we could not open an AGC of Florida website to check. Florida has several regional AGC chapters, and we have not verified whether any of them runs a plan room.

Can a subcontractor bid on Florida public projects?

Public owners advertise the prime contract, so subs normally price their scope to the general contractors who are bidding it. Read each bid notice for the owner's own rules, including any approved-bidder lists.

What is a planholder and why register as one?

A planholder is a firm that has officially requested the bid documents for a project. Registering usually puts you on the list that receives addenda, and some owners publish planholder lists that general contractors use to find subs. Download plans through the official channel, not from a forwarded link.

How are private bids different from public bids?

Public projects are advertised openly and the documents are usually posted on the owner's site. Private work is usually bid by invitation from a general contractor or owner, and documents come through a regional plan room, a bid service, or the GC directly. Access differs by source.

Does a scanned plan set matter when pricing a bid?

Yes. A vector PDF exported from CAD can be measured exactly, while a scanned plan is only a picture and has to be traced by hand or estimated. Check whether your plans are vector or scanned before you commit to a bid deadline.

Does ReadMyBlueprint list or sell bids?

No. ReadMyBlueprint is takeoff software, not a bid board. Once you have a plan set from any source above, you can upload it and review the takeoff yourself before the bid goes out.