A lot of the best electrical work in Ontario never gets tendered to electrical contractors directly. A city, school board or hospital tenders a general contract, and the general contractors (GCs) who bid it carry the electrical as a subtrade price. If you want that work, you're bidding to the GCs, not the owner. The plan-taker list is where that starts.
What a plan-taker list tells you
Most public portals in Ontario, such as bids&tenders and MERX, show who has downloaded the documents for a tender. Some show it to anyone, and some only show it to people who've registered as plan takers themselves. Either way, the list tells you which GCs are looking at the job.
A plan taker isn't the same as a bidder. Some firms download everything and bid very little. Still, the list is the best public signal you'll get of who might need an electrical price, and it's usually there weeks before closing.
Register as a plan taker yourself
Download the documents under your own company name, even if you'll never bid to the owner. You'll get the addenda as they're issued, you'll see the full list where the portal limits it to plan takers, and the GCs on the list can see you too. Some of them look for subtrades that way.
Pick the GCs worth calling
You don't need to price every GC on the list. Start with the ones who:
- regularly win this owner's work or this type of project,
- have paid you on time and treated your price fairly before, and
- have the bonding and the crew to actually carry the job.
Two or three good relationships on a tender are worth more than ten cold quotes.
Make the first call early
Call or email the GC's estimator a week or more before closing. Tell them you're pricing the electrical, ask whether they're bidding, and ask when they want sub prices in. Most GCs want subtrade numbers well before the owner's closing time so they can put their own bid together, often a day or more before, and sometimes earlier. Ask; don't guess.
Send a clean, comparable price
Estimators compare sub prices fast, often in the last hours before closing. Make yours easy to read:
- Name the tender number, the drawings and spec sections you priced, and every addendum you've included.
- State clearly what's in and what's out, such as fire alarm, communications, temporary power, trenching or patching.
- Note any allowances, unit prices or alternates the tender asks for.
- Say how long your price is good for.
A price with a clear scope and listed exclusions is easier to carry than a lower number with gaps the GC has to guess at.
Check for bonding and insurance asks
Some tenders require subtrades above a certain value to carry bonds or to name the owner and GC on insurance. Check the tender documents and ask the GC what they'll need from you, so it doesn't come up after you're carried.
Follow up after closing
Once the owner posts results, check who was low and call that GC. If you were carried, confirm next steps. If you weren't, ask whether your price was in the range. Either way you've built a relationship for the next tender on the same list.
The short version
Find the general contracts with electrical scope, register as a plan taker, call the right GCs early, and send a price they can compare in a minute. Then track the results so you know who to call next time.