Field note
How much of your bid is still carried at plug prices on bid day?
Count it in dollars, not rows. Mark every material row with what backs its carried number (a supplier quote line, a plug, or a price someone typed in) and total the dollars in each group. The dollars on plugs and typed prices are the part of your material number that no supplier has put on paper yet.
What is the difference between a plug and a quoted carry?
- Plug. The placeholder unit price in the estimate before quotes arrive. It often comes from past jobs, and some rows carry a plug of zero.
- Quoted carry. A unit price that traces to one line on one supplier quote revision.
- Typed carry. A price someone entered from a phone call, an email or judgment, with no quote line behind it.
Material prices move between bids, so a plug can be stale on the day you use it. A typed price can be right, but nobody can trace it later. Both are the estimator's call. The sheet should say which one each row is.
In its fall 2026 release webinar (recorded Oct 8, 2026), HCSS announced a new HeavyBid quotes homepage that shows each folder's price, selected price and plug price at a glance. Whatever system you use, the useful view is the dollars behind each kind of carry.
How do you track plug versus quoted coverage row by row?
Add four columns to the sheet you level in:
- Basis: Quoted, Plug, Typed or Open.
- Source: vendor, quote number, revision and line, for quoted rows.
- Carry unit price.
- Carry extension: your quantity times the carry unit price.
Total the extensions by basis, then sort the plug rows by dollars, largest first. Keep Open rows separate. A row with no number at all must not count as zero.
Invented status on six rows from Coffer's synthetic sample job. Prices, revisions and line numbers are made up, not market prices.
| Row | Qty | Plug | Carry | Basis | Extension |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
WP-1002 8-IN MJ RW gate valve | 4 EA | $980.00 | $965.00 | Quoted: Vendor B, rev 1, line 14 | $3,860.00 |
WP-1009 Detectable warning tape | 850 LF | $0.32 | $0.29 | Quoted: Vendor B, rev 1, line 31 | $246.50 |
WP-1010 Adjustable valve box | 4 EA | $210.00 | $205.00 | Quoted: Vendor A, rev 2, line 9 | $820.00 |
WP-1014 12-IN DI pipe, Class 52 | 240 LF | $69.00 | $69.00 | Plug | $16,560.00 |
WP-1005 Fire hydrant assembly | 3 EA | $3,200.00 | $3,200.00 | Plug | $9,600.00 |
WP-1043 12-IN MJ butterfly valve | 2 EA | $2,800.00 | $2,650.00 | Typed (phone price) | $5,300.00 |
| Basis | Rows | Dollars | Share of dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quoted | 3 | $4,926.50 | 13.5% |
| Plug | 2 | $26,160.00 | 71.9% |
| Typed | 1 | $5,300.00 | 14.6% |
| Total | 6 | $36,386.50 |
Half the rows are quoted, but only 13.5% of the dollars are. The 12-inch pipe and the hydrants are the two calls to make first.
What should you do when a quote lands two hours before the bid?
Do not try to map the whole quote. Map the rows where it can change the number.
- Confirm what it is. Right job, right scope, latest revision. A revision can repeat every earlier line and add a few new ones. Find what changed.
- Read the terms first. Freight, tax, minimums, the validity date, exclusions and "priced at time of shipment" language. A low line price with freight excluded can cost more than it saves.
- Work the plug and typed rows, largest dollars first. Then the rows where the new quote might beat the current low.
- Check the unit and spec on each row you take. Full pipe lengths, rolls, per-hundred pricing, class, DR and joint type. How do you level pipe and fittings supplier quotes? covers each one.
- Leave the rest. Rows you did not check keep their current carry and basis. An unchecked number does not replace a confirmed one.
- Set a cutoff time and write down what stayed on plug. The post-bid review will want that list.
What is the fastest way to get supplier quotes into HeavyBid on bid day without hand-typing every line?
- HeavyBid web's quote extraction. If your quote folders are set up, HCSS's "upload and extract prices," shown in its Summer 2026 release webinar (recorded July 16, 2026), reads a quote PDF and proposes prices for folder items, with a confidence rating, the source page and quantity warnings. In the same webinar's Q&A, HCSS said escalations are not handled yet and that pulling out conditions, inclusions and exclusions is still to come, so those still need a person. More: How do you get vendor quotes into HeavyBid in 2026?
- Ask for a spreadsheet with the PDF. A supplier's spreadsheet removes the retyping of prices. The rows still have to be matched to yours.
- Have the quotes mapped before bid day. Each quote mapped the day it arrives is one less for the last two hours. See How do you match a waterworks distributor quote to your material list?
Whatever the path, keep the source on every carry. Late on bid day, a number you can trace is worth more than a number you typed fast.
How does Coffer show what is still on plug?
Coffer reads, matches and levels every supplier quote against your material list and resource codes, and recommends a carry for each row. Your estimator makes the final carry decision. In the workbook we return, each row's CARRY VENDOR column names the vendor, or reads PLUG or MANUAL, so the dollars still resting on plugs and typed prices are easy to total.
Next step: send one past bid's material list and supplier quotes to declan@coffer.build, or use the contact form below. We will return the mapped, leveled comparison, with every row's carry basis marked.
Sources
Links checked Oct 14, 2026.
- HCSS, HeavyBid Product Release, Summer 2026 (webinar and transcript) (recorded July 16, 2026)
- HCSS, HCSS Platform Fall 2026 Product Release (webinar and transcript) (recorded Oct 8, 2026)
- HCSS, Quote Management
- Coffer field note, How do you get vendor quotes into HeavyBid in 2026? (Aug 30, 2026)