Priority Plan clients, in their own words.

"I was pricing at midnight."

Estimating sat on my desk. I'd come back to the office after a site day and start pricing around 7pm. Smaller domestic and refurb tenders were getting dropped because I genuinely didn't have time, and the bigger commercial ones were going out at 11:58pm on the deadline with no time to sense-check the qualifications.

The frustrating part was knowing I was leaving margin on the table just because I was tired by the time I got to the mark-up.

"12–15 director hours a week back."

REMC took roughly two full director days a week off me. The operations side of the business has noticed the most — I'm actually on site when I should be, not back in the office pricing.

Evenings and weekends are mine again. That's not a marketing line; it's the single biggest practical change.

"6–8 a month would never have gone out."

We're pricing 10–12 tenders a month now. Without REMC we'd realistically be down to three or four — only the strategic ones I'd make time for personally. The rest would be politely declined.

"From spot-checking everything to barely looking."

First few months I'd review every BOQ line. By tender ten I was reviewing the qualifications only. Commercial fit-out I hand over without a second thought. Industrial work I'd still look at given we do less of it, but that's about my familiarity, not REMC.

"Win rate is the best we've had."

REMC caught a missing fire-alarm panel allowance on an education-sector tender that would have been a four-figure hit. Main contractors have commented on the quality of our submissions — one specifically said our qualifications page was the clearest they'd seen on that bid.

Prices have held against actual job costs at delivery.

"I can interrogate any line."

The BOQ comes back built up line by line — labour per item, materials per item, mark-up separated, prelims separated. When I've had to defend a price to a main contractor on a post-tender review, REMC's working covered me.

"Never caused a missed submission."

One tender had a sub quote come in 36 hours late. REMC flagged it immediately, gave me the option to qualify and submit anyway, and had the revised BOQ in my inbox the same morning. That's the kind of comms you want when a deadline is tight.

"A few hours, faster when it matters."

Standard queries during business hours come back inside two or three hours with a substantive answer — not just an acknowledgement. When we're near a deadline and I email in the evening, I'll get a reply that night. They're collaborative, not transactional.

"Useful by week two."

Took about a week from signing to first priced tender. REMC asked for a recent BOQ to learn our house format, a list of our preferred suppliers and subs, and the rate sheets I had to hand. By the second tender it felt like they'd been with us for months.

"Stop trying to do it yourself."

The opportunity cost of pricing your own tenders as a director is killing your delivery side. You think you're saving money by not paying for it; you're actually losing margin on every job you mis-price and every tender you don't get to.

Pay someone competent to do it. REMC's that for us.

"Our junior estimator left."

Mid-2025 our junior estimator moved on. Bringing in a senior would have meant £55–60k base, plus the loaded cost — £75k all-in once you factor in pension, recruitment, software, the lot. We weren't sure the tender volume justified it yet.

So I was juggling pricing alongside running operations. It worked, just barely, and we were turning down more than we were submitting.

"Roughly three days a week back."

Pricing is no longer on my desk. The operations director has stopped being roped in. Both of us are doing the jobs we should be doing — running projects, managing the team, talking to clients — instead of pricing at the kitchen table.

"About a third of current pipeline."

Realistically, five tenders a month would be declined. That's a third of where we are now. Some of those would have been good fits we just couldn't get to.

"Industrial in particular has been better than expected."

REMC's grasp of containment specs, cable sizing, and switchgear arrangement has been sharper than I expected from a third party. A new in-house hire would have taken months to match it.

I'd hand over almost any tender now without spot-checking. Healthcare or specialist work I'd still talk through with them first.

"Caught an MCB rating error on an industrial bid."

One industrial tender had a downstream breaker spec that didn't match the upstream protection — would have been a five-figure under-price at delivery if it had gone out as drafted. REMC flagged it during their take-off review.

Win rate is the best we've recorded. We're not winning everything — that would mean we're under-pricing — but we're winning the ones we should.

"Margin sits where I choose it."

The pricing is broken out by section so I can interrogate any line. Mark-up isn't buried; it's a clear figure I sign off on every tender. When a main contractor pushes back, I know exactly what's in the number and what isn't.

"100% deadline record."

One tender came in tight after an addendum dropped 36 hours before submission. REMC reworked the affected sections and delivered with four hours to spare for my final review. That's the standard I needed.

"Two hours in business hours, same evening out of hours."

Queries during the day come back inside two hours, almost always with a substantive answer. Late-evening emails when a deadline is live usually get a reply the same night. It feels like working with an in-house team.

"Four days from contract to first tender priced."

We did the kick-off call on a Monday, gave REMC our preferred suppliers and a recent BOQ to model the format, and had a tender being priced by the Thursday. The slowest bit was the one-off setup of our BOQ template — but only had to do it once.

"Don't think of it as outsourcing."

Think of it as adding an estimating function without the hiring risk. If you go in expecting a sub-contractor you have to chase, you'll be disappointed. If you treat them as part of your team, share enquiry registers, give them context — you'll wonder how you ran the business before.

"Electrical was the bottleneck."

We're a combined M&E business. The mechanical side has internal estimating capacity — has done for years. Electrical fell on the commercial team, mostly on me, alongside the rest of my workload.

It meant we'd routinely lose M&E packages because we couldn't price the electrical scope in time, or we'd price it conservatively to be safe and get knocked out on cost.

"Two days a week of commercial time back."

I'm spending that time on contract negotiation, supplier framework agreements, post-contract margin work — the stuff that needs a commercial manager, not someone marking up drawings.

"4–6 electrical packages a month."

The mechanical side wouldn't suffer; electrical would constrain the M&E offer entirely. We'd be declining work the mechanical team could absolutely deliver, just because we couldn't price the spark side.

"Took longer than the others to fully hand over."

M&E coordination is specific — the way electrical containment routes around ductwork, how the BMS scope ties in, who carries what — and REMC needed time to understand how we work between trades. Three months in I was fully confident.

Electrical-only tenders I don't review at all now. M&E packages I'll still cast an eye over the interface with mechanical scope.

"6% below our previous internal estimate."

On one healthcare M&E package, REMC's electrical price came in roughly 6% below what we'd have produced internally for similar scope a year earlier. We won that bid, and the price held at delivery.

That's not REMC under-pricing — that's tighter labour allowances based on cleaner take-off discipline.

"Critical when coordinating with mechanical."

Because pricing is fully broken out, I can align REMC's electrical assumptions with our mechanical team's assumptions — who's carrying the supports for combined services, who's pricing the BMS panel power supplies, etc. That visibility avoids double-counting and gaps.

"Hits dates reliably."

The only near-miss was when I sent over a tender late on my side and gave them less than 24 hours. REMC still turned it around. That's not a system you'd want to design around, but it told me what they were capable of when it mattered.

"Almost real-time when a tender is live."

Inside an hour during the day on standard queries. When we're approaching submission, the comms thread is essentially live — questions get answered within minutes, often by the same estimator who priced it.

"More upfront work because of the M&E integration."

Onboarding took about two weeks of meaningful effort from our side. REMC needed to understand how electrical fits alongside mechanical scope in our submissions, the standard scope splits we use, and our preferred subcontractor list for specialist work.

The effort paid back. By month two it was running smoothly; by month three I'd stopped reviewing electrical-only tenders.

"Only works if you treat them as part of your team."

If you're an M&E business considering this, it only works if you give REMC the same context you'd give an internal estimator. Share your enquiry register, your supplier framework rates, your scope split conventions. The trade-off is transparency in both directions.

The return on that openness is significant.