Why construction RFQs die in shared inboxes

A construction RFQ rarely arrives as one clean file. It is an email, a link to a plan room, a drawing set, and an addendum three days later in a different thread. The estimator's first job is clerical: find the trade package, the bid date, and the pages that mention the scope. That work is where invites go quiet.

RFQ and document intake takes that first pass for construction teams. It does not decide the number.

What the brief needs

Agree the fields before anyone talks about a model:

• Project and inviting contractor
• Bid date and time zone
• Package or spec section
• Alternates and unit-price items called out for your trade
• Pages or sheets the scope actually sits on
• Questions the drawings do not answer

Every extracted line should point at the file and the page it came from. If the email says Thursday and the invitation says Friday, the brief shows both. Picking a winner is how missed scope starts.

Addenda are the actual problem

The first package is only half the inbox. Addenda change dates, details, and quantities after someone has already started a takeoff. Intake should treat a later file in the same thread as an update, with a short list of what changed. An estimator can ignore a bad extraction. They cannot ignore a revision they never saw.

Drawings are in scope for title blocks, revision marks, and callouts that match your fields. They are out of scope for "what does this detail mean." That question is the estimate.

People still price the job

The handoff is a brief on the bid board or in the estimator's inbox. Capacity, vendor quotes, and whether to bid stay with the team. If a GC calls to ask whether you received the set, a voice agent can confirm receipt against that brief. It should not discuss price.

Measure the intake on held-out packages from your own inbox: correct bid date, correct package, and a source page on every commercial field. Advance the agent only on the fields that clear that check.