sealcoating bid checklist
Sealcoating Bid Checklist: What to Review Before Sending a Proposal
A practical checklist for sealcoating contractors who need measured quantities, clear scope, and customer-ready proposal language before they send a bid.
Use this before the bid leaves the office.
- Confirm the lot boundary, drive lanes, islands, and excluded pavement.
- Measure total sealcoat area and separate crack-fill quantities.
- List prep work before coating, including cleaning, edge work, and oil spots.
- Call out striping scope, layout refresh, or new markings separately.
- Tie alternates and exclusions to the exact measured area they affect.
- Review the proposal total before it becomes an invoice source.
Start with the pavement, not the price
The first question is not what number to put on the proposal. It is what pavement is included. For parking lots, that means confirming drive lanes, stalls, islands, apron areas, dumpster pads, and any pavement the customer expects you to skip.
Aerial imagery can speed up this step, but the takeoff still needs contractor review. Mark the boundary, check for hidden pavement, and keep a note for assumptions that only a site visit can confirm.
Separate quantities that behave differently
Sealcoat square footage, crack-fill linear footage, striping count, and prep allowances do not move together. If they are mashed into one number, the customer has no way to understand what changed when scope shifts.
A better proposal shows the measured quantities and the pricing logic, then leaves the contractor free to present a package total if that is how the job is sold.
Make review states visible
Drafted measurements should not look final. A bid packet can be prepared quickly, but the contractor should still approve the lot boundary, rates, exclusions, and customer-facing language before the proposal is sent.
That review gate protects margin and prevents the office from creating a customer, job, proposal, and invoice from numbers nobody signed off on.
Common questions
What should a sealcoating bid include?
A strong sealcoating bid includes the measured pavement area, crack-fill allowance, preparation work, striping scope, unit prices or package price, exclusions, timeline, and acceptance terms.
Should crack filling be bundled into sealcoating?
Bundling may be fine for simple jobs, but listing crack filling as a visible allowance gives the contractor and customer a clearer way to review scope changes before acceptance.
Turn the next bid into a reviewed packet.
PavePacket connects the job site, measurement, estimate, proposal, and invoice-ready handoff in one contractor workflow.