How a Sydney builder went from one trial job to six priced tenders and a win

Newbuild Developments won the Cabramatta West seniors housing tender using a BOQ and marked-up plans from Constructline. It was one of six tenders we priced for them across nine months, starting from a single trial job.

A trial job, four days to price it

Newbuild came to us on 2 February 2026 with one job and no history with us: a BOQ for 19 seniors housing units at Lochinvar Road, Revesby, a Land and Housing Corporation project. They sent an Excel template listing the items they needed quantities for, and an invite to the tender drawings.

We sent a work-in-progress markup after one day, so they could check we were reading the plans the way they wanted. The finished BOQ and marked-up plans went out on 6 February. The scope was the whole build, not one trade: demolition, piling, bulk earthworks, formwork, reinforcement, concrete, brickwork, roofing, partitions and finishes.

"It seems that the work is heading in the right direction. Please continue your excellent efforts!"

Show the work before it is finished

On day two of Revesby, Muzammil asked how we had calculated the concrete for the piles, and we showed our working. He then asked us to confirm that 2,224 m² of R4 ceiling batts applied to Level 1 only, and to exclude patios and balconies because they have no ceilings. We revised the quantities and reissued the markup the same day.

That pattern held on every job after it: a markup early, a direct answer when a quantity was queried, and a reissued set rather than an argument. Where a drawing did not give us what we needed, we said so in the BOQ. On Panania we noted that pile length was assumed at 7 m because no geotechnical report had been provided, and flagged it as subject to revision.

One trial job became six tenders

Five days after the Revesby BOQ landed, Newbuild invited us into their next tender.

The Cabramatta 20-unit job came in on 11 February with the tender close bearing down. We committed to one week, sent progress sets on 13 and 18 February, and delivered the final marked-up plans on 19 February. Cabramatta West, the one they won, ran longest. The estimate grew from 90 rows at the 50% submission in March to 198 by the final revision in September, as the drawings developed and more trades were broken out.

We found our own error and said so

In September 2026, reviewing the Cabramatta West retaining wall before the final submission, our operations manager noticed the original estimate had measured only one side of a double-brick wall. Nobody had queried it. We raised it anyway, split the wall into separate rows for each face, and reissued.

At Newbuild's own allowance of 51 bricks per square metre, the corrected area of 288 m² brought the total to 14,688 bricks. It went out as revision 5 on 24 September, a month before Newbuild confirmed the win.

What it cost

The estimating behind the winning Cabramatta West bid cost Newbuild $1,398.12, including GST. That covers the main estimate, 56 hours of estimating and senior review, and the separate Ritek and Gyprock package. All six tenders came to $5,361.60, including GST. The fees on our homepage exclude GST.

Cabramatta West is 18 seniors dwellings for the NSW Land and Housing Corporation, approved in July 2025, with a publicly reported budget of about $15 million. That figure is not Newbuild's contract sum. Against it, the estimating cost about 0.009%, or roughly 9 cents for every $1,000 of project value.

They won it

On 23 October 2026 we asked Muzammil how the Cabramatta tender had gone.

"Yes, great news! Newbuild successfully won the Cabramatta project."

He added that he would reach out next time they were tendering.

If you price seniors housing, social housing or multi-residential work, and estimating capacity limits how many tenders you can chase, this is the service.

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Quantities are from the issued BOQs and fees from issued invoices, in AUD including GST. Quotes are verbatim from client emails. The $15 million is a publicly reported project budget.