Contractors build pipeline and maximise bid strategy using Barbour ABI construction project intelligence.
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Predicting your pipeline and winning profitable work this year
How to turn data into smarter bids and bigger margins
Ready to book your Financial New Year Strategy consultation?
How main contractors grow with Barbour ABI project data
Predicting your pipeline and winning profitable work is critical in 2026
Overall, 2025 was an even year for constructors and main contractors. But hidden within the overall flat figure were highs of major projects driving booming areas of growth, and sadly, the lows of many businesses failing to survive bust eras.
The Autumn Budget appears to have delivered stability, but possibly also stasis for the industry throughout 2026.
So, for your main contractor business, we’re forecasting 2026 to be filled with the challenges that you’ve seen plenty of in recent years:
- Project delays due to safety regulations
- Supply chain insolvencies
- Tightening margins
- Increasing wage bills for the ever-shrinking pool of skilled workers within subcontractors.
It’s more important than ever that you find the most efficient and effective strategy to win bids for work. You can’t waste your precious time and resources bidding in areas that you won’t win. You need a trustworthy macro-view of the market to lead an informed and effective bid strategy that delivers a strong win rate.
We’ve put together this guide on how to gain quick wins for your work-winning team and secure long-term, repeatable work for 2026 and beyond.
If you’ve accessed this guide after requesting a Financial New Year Consultation, then sit back and have a read before we chat through how we’ll work together. If you haven’t yet booked your free consultation to plan for the Financial New Year, click the button below and we’ll be in touch.
How to turn construction project data into smarter bids and bigger margins
With Barbour ABI, main contractors can see their full construction landscape, sharpen bid decisions, and grow their margins on every job.
From tracking competitor wins, forecasting your pipeline, visualising project performance, exporting contact intelligence, and more, our Construction Project Leads and Analytics platform gives you the edge you need.
How to improve your bid/win ratio in 2026
If your bids are based on only your notes and historical logs, then you’re unfortunately making one-dimensional decisions. (Which can lead to expensive mistakes.)
Improve your bid/win ratio by safeguarding against costly mistakes and only bidding for the projects that you’re likely to win.
Minimise your guesswork with our comprehensive construction project planning details that uncover historical activity and give you the tools to understand what’s coming.
Through our planning data and Power BI data visualisations, main contractors maximise their margins by knowing what’s actually happening in the construction industry.
Unlock live pipeline visibility to secure YoY success
Data on its own isn’t enough. Main contractors need to see a map of their market in clean visualisations to drive better decisions.
Barbour ABI equips you with live construction pipeline insights so you can forecast new work, spot gaps in future activity, and allocate resources where they’ll drive the biggest return.
Analyse your own and other major contractors’ construction pipelines to understand what sectors, regions and subsectors companies work in. From there, you can see gaps in future work and secure your seat at the table.
See what’s coming, plan your moves, and fill your pipeline for another successful year.
How contractors can master competitor strategy in 2026
You’ll never know your competitors better. With over 80 years of researching construction projects, we have the data you need to understand your competitors’ strategies, shortcomings, and successes.
Reveal your competitor’s historical wins and losses through our custom-built Analytics dashboards to fuel your bidding strategies.
Cut through to the data that matters most by targeting:
- Timelines
- Regions & Sectors
- Contract stages
- Values bands and more
Then you can get an instant snapshot view of how many projects your competitors are winning or losing in those markets.
How can Contractors prepare for the financial new year?
At Barbour ABI, we’ve been helping contractors make better business decisions for over 80 years with our leading construction project data. Your contracting business can book a free 20-minute consultation with Barbour ABI to discuss your financial new year strategy.
What to expect in your first 20-minutes with us:
- Set 2026 financial new year targets and discover how Barbour ABI can help you smash these figures.
- Seek out your key target sectors or businesses to win this year.
- Identify your competitors: learn where other contractors dominate the market, and where they have left a gap that you can exploit.
You can bring your colleagues and your business development leadership team to the session. Together, we’ll build a strategy for success that works specifically for you.
All you need to do is think of any target sectors, regions or projects that you might have on your wish list for this year. We’ll do all the work of bringing these opportunities to your door as soon as you’re ready.
With a clear bid strategy delivered straight to your work-winning team, you can strategize your financial new year with a bang. Click the button below to request a free consultation.
How the industry grows with Barbour ABI project data
“We required a bespoke service tailored to our specific requirements from a regional level through to the executive board.We were impressed with Barbour ABI’s expert support.”
“Barbour ABI has been absolutely brilliant for our business. The filtering and search options the platform gives allow us to be really streamlined with our approach and allows us to fully define what we’re going after.”
“It’s not often that customer service exceeds expectation however, Barbour ABI have committed their time, patience and experience to demonstrate how the platform provides invaluable information that has helped our business continue to grow.”
