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Find work you can actually deliver · Guide 04 of 13

Find work for your trade

Build a useful search for flooring, HVAC, cleaning, or another service you already deliver.

About 5 minutesFederal search · Practical examplesLook up a term

What you’ll leave with

A small set of searches and a shortlist you can explain.

The essentials

Search for the job, not just your business category.

A buyer may call your work carpet replacement, floor preparation, or resilient flooring. An HVAC job might appear as air-handler maintenance or mechanical-system repair. Write down the tasks, equipment, and materials your crew works with. Try those words separately before deciding there is nothing available.

Where the work happens matters more than where the buyer sits.

A contracting office can buy work for a building hundreds of miles away. Check the place of performance, response date, and notice type. An active Sources Sought notice is still market research; an award notice is still a record of an award.

A code gets you to a notice. The scope tells you whether it fits.

NAICS means North American Industry Classification System. Federal buyers generally assign the code that best describes the purchase’s main purpose. A full office renovation can include flooring without carrying the code you use for a flooring-only job. Search codes and plain-language terms, then read the work requirements.

Keep previous awards in a separate research pile.

Past awards can tell you which agencies buy your work and which primes operate nearby. They do not tell you that the work is available now, that the full award amount is available to subcontract, or that the next competition will use the same terms.

What to do next

  1. 1

    Write five phrases a buyer could use.

    For cleaning: janitorial services, custodial services, floor care, restroom cleaning, and office cleaning. Start with the work you can support, then adjust the list after reading actual notices.

  2. 2

    Run a focused search, then a broader one.

    Start with location, notice type, and a useful work phrase. If results are scarce, loosen one filter at a time. Read the title and scope before excluding a notice because its code differs from yours.

  3. 3

    Check three notices properly.

    Open the official attachments. Record the work location, required tasks, qualifications, site-visit instructions, and dates. Label each one: possible prime job, possible subcontract research, question to resolve, or pass.

  4. 4

    Keep the searches that teach you something.

    Save useful searches in the source portal where supported. With each review, add a useful synonym or exclusion. A smaller list of plausible jobs is more useful than a large list you never open.

Worked example · Fictional business

A flooring search turns up two very different jobs

Mesa Flooring is a fictional five-person company that replaces carpet and resilient flooring within a two-hour drive. It finds a small office carpet replacement and a larger office renovation.

The small job fits the crew’s work.

The carpet job calls for removal, surface preparation, installation, and cleanup over two weekends. Mesa checks measurements, access, required credentials, and crew availability before deciding whether to price it.

The bigger job changes the decision.

The renovation also includes electrical work and wall repairs. A flooring keyword did not make Mesa capable of the whole project. The owner could investigate a defined flooring subcontract with a qualified prime; that would need its own scope and terms.

The same check works for other trades.

An HVAC maintenance firm should separate routine servicing from a full equipment replacement with controls work. A cleaning company should distinguish regular office cleaning from a job requiring specialist hazardous-material handling.

The practical move: Keep the carpet replacement on the bid-review list. Treat the renovation as separate teaming research. Do not count both as equally good matches.

Common mistakes to avoid

  • Filtering so narrowly that the buyer’s different wording hides relevant work.
  • Assuming an active listing is an open request for your price.
  • Using the contracting office’s address as the job location.
  • Calling every dollar on a prime award available subcontracting spend.

One useful next step

Write your five search phrases and use them to review three current notices. Record why each one stayed on the list or came off it.

Get the bid / no-bid worksheet

Official sources & further help

Reviewed September 9, 2026. Practical examples and worksheets are Bid Rigor’s own. Check current requirements with the buyer; agency-specific rules or deviations may apply.