I once spent two months bowing, scraping and ferreting to get the material for a single sustainability report. Chasing busy people for numbers, quotes and the actual story. It all existed somewhere. Finding it was the job.
I got there. But it taught me something I’ve seen at firm after firm since: most construction case studies are written for the website, not the bid. And those are two very different documents.
Seven differences between a website case study and a bid case study
1. What it leads with
A website case study leads with the building: the address, the value, a nice photo. A bid case study leads with the problem the client walked in with. That’s what the evaluator recognises, because it’s probably the problem they have too.
2. How it talks about results
A website case study says “we’re proud to have delivered”. A bid case study says what changed, with a number attached: handed over two weeks early, zero reportable incidents, 94% of waste diverted from landfill. Pride isn’t evidence. Numbers are.
3. Who speaks
A website case study usually quotes no one. A bid case study lives or dies on the client’s own words. An evaluator will believe one sentence from your client more readily than a page from you.
4. When it’s needed
A website case study sits in a marketing folder. A bid case study is needed at 9pm the night before submission, formatted and ready to drop in. If nobody can find it, it doesn’t exist.
5. How long it stays current
A website case study is written once and frozen. A bid wants the results that landed six months after handover too: the energy bills, the defects period, the repeat order. Go back and update it.
6. Who it’s about
A website case study is about how good you are. A bid case study is about whether you can do it again, for this client. Every paragraph should help the reader picture you on their project.
7. What question it answers
A website case study ticks a content box. A bid case study answers the question the evaluator is actually scoring, whether that’s managing a live site, hitting a carbon target or keeping a tight programme.
Write it once, use it twice
The fix isn’t to write two case studies. It’s to write the bid version first, with the client’s problem, the constraints, the decisions, the problems you solved, the numbers and the client’s quote. Then cut it down for the website.
Going the other way doesn’t work. You can’t pad a 150-word web blurb into bid evidence, because the interview that would have produced the detail never happened.
A quick test for your existing case studies
Pick your three most recent case studies and ask:
- Does the first paragraph describe the client’s problem, or the building?
- Is there at least one measurable result?
- Is there a client quote?
- Could the bid team find it in five minutes?
- Has it been updated since handover?
If most of the answers are no, you have website case studies. They’re not useless, but they aren’t winning you work either.
For the full process, from choosing the project to structuring the write-up, see How to Write Construction Case Studies That Win Work.
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Michael Willoughby