What Is Permit Set vs Bid Set?

A permit set is the drawing set submitted to a jurisdiction for building permit review, containing the information a plan reviewer needs to verify code compliance. A bid set is the drawing set provided to contractors during competitive bidding, containing the information needed to price and propose on the work. These two sets often overlap substantially but aren't always identical.

In some project delivery methods, particularly where bidding happens before permit approval, a bid set might be issued slightly ahead of, or with minor differences from, the final permit set, since design refinements sometimes continue in parallel with early bidding activity. This creates a real risk: if the bid set and permit set diverge without careful tracking, contractors may be pricing work based on a slightly different design than what ultimately gets approved.

Keeping bid sets and permit sets properly aligned, or clearly documenting where and why they differ, matters because a significant divergence between what was bid and what was ultimately permitted can lead to disputes about scope and pricing once construction starts and the discrepancy becomes apparent.

FAQ

Is this term used consistently across the industry, or does it vary by firm or region? Most of these terms are used fairly consistently across the industry, though exact usage can vary slightly by firm, region, or project delivery method. When in doubt, project-specific contract documents typically define exactly how a term is being used on that project.

How does this connect to AI-assisted drawing review? Structured AI's QA/QC Compliance Checks, Document Chat, and Overlay features are built to catch the kinds of issues and inconsistencies that show up in exactly this part of the design and construction process, with findings tied to the exact page and location involved.

Where can I learn more about related terms? See the related topics below for connected concepts that often come up alongside this one.