What Should Be Included in an Asphalt Paving Bid? A 17-Point Checklist

Three paving bids arrive. One is $38,000, one is $52,000, and one is $61,000. The owner picks the low one, and eight months later there is a soft area at the entrance, a puddle that never drains, and a conversation about who owns the repair.

The bids were never comparable. They described different work. That is the normal condition of paving procurement, not the exception — asphalt is sold by the ton and by the square foot, but it is *delivered* by the assumptions underneath those units.

This checklist is what a decision-quality asphalt paving bid contains. Use it as a scoring sheet. If a proposal is missing more than three of these, you cannot compare it to anything.

The 17 Points

1. Measured quantities, not a lump sum

Square footage of paving, linear feet of milling and sawcut, tons of asphalt, cubic yards of excavation and imported base. A single lump-sum number tells you nothing about whether the contractor measured your site or eyeballed it from satellite imagery. Quantities are also how you fairly evaluate a change later.

2. Compacted thickness — stated as compacted, in lifts

"3 inches of asphalt" is ambiguous. Loose depth compacts down roughly a quarter. The bid should state compacted thickness and how it is placed: a 3-inch compacted mat placed in one lift behaves differently than 4 inches placed in two lifts. If the bid does not say compacted, ask in writing.

3. Mix design and aggregate size

The surface mix, its nominal maximum aggregate size, and any binder grade called for. A coarse base mix under a finer surface course is a different product than one generic "hot mix" line. On projects with plans, the bid should name the specified mix rather than a substitute.

4. Base scope: what is being reused, corrected or imported

Crushed base depth, whether existing base is being reclaimed, proof-rolled, or replaced, and the cubic yards of imported material assumed. Base is where low bids hide. A bid that assumes your existing base is sound — without saying so — has quietly transferred that risk to you.

5. Compaction standard and how it is verified

Density target and the verification method: nuclear gauge, cores, or proof roll observation. On public and institutional work this is usually specified. On private work it is usually absent, which is exactly why private lots fail early.

6. Subgrade contingency and unit price for soft spots

Nobody knows what is under a lot until it is opened. A good bid says what happens next: an assumed quantity for undercut and a unit price per cubic yard for anything beyond it. Without that unit price, the discovery becomes a negotiation while your lot is closed.

7. Drainage: slopes, flow paths, and structures

Minimum finished slope, where water is intended to go, and whether catch basins, valley gutters, curb, or area drains are being adjusted. Standing water is the single most common post-paving complaint, and it is almost always a scope omission rather than a workmanship failure.

8. Milling, transitions and tie-ins

Where the new asphalt meets existing pavement, curb, gutter pan, sidewalk, dock apron or garage slab. Butt joints, sawcut depth, and whether transitions are milled or feathered. Feathered edges at tie-ins are a short-lived detail; they should be an explicit choice, not a surprise.

9. Structure adjustments

Manholes, valve boxes, cleanouts, drain grates and monitoring wells raised or lowered to final grade. Count them. Each one is a line item, and each one left out is a bump or a low spot for the next twenty years.

10. Phasing and access plan

How the site stays usable: section-by-section closures, night or weekend windows, delivery and dumpster routing, emergency vehicle access, and how tenants or residents are notified. On an occupied property, the access plan is as much of the deliverable as the asphalt.

11. Traffic control and safety provisions

Signage, cones, flagging, barricades, pedestrian routing and ADA-accessible paths of travel during construction. Required on public work, frequently skipped on private work, and always a cost that exists whether or not it is in the bid.

12. Schedule with weather contingency

Mobilization window, working days, and how weather delays are handled. Asphalt placement is temperature-dependent, so a schedule with no weather language is a schedule that will be renegotiated.

13. Striping and markings

Layout, stall count, ADA stalls and access aisles with signage, fire lanes, directional arrows and crosswalks — and the cure time before striping is applied. A newly paved lot without a striping line item is an unfinished lot.

14. Written exclusions

This is the most informative section of any paving proposal. Common exclusions: permits, engineering, testing, unsuitable soils, dewatering, utility relocation, landscape restoration, concrete work, striping, and rock excavation. Read exclusions first, then read the price.

15. Permits, engineering and testing responsibility

Who pulls permits, who pays fees, whether a survey or engineered grading plan is required, and who pays for independent materials testing. On municipal and institutional projects this is defined in the documents; on private projects it is usually undefined until someone gets a stop-work notice.

16. Insurance, licensing and bonding

Certificate of insurance with the limits your property or entity requires, contractor licensing, workers' compensation, and whether payment and performance bonds are included or priced as an alternate. Bonding is a real cost and belongs on the page.

17. Closeout and the maintenance plan

As-built quantities, tonnage tickets, testing results if applicable, warranty language in writing, and the recommended preservation schedule — when to first crack seal, when the surface is cured enough for sealcoat, and when to plan the next capital cycle. A paving bid that ends at the last truckload is a bid that ignores nine-tenths of the asset's life.

How to Score the Bids You Already Have

Lay the proposals side by side and mark each of the 17 points present, absent, or ambiguous. Then do three things:

Normalize the scope. Add the missing items to the low bid at the other bidders' stated values. The spread usually collapses, and sometimes it inverts.

Find the risk transfer. Every absent item is a risk someone is carrying. If the bid doesn't carry it, you do.

Ask one question per gap, in writing. "Is the compacted thickness 3 inches?" is a five-word email that has settled more paving disputes than any contract clause.

Red Flags Worth Slowing Down For

- A bid that arrives without a site visit on anything larger than a driveway.

- Thickness stated without the word *compacted*.

- No exclusions section at all — meaning the exclusions still exist, just unwritten.

- "Overlay" proposed on a lot with widespread alligator cracking, rutting, or standing water. That is a base problem, and an overlay over a failed base fails on the same schedule the base does.

- A large deposit required before mobilization.

- Pricing quoted over the phone from an address. Paving cost is driven by access, haul distance, base condition, phasing and traffic control — none of which are visible from a map.

What Summit Puts in a Proposal

Our paving proposals are built after a site review and present the decision, not just a number: protect and repair, resurface and extend, or rebuild and correct. Each option carries quantities, assumptions, exclusions, phasing and the expected next-maintenance timing, so the choice can be made on scope rather than on which contractor left the most out.

Because we also self-perform crack sealing, sealcoating and line striping, the preservation plan is written the same week the paving scope is — not sold to you two summers later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do paving bids vary so much?

Because they describe different work. Thickness, base treatment, drainage corrections, structure adjustments, striping, traffic control and exclusions all move the number substantially. Normalize the scope across bids before comparing prices.

Should I always take the lowest paving bid?

Only after the scopes match. A low bid that excludes base correction, structure adjustments and striping is not lower — it is smaller. Add the missing scope at market value and re-rank.

What is the single most important line item?

Base and subgrade treatment. Surface work can be redone; a failed base means the whole section comes out. It is also the item most often left vague in competitive bids.

Can I get a paving price without a site visit?

Not a reliable one. Call for pricing and we will schedule a site walk — square footage, access, haul distance, base condition, phasing and traffic control are what set the number, and none of them are visible from an address.