How to Write a Method Statement for a Tender That Scores
The short answer
A tender method statement explains how you will deliver this specific job: site set-up, sequence, programme, team, safety, quality, neighbours and risks. It scores when it follows the buyer's question and scoring guide, names the real site and its risks, and backs every promise with evidence from past jobs.
- It's not your site RAMS. A tender method statement sells your plan for this job; RAMS controls a task on site.
- Start from the scoring guide. Write to what a top score asks for, in the buyer's order and word limit.
- Make it site-specific and prove it. Name the site, its access and its three biggest risks, and back each claim with a past job or number.
- Tie it to your price and programme. If the method says two gangs, the price must pay for two gangs.
Most method statements in tenders are pasted. The same "we pride ourselves on quality and safety" paragraphs, the same generic sequence, with the site address changed. Evaluators read dozens of them, and they score them in the middle every time.
A method statement that wins reads like it was written by someone who has already walked the site. Here's how to write a method statement for a tender that scores. If a tender is due this week and you want a second pair of eyes, book a free strategy call.
Tender method statement vs site RAMS
The two get mixed up all the time, and it costs marks.
| Tender method statement | Site RAMS | |
|---|---|---|
| Who reads it | The client's evaluators | Operatives and the site manager |
| Purpose | Win the job: show your plan is sound and better | Do one task safely |
| Covers | The whole project: set-up, sequence, team, safety, quality, risks | A single activity: strip-out, working at height, hot works |
| Written | During the tender, for this client | Before the task starts |
| Scored | Yes, often weighted heavily | No, checked for compliance |
You'll need RAMS once you win. In the tender, you're selling the plan.
Read the question and the scoring guide first
Before you write a word, find three things in the tender documents:
- The exact question, including every sub-point. Each sub-point is usually a mark.
- The scoring guide. Many buyers use a 0–5 scale, with a description of what each score needs.
- The weighting and the limit: how much this answer is worth, and the word or page limit.
A typical top-score description says something like "a comprehensive, site-specific response, fully evidenced, giving the authority confidence and added value". A middle score says "meets the requirement with limited detail". The difference is detail and proof, not length.
Turn every sub-point into a heading, in the same order as the question. Evaluators work down a checklist; make every point easy to find.
The structure that works
When the question is open ("Describe your approach to delivering the works"), this order covers what most evaluators look for:
- Our understanding of the project: the site, the client's priorities and the constraints, in two short paragraphs.
- Site set-up and logistics: access, deliveries, storage, welfare, parking, protection of existing areas.
- Sequence and programme: phases in order, with durations, tied to your programme.
- Team and resources: named roles, who's on site daily, gangs per phase, key subcontractors.
- Health and safety: the three or four highest risks on this job and how you control them, CDM duties.
- Quality: how you inspect, sign off and handle snagging, with hold points.
- Neighbours, occupants and the environment: noise, dust, working hours, waste, communication.
- Risks and how you'll handle them: a short table of the real risks with a mitigation each.
- Handover: commissioning, documents, training, aftercare.
Stuck on a quality question right now?
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Make it site-specific: a worked example
Here's the difference on one sub-point. The job is an illustrative example: refurbishing the third floor of an occupied office building, with tenants above and below.
Generic (scores low):
We will ensure deliveries are managed safely and efficiently with minimal disruption to others.
Site-specific (scores high):
All deliveries will come through the rear service yard between 7:30 and 9:00, before tenants arrive, booked 48 hours ahead with building management. Materials go up in the goods lift only, with the lift car lined and protected. Our site manager, [name], meets each delivery and signs the lift log. On our last occupied-building fit-out we ran 60+ deliveries this way with no complaint from the building manager (reference available).
The second one names the place, the times, the person and the proof. Write every sub-point like that. Only use facts you can back up: a reference, a photo, a document.
Promising things your price doesn't pay for. If the method says a full-time site manager and two gangs, the evaluator will check your price for them. So will you, when you're running the job.
Tie the method, programme and price together
The best tenders read as one plan. The method explains the programme, the programme matches the method, and the price pays for both.
- Every phase in the method appears in the programme, with the same durations.
- Every resource in the method is in your price: people, plant, protection, supervision.
- Every risk you mention has a mitigation that's priced or excluded in your submission.
- Every assumption is written down and listed in your qualifications.
Craftex, Sviat's London design and build company, produces a full construction programme on its own projects and tenders for its own work every month. When we write tender answers, the person checking the method has priced and run jobs like it.
Final checks before you submit
| Check | Why |
|---|---|
| Every sub-point has its own heading | Missed sub-points lose marks automatically |
| Within the word or page limit | Text past the limit is often not read |
| Client's name and site spelled right throughout | A pasted answer with another client's name is fatal |
| Claims backed by a fact, number or reference | Unsupported claims score low |
| Read once by someone who didn't write it | They find what you assumed |
If you keep losing on quality, read why contractors keep losing tenders, and make sure you get through the selection questionnaire first.
Construction Project Leads Guide
How contractors find projects early and the 10 moves that win at tender stage.
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When to get help
Writing good method statements takes time most owners don't have during a tender week. Our bid writing and tender service writes quality answers to the scoring guide, in your voice and with your evidence. A contractor checks the price behind them. Most bid writers are writers. We are contractors who write bids.
Is tendering part of a bigger plan to win larger projects? BizMentor's one-to-one mentoring with Sviat, who runs a working construction company, builds that plan with you. It aims for results in about 4 months rather than a 1–3-year program. To talk it through, book a free strategy call.
Not sure where to start? See where your business stands with the free 4-minute Construction Business Scorecard.
This is general information from a contractor's experience. For the full tender method, read how to win construction tenders in the UK.
Before you write the next method statement
- The question's sub-points listed as headings, in order
- The scoring guide's top-score wording in front of you
- A site visit or a proper study of the drawings and access
- Two or three facts from past jobs to prove each promise
- Method, programme and price checked against each other
