Your design, tendered properly. Your client, still yours.
Independent tendering and contractor assessment support for designers and studios in Dubai. We prepare structured tender documents from your design, assess suitable bidders and compare the offers on a like-for-like basis. You keep the design role and the client relationship.
Between the finished design and the appointed contractor.
A design can be priced in very different ways by different contractors. The work between design and appointment is making sure they are all pricing the same thing.
Structured tender documents
A scope and bill of quantities prepared from your drawings, specifications and schedules, so every bidder prices the same work on the same basis.
Assessment of suitable bidders
Contractors are assessed for fit with the project before they are invited, including any you would like to nominate.
Comparison of offers
Offers are set side by side, line by line, with omissions, exclusions, allowances and qualifications identified.
Separately available: owner's representation during construction, where the client would like independent oversight of payments, variations and quality on site. It is a separate appointment and is never assumed.
Scope, responsibilities and client communication, in writing.
- You retain the design roleDesign decisions and design intent stay with you. We raise questions where the information is not yet sufficient to price; we do not redesign.
- You retain the client relationshipWho speaks to the client, about what and when is agreed before we start.
- Defined scopeWhat DBI will produce, from what information and to what stage is set out before any work begins.
- Disclosed relationshipsAny existing relationship between a bidder and the studio, the client or DBI is disclosed.
Choose the arrangement that suits the project.
Client introduction, direct appointment
You introduce your client to DBI, with their agreement. The client appoints and pays DBI directly for the tendering work. You remain the designer and lead the design throughout.
A defined service commissioned by your studio
Your studio commissions DBI for a defined piece of work, such as the tender documents or the comparison of offers, as part of the service you provide to your client.
No automatic referral commission is paid in either direction. DBI is paid by whoever appoints it, for the work it does, and takes nothing from contractors or suppliers.
Independent advisers from inside Dubai fit-out and renovation.
The professionals behind DBI have spent over a decade inside UAE fit-out and renovation: scoping projects, pricing bills of quantities and running tenders.
Dubai Build Insider is the brand of D B I Project Management, Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism trade licence 1653853, licensed for project management services. For homeowners we publish our tender comparison and owner's representative services in full.
Photographs are from our team's own Dubai project work. DBI advises and represents property owners; we are not the building contractor.
Discuss a project or an introduction
Tell us a little about your studio and the project. There is no obligation, and please share client details only with your client's permission.
Message us on WhatsAppAsked by designers.
Do you offer design services?
No. DBI is an independent renovation advisory practice. We do not design and we do not build, so we are not competing for your role or for the construction contract.
Who does the client belong to?
You keep the design role and the client relationship. Before any work starts we agree in writing who does what and who speaks to the client about what, and we keep to it.
Do you pay referral commissions?
No automatic referral commission is paid in either direction. DBI's independence depends on being paid only by the party that appoints it, and we would rather be clear about that at the start.
Can we nominate contractors we already work with?
Yes. Contractors you know can be invited to bid alongside others. Every bidder is assessed and compared on the same basis, and any existing relationship is disclosed to the client.
What do you need from us to prepare a tender?
Your drawings, specifications and schedules at whatever stage they have reached. We will tell you where the information is sufficient to price and where a bidder would have to guess.
Do you stay involved during construction?
Only if appointed to. Owner's representation during the works is a separate service, agreed separately with the client.