What is pursuit intelligence?

What it means in plain words

A pursuit is a project your firm decides to chase. The intelligence is what you know about it before anyone else calls: which projects coming up in your market fit the work you want, who is behind each one, and the reason to reach out this week.

Most firms already do this by hand. A partner reads the planning commission agenda. Someone hears about a land sale at lunch. A project manager remembers a developer from a job years ago. It works, but it depends on who has time that week, and the project that was missed never shows up anywhere.

Where the projects come from

Almost every private project leaves public records long before it is out to bid:

• Planning and zoning agendas. A site plan review or a rezoning request names the parcel and the applicant months before design is done.
• Land sales and new owners. A parcel sold to a newly formed company is often the first sign of a project.
• Permits and plan reviews. Filings show what is being built, where, and by whom.
• Company news. A new location, a new region, a funding round or a key hire.

Each record is then traced to a person: the owner, developer, architect or facilities lead who decides who gets the work. A record with no name behind it is not something you can call.

Pursuit intelligence for contractors and design firms

It fits firms that win work through relationships:

• General contractors, specialty subcontractors, and architecture and engineering firms, usually under about 50 people.
• The owner, president or COO who does the business development, or has one person doing it on top of a full job.
• Firms that know the kind of work they want more of, and where.

It is not a fit for:

• Firms that only bid public work. A posted public bid is already out; there is nothing to find early.
• Work for owners who never file anything public. With no record, there is nothing to trace.
• Anyone who wants a list of thousands of names to email.

How the work runs each week

1. We start from the jobs you want more of, and the places you want them.
2. Our AI employees read the public records and news for your market and pull out the projects that fit.
3. A person on our team checks each one before it goes to you.
4. You get a short note: the project, who to call about it, why now, and the source behind it.
5. You tell us when one is a miss, and the next week's search is tuned.

You make the call, and the relationship stays yours.

How it compares to bid boards and lead databases

Many firms use more than one. A bid board covers what is already out. Pursuit intelligence covers what is not out yet.

An example

This is an example. The names, places and dates are changed, and it is not a client's project.

• Week 1. A city planning agenda lists a site plan review for a four story medical office building on a parcel next to a hospital campus.
• Week 3. County records show the parcel sold to a newly formed company. Its state filing names a manager who also runs a regional development firm.
• Week 4. The note goes out: the project, the development firm, the person who signs its contracts, and why now. The building is still in design, so the team is not picked yet.

That trail is the whole idea. Each step is a public record. Put together, it is a reason to call this week instead of reading about the project after the contract is signed.

For a longer walk through these records, read how to find private commercial construction projects before they go to bid.