See bids near you

Public bids, starting in the Northland

Public bids near your shop, read every morning.

BidStar reads the bid pages and notices of cities, counties and other public owners each morning, starting in the Northland. When a new bid fits your trade and the miles you'll drive, you get an email that morning, with a link to the owner's own notice.

See the bids near your shop

Pick your trade and town. We'll show you how many bids are open near you, and the first three, before you pay.

$100 a month or $1,000 a year, plus sales tax where it applies. Cancel online any time.

Sample bid. The owner and the job are made up.

Tour

Watch the 40-second tour

The morning email, one bid, fit for your shop, and a deadline that moves. Sound on.

Sample bids. The owners and jobs are made up. In the tour, the morning email lists 3 bids near your shop. One opens into a card with its deadline, miles, trade and fit. A list sorts bids by fit. A tap on Watch, and the next morning the card shows the deadline moved.
Or tap through it yourself, with sample electrical bids →

The morning hunt

Public bids are posted in a lot of places. BidStar brings the ones it reads into one list.

Cities and counties post bids on their own websites, school boards on theirs, and state agencies on their own lists. Small towns run them as legal notices in the local paper. Checking all of it takes an estimator's morning. BidStar reads public owners' pages and notices each morning and sends the bids that fit your shop.

Each bid links to the owner's own notice, so you're never working from a copy.

Each bid

What you see on each bid

The facts an estimator checks first, and a link to the owner's notice for the rest.

Closing soonThu Dec 10 · 2:00 PM CT

Roof replacement, public works garage

City of Pine Harbor · Pine Harbor, MN · 12 mi

RoofingStrong match

Deadline moved from Tue Dec 8 · 2:00 PM CT.

Read live from the source · confirm in the bid documents

Owner's notice

Sample. The owner and the job are made up.

  • The deadline, in Central time

    When the owner publishes a time, each bid shows it. When they don't, we show --:-- and say so, instead of filling one in.

  • The owner, the town and the miles

    Measured from your shop, so you can tell a day trip from an overnight at a glance.

  • The owner's own notice

    Each bid links to it. The owner is the authority, so confirm every detail in the bid documents.

  • Watch a bid

    We email you if its deadline moves, and from when, or if the owner's notice changes.

Three kinds of deadline

  • Tue Dec 15 · 11:00 AM CT

    The owner published the date and the time.

  • Thu Dec 17 --:--

    Time not published. Confirm it on the owner's notice.

  • Planning lead · no bid date yet

    Approved or funded, with no bid date yet. Get ready before the bid is out.

Who it's for

For shops that bid their own jobs, and shops that sub.

  • You bid your own jobs.

    General contractors, roofers, paving, excavation and any shop that bids public work as the prime. You get public bids near your shop in one list: cities, counties, schools and state agencies. It's sorted by fit for your trade, with the deadline and the miles up front.

  • You work as a sub.

    Electrical, HVAC, plumbing, sheet metal, concrete. You see the GC jobs your trade is inside, before the GC calls you. The plan also includes a daily email of building permits from the cities listed in the app, sorted by trade.

  • Building permits, where live.

    New building permits in your trades, in one email on mornings when there are new ones. Minneapolis, checked daily. Big Lake, Blaine, Cottage Grove, Crystal, Inver Grove Heights, Mendota Heights, Monticello and Spring Lake Park, from each city's monthly permit list. You get the cities within the miles you set; set a wider distance to get more. Permits don't count toward the free month.

Fit is a ranking to sort by, not a prediction of winning.

How it works

We do the reading. You pick the jobs.

  1. Tell us your trades and how far you'll drive.

    Any distance. Set the miles from your shop, or no limit at all.

  2. Every morning, we read the owners' own bid pages and notices.

    We note what matters on each one: the trades, the owner and when it's due. Then we sort the bids by fit for your shop. Fit is a ranking to sort by, not a prediction of winning.

  3. When a new bid fits, you get an email that morning.

    Quiet mornings, no email. You also get the bid list on your phone or computer, to look through the bids near you yourself. Watch a bid, and we'll email you if we see its deadline or the owner's notice change.

Built for trade shops

  • Roofing
  • HVAC
  • Electrical
  • Plumbing
  • Concrete
  • Excavation
  • Paving
  • Painting
  • Carpentry
  • General

Plus fire protection, demolition, bridges and landscaping.

Proof

What we read, and what we found

We don't claim every bid. Here's what's in BidStar today.

14

construction bids open in BidStar right now, within 100 miles of Duluth.

As of Nov 2, 2026

131

public buyers' bid pages within 100 miles of Duluth, plus Wisconsin public notices, read every morning.

As of Oct 28, 2026

38

towns you can preview today, in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

As of Oct 28, 2026

Past 100 miles from Duluth, coverage isn't measured yet. You'll see what we read there, but not every bid. We measure a region before we sell in it.

Post bids for a city, county, township or school district? Add help@techstarsuniversity.com to the list you send bid notices to. We list each bid's basic facts and link contractors to your own notice.

Price

One plan, with the price on the page.

  • What's in it

    • The bid list on your phone or computer, for your trades and your miles.
    • An email on mornings when a new bid fits your shop. Quiet mornings, no email.
    • Watch a bid, and we'll email you if we see its deadline or the owner's notice change.
    • The permit email: building permits from the cities listed in the app, sorted by trade. You get the cities within the miles you set; set a wider distance to get more.

  • A month with no new bid for your shop is free.

    If a billing month brings no new bid for your shop, we refund that month's fee within 7 days after the month ends. You don't have to ask. On a yearly plan, that's one-twelfth of the yearly price, and each month starts on the day of the month you paid, or on the last day of a shorter month.

    A new bid for your shop is a public bid that BidStar first lists during that month, open when listed, within 100 miles of your shop and in your trade as saved in the app, and not marked "Outside your work" or "Minor overlap." The trade you have saved on the first day of the month counts for that month; if you haven't saved a trade yet, the first one you save during the month counts for the rest of it, and if you never save one, nothing counts as matching. Planning leads, permits and changes to bids you watch don't count. Full terms →

  • Cancel online, any time.

    Cancel in the app, or email help@techstarsuniversity.com. Canceling stops the next charge. You keep the plan to the end of the month or year you paid for. Cancel within 14 days of a yearly charge, and we refund it in full.

Monthly

$100 / month

Renews every month until you cancel.

Yearly

$1,000 / year, paid up front

Renews every year until you cancel. We email you 30 to 45 days before each renewal.

Plus sales tax where it applies. Sold by Tech Stars University. Payment runs through Stripe's checkout — we never see or store your full card number.

Listings can be wrong or late; the owner's notice is official. See Terms for limits on liability.

See the bids near your shop first

Questions

Straight answers

Where do BidStar's bids come from?

Public owners (cities, counties, school districts, state agencies and others) post their bids on their own websites, on state bid lists and in newspaper legal notices. BidStar lists the basic facts of each bid (what, who, where, when and the trade) and links you to the owner's notice for everything else. We don't republish the notice itself.

Are you a public owner or a publisher? If a listing is wrong, or you'd rather we not list your notices, email help@techstarsuniversity.com. We'll correct or remove it within two business days.

What does it cost?

$100 a month, or $1,000 a year paid up front, plus sales tax where it applies. That's one plan with everything in it. There's no setup fee. The monthly plan runs month to month.

My trade only sees a few bids a month. Is it worth it?

See for yourself before you pay: the preview shows how many are open near you now. As a sub, you also get the GC jobs your trade is inside. If a month brings no new bid for your shop, that month is free. See the conditions under Price.

I already use the builders exchange or a plan room.

Keep it. That's where plans and plan holder lists live. BidStar is the morning list of what's out near you. Each bid links to the owner's notice, which says where to get the plans.

How do I cancel?

Any time, in the app or by emailing help@techstarsuniversity.com. Canceling stops the next charge, and you keep the plan to the end of what you paid for. Cancel within 14 days of a yearly charge, and we refund it in full.

What do you do with my card?

Payment runs through Stripe's checkout. We never see or store your full card number.

How far out can I look?

As far as you want. Set the miles from your shop, or no limit. We measure coverage region by region, and we tell you where it isn't measured yet.

Do I need to install an app?

No. BidStar works in the web browser on your phone or computer. Look through the bids near you anytime, and new ones that fit come to your email the morning we find them. There's nothing to install.

Who's behind BidStar?

Tech Stars University, a Duluth business. Built by people from here, for people who build here.