1. Pick an account with a reason
Start from a verified project, office, or referral signal in your target list. Be able to explain why this GC team may fit your trade and territory. Avoid sending the same vague pitch to every contractor.
2. Prepare substantiated proof
Prepare a concise capability brief with commercial scope, service area, relevant work you can substantiate, current capacity window, available prequalification documents, and an appropriate follow-up contact. Do not imply credentials, insurance, bonding, or references you have not confirmed.
3. Find the right route
Use a published company channel or legitimate referral to ask who handles onboarding or trade prequalification for your scope. Do not assume the property owner, developer, or project executive controls subcontractor invitations.
4. Make a small, specific ask
Identify the firm and trade, explain why you contacted that office, offer a relevant proof point, and ask one routing question. For example: “Who is the right person to ask about your commercial glazing prequalification and trade-bid list?”
5. Ask what readiness requires
Confirm documents, process, project types, lead time, and who owns follow-up. Capture unknowns rather than making assumptions. Send only what the contact requests.
6. Close the loop
Record what was discussed, what you sent, what remains unclear, and a reasonable follow-up date. If unanswered, make one respectful follow-up and then lower the account’s priority rather than repeatedly nudging.
AGC’s Business Development Forum describes relationship-building with developers and prime contractors among contractor BD topics; that is context, not evidence for this specific sequence. Its page links a public LinkedIn community and says some education requires login, which does not verify private access or AGC endorsement. Source: AGC Business Development Forum. Steps are editorial recommendations.
A fictional commercial glazing subcontractor sees a regional GC’s public project page describe a laboratory renovation. The BD lead calls the office, describes glazing scope and east-corridor service, and asks who handles prequalification and the trade-bid list. The lead records the answer as unverified until the named contact confirms the process.
An introduction does not guarantee a bid invitation or bid-list placement. Contacts, onboarding, timing, and evidence vary by GC office and project and must be confirmed directly. Markup & Profit’s owner page describes a private Facebook group for construction-business owners and says it discusses sales, contracts, and estimating; it does not verify private content, enrollment permission, endorsement, or reader eligibility. Source.