Is this for me?
You’re probably not a fit if you only want jobs over £100k, or you’re outside the South West (we cover roughly BS, BA, TA, EX, TQ, PL, TR, DT, and the SW parts of GL, SP, SN, BH — Bristol down to Cornwall, across to Dorset).
How it works
- You tell us your trades and your postcode areas. (Free tier: skip this — you get everything, region-wide.)
- We do the trawling. Every day we pull the new opportunities from the official sources — Contracts Finder, Find a Tender, and South-West council procurement portals — work out which ones a one-or-two-person outfit could actually win, and tag them by trade.
- You get an email. Free: once a month, everything in the South West. Paid: every week, only the ones matching your trades and areas, sent ahead of the monthly round-up, with a reminder before each closing date. Each listing is one line — buyer, title, rough value, closing date, a “why you’re seeing this”, and a link straight to the official notice. Read it in two minutes; chase the ones you fancy.
What you get — free vs paid
| Free brief | The brief — £89/year | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £0 | £89/year (one payment; renews yearly; cancel any time) |
| How often | Monthly | Weekly |
| Coverage | All of South-West England, unfiltered | Filtered to the trades and postcode areas you pick |
| Timing | The monthly round-up | Sent ahead of the free one — you see opportunities first |
| Bid-deadline reminders | — | Yes — a nudge before each closing date |
| Sign-up | Just an email | Email + pick your trades/areas at checkout |
Why annual, not monthly? Because £89 once a year is the price of half a day’s labour, and if the brief points you at even one job a year that you land, it’s paid for itself many times over — and you’re not thinking about a subscription every month. (If you really want monthly, there’s a £12/month option, but at £144 a year it’s the worse deal — annual is the one to take.)
Secure checkout via Stripe — you’ll pick your trades and postcode areas on the payment page. Want the free monthly brief instead? Email us and we’ll let you know when it opens.
What it is not (managing expectations, on purpose)
- It’s not a tender portal — you still submit your bid on the council’s own system; we just point you at the opportunity.
- It’s not a guarantee — we can miss things, and the official notice always wins over our summary. Always click through and read the real notice before you rely on anything.
- It won’t write your bid — it tells you what’s out there; the quote’s still down to you.
- It won’t cold-call anyone or sell your details — your email is used to send you the brief, full stop. (Privacy notice.)
Who runs it
South-West Tender Brief is run by a UK-based sole trader, registered with HMRC. Full legal details are in our Privacy notice and Terms.
Questions? support@swtenderbrief.co.uk.
FAQ
Where do the opportunities come from?
Official, public sources: GOV.UK’s Contracts Finder, the Find a Tender Service, and South-West local-authority procurement portals (e.g. the Supplying the South West portal that Devon, Cornwall, Plymouth, Somerset and others use). Public-sector procurement data — used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How do you decide what’s “worth a look”?
A scoring rubric: is it in the South West, is the value in sole-trader range (we focus under £50k, surface a bit above with a note), does the work match a trade, is there enough time to quote, is the submission process manageable (not a 40-page PQQ). Anything borderline is flagged rather than dropped. It’s not perfect — that’s what the “see the real notice” link is for.
Will I get spammed?
No. Free tier: one email a month. Paid: one email a week, plus the odd deadline reminder. One-click unsubscribe on every email. We don’t sell, rent or share your address, and we don’t send marketing for anything else.
Can I change my trades or postcode areas?
Yes — link in every weekly email. Add or drop trades, widen or narrow your patch, any time.
What if I cancel?
Cancel any time from the link in your emails. You keep the weekly brief until the end of the year you’ve paid for, then drop to the free monthly one (or off the list entirely, your call). New subscribers also get a 14-day full-refund window. (Refund policy.)
Do you cover Scotland / Wales / the rest of England?
Not yet — this one’s South-West England only, on purpose. Doing one region properly beats doing the whole UK badly.
Is my data safe / GDPR and all that?
We hold your email and (paid) your trade/area preferences and a Stripe payment record — nothing more. We’re registered with the ICO, Stripe handles the card details (we never see them), and you’ve got the usual rights to see/correct/delete your data. Full details in the Privacy notice.