Searching for Projects and Companies

ConstructConnect uses your profile information to auto-generate suggested searches that can return projects most closely aligning with your business. You can search for projects and companies using keywords and phrases that you want to find by searching by project or company name, or a project’s description, details, or documents.

You can also select your search type – an exact match of a keyword or phrase (e.g., “concrete forming”) or a “smart” search that will look for variations of a keyword string (e.g., “concrete form”, “concrete forms”, “concrete formulation”). If you’re unsure what type of search to use, download this helpful tip sheet for future reference. You can also access this search guide at any time by clicking on the lightbulb icon in the search bar (shown below).

Search Page - Search Tips Lightbulb Highlighted

Once you’ve identified your search terms, you can give your search a name and save it for future use. You can also add color-coded search tags or select a search as your default to make it easier to find those particular search results at a later time.

You must enter at least one search term and criteria for your search (i.e., projects or companies, where you would like the system to search and a search type) in order for a search to be executed. A system warning message will appear if you miss this step.

Search Page - Seach Criteria Must Be Selected Alert Message

How to Begin Your Search

From the left sidebar menu on any page, click on the spyglass icon to display the Opportunities page. On that page, begin by entering a keyword or keyword phrase in the search bar.

This will display the Search In section with a series of checkboxes and the Search Type with the options for Exact o Smart search. These sections allow you to tell the system where you’d like to search (e.g., project documents) and what kind of search you’d like to use (e.g., a smart search to broaden your search results). Applying multiple project search types will act as an “OR” search for all selected project areas except for document search which is always treated as an “AND” (i.e., Name OR Description OR Details) AND Documents).

Search In

The Search In section allows you to choose where you want to search within, Name, Description, Details, or Documents. You may select one, many, or all of the options for your search.

By default, Details is selected. Below is a list of the fields that are searched in when Details is selected:

Project Name
Project ID
Solicitation #
Status
Sector
Project Type
Building Use (and any sub building uses)
Address (street, city, state)
Description
Trade, Trade Division, and CSI Code (same as info shown in trades section of PDP)
GC Company Name (GC account name for ITB projects, not the same as "from" field on PDP)

NOTE: When searching for projects, you can search by the fields name, description, details or documents. For those keywords appearing in a document search, document viewer opens to the first instance of your keyword in the document set and your keyword is highlighted anywhere it appears in the document set.

When searching for companies, you can only search the name field.

Previewing Projects Using the Preview Pane

Once you’ve done your initial search for projects, you can get summary information about a particular project by clicking on the Show Preview button at the far right-hand menu of your screen (shown below).

This will open up a preview pane that gives you more detailed information about that project (pulled directly from the Project Details Page in Project Intelligence), including:

Project name and description
Key event dates (pre-bid meeting, bid date, start date)
Location
Matched trades
Other bidders for the project

Additionally, you can also view any associated documents, add the project directly to your Bid Center (by bid stage), or share the project with your colleagues or business partners.

To preview several projects in your search, use the up and down arrows on your keyboard to toggle between projects. The preview pane will automatically update to reflect the data of the selected project.

Saving Your Search

Once you are satisfied with your search keywords and applied filters, you can save your search for future reference by clicking on the Save Search As button. Here you will see a pop-up window that allows you to enter a unique name for your search (e.g., Rough Carpentry - GC Bid). You can also choose to set this search as a default by clicking the Set as Default box. If you’re a CCPI Pro subscriber, you can also create a custom color-coded search tag to help you easily identify this search again in the future by clicking on the Create Search Tag box. Click the Save button when you’re done to set your preferences for this search.

Loading a Search (Including Default)

There are multiple ways to load a search using the search bar, the Load Search button, or clicking on New Search.

Accessing a Recent Search

If you want to view or even rerun a recent search (including those that have not yet been saved), click on the search bar to see which keywords or phrases were used, as well as where the system searched (e.g., projects, documents) and the search type (e.g., smart).

NOTE: Your Default search will always be the first search to appear in your list of recent searches.

Loading a Saved Search

To access your saved searches, click on the Load Search button.

This will open up a window showing your saved searches, including what was searched, any associated colored search tags, and which search is your current default.

Next, click on the name of a search to load it, delete it or change to your default search.

Creating a New Search

If you want to start over with an entirely new search, click on New Search. This will automatically clear all keywords, filters, and search tags you have associated with your recent or saved searches, allowing you to start fresh.