{"id":905429,"date":"2026-03-05T16:39:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:39:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=905429"},"modified":"2026-03-05T16:39:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T23:39:46","slug":"promissory-estoppel-holding-subs-to-their-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/promissory-estoppel-holding-subs-to-their-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Holding Subcontractors to Their Bid: The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>John Mark Goodman and Joe Mack Curry II | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/2026\/02\/holding-subcontractors-to-their-bid-the-doctrine-of-promissory-estoppel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">BuildSmart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most legally enforceable contracts are formed the old-fashioned way: offer and acceptance.&nbsp;Courts will sometimes enforce promises without traditional offer and acceptance where one party has&nbsp;<em>justifiably relied<\/em>&nbsp;on the other party\u2019s promise. This alternative route to contract formation is called promissory estoppel. While the law varies from state-to-state, prevailing on promissory estoppel theory normally requires (1) a promise that (2) the promisor should reasonably expect to cause the promisee to change its position and (3) that causes the promisee to change its position (4) justifiably relying upon the promise, in such a manner that (5) injustice can be avoided only by enforcement of the promise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Promissory estoppel arises frequently in the construction setting.\u00a0When submitting bids to the owner, general contractors often rely on bids obtained from subcontractors without a formal, signed subcontract.\u00a0If the subcontractor later attempts to back out, courts may nonetheless enforce the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-my-bid-binding\/\">subcontractor\u2019s bid<\/a> under the doctrine of promissory estoppel. A decision released last month in the state of Washington is a good example of how this works in practice (see\u00a0<em>McClure and Sons, Inc. v. Stetner Electric, Inc.<\/em>, No. 87564-7-I, 2026 WL 195157 (Wash. Ct. App. Jan. 26, 2026)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>McClure and Sons<\/em>&nbsp;involves a project to modify a pump station owned by the city of Everett, Washington.&nbsp;To prepare its bid to the city, the general contractor solicited bids from various electrical subcontractors.&nbsp;The lowest-bidding electrical subcontractor submitted multiple \u201cfinal\u201d bids just minutes before the general contractor\u2019s deadline to submit its bid to the city.&nbsp;The electrical subcontractor\u2019s last bid increased the price by over $100,000 and was submitted some 32 seconds after the general contractor\u2019s \u201cabsolute drop dead time\u201d for receiving and incorporating subcontract bids. When submitting its bid to the city, the general contractor relied on the subcontractor\u2019s previous bid, submitted minutes earlier, at a lower price. After the city awarded the job to the general contractor, the electrical subcontractor attempted to withdraw its prior bid and refused to perform the work. The general contractor ultimately hired another electrical sub to cover at an excess cost of over $300,000.&nbsp;Litigation ensued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The subcontractor argued its bid was conditional on acceptance within seven days, which never occurred.&nbsp;The general contractor argued that it justifiably relied on the subcontractor\u2019s bid when submitting its winning bid to the city and that under the doctrine promissory estoppel the subcontractor\u2019s bid was legally binding.&nbsp;The trial court sided with the general contractor, and the appellate court affirmed, reasoning as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Promissory estoppel applies readily to the unique situation of a subcontractor and a general contractor. A subcontractor submits a bid to a general contractor, knowing the general cannot accept the bid as an offer immediately, but must first incorporate it into the general\u2019s offer to the prospective employer. The general contractor then incorporates the bid in reliance upon the subcontractor to perform as promised, should the prospective employer accept the general\u2019s offer. A subcontractor\u2019s bid is considered an irrevocable offer until the award of the prime contract; then the general contractor\u2019s acceptance of the bid results in a bilateral contract. If the subcontractor breaches this bilateral contract, it is required to pay as damages the difference between its bid and the higher price the general had to pay another subcontractor to perform the work.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>While the outcome of any case depends on the particular facts and law,\u00a0<em>McClure and Sons<\/em>\u00a0is a good reminder that promissory estoppel may carry the day when traditional contract analysis does not.\u00a0A full copy of the court\u2019s opinion is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2026\/02\/McClure-and-Sons.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republished with permission. The article, \u201cHolding Subcontractors to Their Bid: The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel\u201d was originally published on BuildSmart by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. Copyright 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Mark Goodman and Joe Mack Curry II | BuildSmart Most legally enforceable contracts are formed the old-fashioned way: offer and acceptance.&nbsp;Courts will sometimes enforce promises without traditional offer and acceptance where one party has&nbsp;justifiably relied&nbsp;on the other party\u2019s promise. This alternative route to contract formation is called promissory estoppel. While the law varies from&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/promissory-estoppel-holding-subs-to-their-bid\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Holding Subcontractors to Their Bid: The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[9895,11439,12,9438],"class_list":["post-905429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-bid-estimates","tag-construction","tag-promissory-estoppel-claim","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Holding Subcontractors to Their Bid: The Doctrine of Promissory Estoppel - Advise &amp; 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