Lift Station Specifications: From Bid Package to a Priced Quote

If you have quoted a packaged lift station from a city or county bid package, you know the pumps are only the first line of the quote.

The other lines come from sentences spread across hundreds of pages of lift station specifications, and each of them can move the total by thousands of dollars.

This guide is about the quote itself. It shows which lines a lift station quote should have, what drives the price of each line, and where a bid package leaves money open for you to decide.

We use one public bid package as the worked example. It is the 421-page project manual for the Abajo Lift Station Re-Direct in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, issued in September 2025.

From that package we built an example draft quote and priced it with sample rates, so every dollar figure in it is an example, not a real customer's price.

The priced lines come to $183,050, plus standby power, which the package does not settle.

One open question in the package is worth $51,150 on its own. The pump schedule asks for two pumps, and the field test runs a third.

We show how a good quote carries that question in the open instead of hiding it inside the total.

If you are new to water and wastewater bid packages in general, start with our guide to quoting water and wastewater equipment from a spec book. This guide stays on the lift station quote.

In brief

• A lift station quote has about a dozen lines, and two of them carry most of the money. In the example, the pumps and the control panel are two thirds of the priced total.
• Every line should carry the page it came from, so the estimator and the customer can check any line by opening one page.
• A line the package does not settle should say TBD, not a guess. Standby power is TBD in the example because the package has no generator section.
• When two pages disagree, price both readings. Carry the likely one in the total, show the other with its price, and put the question to the customer.
• Services are priced in days on site, with a rate for extra days, because a failed test can restart the clock.

What a packaged lift station quote contains

A lift station moves sewage up to a higher pipe when gravity cannot carry it any further. The sewage collects in an underground tank called the wet well.

Pumps at the bottom of the wet well push it out through a pressure pipe called the force main.

In a packaged lift station, one manufacturer supplies most of the equipment for that tank. The contractor digs the hole, sets the wet well and makes the pipe connections, while the manufacturer quotes the equipment and the services around it.

So the manufacturer's quote is a list of items, not a single price. These are the lines a complete quote usually has, in the order we use in the example:

1. The pumps are submersible units that sit under the sewage at the bottom of the wet well. Usually one duty pump does the work and one standby pump waits in case it fails.
2. The guide bars and base elbows let each pump slide down two rails onto a fitting bolted to the floor, so nobody has to climb into the wet well to take a pump out.
3. The access hatch covers the opening in the wet well lid, and many owners now want a safety grate under it that stops a person from falling in.
4. The lifting gear, such as a small jib crane, raises the pumps out of the wet well for service.
5. The valves and piping give each pump a check valve, which stops sewage from flowing back, and an isolation valve, which lets the crew shut one pump off.
6. The control panel holds the starters, breakers and controller that switch the pumps on and off and send alarms to the utility.
7. The standby power line covers a generator, or at least a transfer switch so the crew can plug in a portable generator when utility power fails.
8. The factory tests prove each pump in the maker's shop before it ships.
9. The start-up, field test and training line covers the days your service technician spends on site.
10. The spares and consumables line covers whatever the owner wants left behind, such as lubricant or spare parts.
11. The warranty line covers the cost of standing behind the equipment for the years the owner asks for.
12. The wet well lining protects the concrete from sewage gas, and it is often marked as supplied by others.

Clarifications, exceptions and questions

Below the priced lines sit three more parts that are not prices at all. A quote without them is only a price list, and a price list cannot tell the customer what you assumed.

• A clarification states the reading you priced where the package is unclear, for example "two pump assemblies, as scheduled on page 421".
• An exception is a requirement you will not meet, such as a local service rule your company cannot satisfy.
• A question is something only the customer or the engineer can answer, written so it can be pasted straight into the reply.

Why the list of lines changes from owner to owner

The same dozen lines appear in most lift station bid packages, but the owner's standard decides what goes on each one.

In Polk County, Florida, for example, a pump maker cannot supply the panel at all, because the county names two approved panel shops (Polk standard, page 116).

We come back to how other owners change each line after the worked example. First, here is one complete draft.

The worked example: a draft quote for the Abajo lift station

The Abajo Lift Station Re-Direct is a new submersible station that Santa Fe County put out to bid in September 2025. The project manual, prepared by the engineering firm Molzen Corbin, is public and runs to 421 pages.

The drawings are not in the public file, so the example uses only the project manual. A real quote would also read the drawings and every addendum, which is a written change to the bid package issued before bids close.

Below is the example draft quote. It is an example priced with sample rates, not a real customer's quote. Its job is to show the shape a finished draft should have.

The sample rates behind the example

These are the kinds of numbers a manufacturer's rate book holds. With your own rates and your own past quotes, the same lines would carry your numbers.

The example draft quote, line by line

The total reads $183,050.00 + TBD. That plus sign matters, because standby power is still open and the customer should be able to see that at a glance.

Where the money sits

Two lines carry most of the price. The pumps are $76,800, which is 42 percent of the priced total, and the control panel is $46,500, which is 25 percent.

The mechanical items around the pumps add $43,600 together. Those are the guide bars, the hatch, the crane and the valves.

The services and the warranty add $16,150. Those are the factory tests, the field days, the lubricant and the warranty itself.

So an estimator who gets the pumps and the panel right has two thirds of this quote right, and the remaining lines are where small misses add up.

What the draft leaves to the estimator

The draft carries one call, which is the pump count, and three questions for the customer. We cover each of them below.

It does not decide whether your equipment complies with the specification, and it does not set the final price. Those decisions stay with the estimator who sends the quote.

What drives the price of each line, and where the package says it

For each line, the useful questions are always the same. What makes this line cost more or less, and which page says so? Here are the answers for every line in the example.

Line 1: the pumps

The pump schedule names the design basis, which is the product the engineer laid the station out around:

The schedule sets the duty point at 1,300 gallons per minute against 79.4 feet of head. Head is the height the pump has to lift the sewage, plus the friction in the pipe.

The schedule also sets a minimum hydraulic efficiency of 75.6 percent (page 420).

Three things drive this line's price: the model, the motor and the count.

The model is named. The motor is "FM-explosion proof rated" (page 421), which costs more than a standard motor. The count is "Two (2) pump assemblies (1 duty, 1 standby)" (page 421).

At $38,400 each, the two pumps come to $76,800 in the example.

If you sell a different pump brand

The pump section accepts Flygt "Or Engineer reviewed equivalent" (page 413). That sounds open, but another sentence puts the cost of switching brands on you:

The engineer also reviews substitutions only "For a period of 30 days after the Preconstruction Conference" (page 23). That conference happens after the contract is awarded.

So if you quote your own brand, the whole $76,800 pump line rests on an approval you will not have when you submit the price.

The quote should say that the price depends on that approval, and it should carry a separate line for any changes your pump needs, such as different rails or a different base elbow.

We cover how to judge this kind of wording in or approved equal: when to bid and when to walk away.

Line 2: guide bars and base elbows

Each pump slides down two guide bars onto a base elbow bolted to the floor of the wet well. The package asks for "Type 304 stainless steel Schedule 40 guide bars" (page 417).

The price follows the material, the pipe size and the length, and the length follows the depth of the wet well. The example carries two sets at $4,850 each, which is $9,700.

The material is not the same everywhere. Polk County asks for "two Type 316 seamless tubular stainless steel guides" (Polk standard, page 79), and Type 316 stainless steel costs more than Type 304. A rate copied from a Polk job would overprice this line.

Line 3: the hatch and the safety grate

The package asks for a "Hinged grated safety hatch located below doors" (page 418). The grate is a second, hinged layer under the hatch doors that stops anyone from falling into the wet well while the doors are open.

A hatch with a grate costs more than a plain hatch, and the price also follows the size of the opening, which has to be big enough to lift the pumps through. The example carries one hatch at $6,900.

Owners describe hatches in their own words. Polk wants "aluminum diamond plate" doors with "an integrated fall protection system" (Polk standard, page 53), and Pasco County sets a minimum door of 36 by 54 inches (Pasco manual, page 109).

Line 4: the jib crane

A jib crane is a small crane on a post that swings an arm over the hatch, so the crew can lift the pumps out without calling a truck crane.

The package asks for a motorized one-ton jib crane, load tested "at 125 percent of rated load" (page 410).

The motor, the capacity and the load test all add cost. The load test means someone has to hang a known weight from the crane and record the result, which is time on site. The example carries $14,600.

This line is easy to miss, because it sits on page 410 and not next to the pumps. Some owners do not ask for a crane at all. Pasco asks for hoists only "Where required in large installations" (Pasco manual, page 102).

Austin Water in Texas has published a proposed rule that would require a jib crane at every station (page 22). That rule is a draft, and we could not confirm that it has been adopted.

Line 5: valves, piping and the valve vault cover

Each pump needs a check valve, which stops sewage from running back into the wet well when the pump stops. It also needs an isolation valve, which lets the crew shut one pump off for service.

In this package the valves sit in a valve vault, which is a separate concrete box next to the wet well. The vault cover is listed with the pump accessories (page 418).

The example carries the cover, the valves and the piping as one lot at $12,400. The price follows the valve size, the valve type and the length of pipe between the pumps and the vault.

This line is owner-specific too. Pasco says "No valve vaults are permitted" (Pasco manual, page 110), so the same line in a Pasco quote would have no vault cover in it.

Line 6: the control panel

The control panel is the second biggest line, at $46,500 in the example. Three parts of the package drive its price:

• The controller is named as "Basis of Design: Allen-Bradley CompactLogix 5069 L330ER Series" (page 370). A PLC, or programmable logic controller, is the small industrial computer that runs the pumps, and a different brand means different hardware and different programming.
• The panel shop must be authorized to label panels to UL 508A, the standard for industrial control panels. It must also employ "a field service representative who is currently certified as a Certified Control Systems Technician, Level 3" (page 374).
• The enclosure may be "steel with white polyester powder paint or 316L SS" (page 198). The example carries NEMA 4X painted steel, which is usually the cheaper of the two choices the package allows.

NEMA 4X is an enclosure rating for cabinets that keep out hose-directed water and resist corrosion, which matters for a box that stands outdoors beside a sewage tank.

If your company builds its own panels, the shop and technician rules decide whether you can quote this line yourself. If you cannot meet them, the panel becomes a line you buy from a qualified shop, or an exception.

Line 7: standby power

The package lists no generator section, so the example does not price one. The line says TBD, and that is a deliberate choice.

Standby power can mean a transfer switch, which is a box that lets the crew plug in a portable generator, or it can mean a permanent generator with its own fuel tank.

Those are very different prices, and a guess in either direction puts the wrong money in the quote.

We cover the question for the customer further down.

Line 8: factory tests

The package lists five factory tests on every pump, including this one:

Factory tests cost shop time, test equipment and paperwork, and the cost is per pump. The example carries $1,650 a pump, or $3,300 for two.

If the pump count changes, this line changes with it. That matters for the call below.

Line 9: start-up, field test and training

This line is priced in field days, so it is the easiest one to check against the sample rates. Four days at $1,600 a day is the $6,400 in the example.

The days cover the start-up, a test at peak flow and the training. For the test, the package says "Demonstrate this process for 3 consecutive hours" (page 110). For the training, the pump maker gives "4 hours of training", recorded on video (page 420).

The test also has a restart rule: "If equipment fails during shakedown, required shakedown scheduled period restarted" (page 106). A restart can mean another day on site, so the quote should state how many days it includes and the rate for extra days.

One item in the test is not yours. The contractor brings "a temporary 10,000 gallon storage tank (minimum)" (page 109), and the quote should say so in the clarifications, so nobody assumes you supply it.

Line 10: lubricant

The package asks for "Lubricant for all equipment and facilities sufficient for three months normal usage" (page 102). It is a small line, $650 in the example, and it sits in the general part of the manual, far from the pump section.

Small lines like this are the ones that fall off a quote. They then come back after the award as a request you did not price.

Line 11: the warranty

The coverage is pro-rated. It pays parts, labor and freight at 100 percent for months 1 to 18, at 50 percent to month 39 and at 25 percent to month 60 (page 413).

Two things drive the price of this line. The first is the length of each period and the share you pay in it.

The second is when the clock starts, because substantial completion is the day the owner accepts the whole project as usable, and that can be months after your pumps ship.

The example carries $5,800 for the warranty.

A warranty rule that is not a price

The same page asks for "a local representative located within 200 miles of the job site", appointed "three (3) years prior to bid date", with "a minimum of $100,000 inventory of manufacturer's repair parts" (page 413).

You cannot price your way into that rule. If your company does not meet it, it is an exception, and it should be raised before the bid closes.

Line 12: the wet well coating

The package schedules coating system C2 for the wet well. It is an epoxy or polyurethane lining 100 to 250 mils thick, checked with a holiday test (pages 143 and 144).

A mil is a thousandth of an inch. A holiday test is a spark test that finds pinholes in the coating.

The coating is applied on site after the concrete is in place, so a pump package maker does not usually supply it. The example lists it with "By others" in the amount column.

Listing it as "by others" is worth more than leaving it off. It tells the customer you read the coating section and decided it is not yours, so nobody expects it from you later.

Where the package leaves money open

Most of the package is clear. A few places are not, and each of them is a decision with money attached.

A good draft quote does not hide those decisions inside a number. It shows each one with its price. There are three ways to handle an open point:

• You can carry the most likely reading in the total and show the other reading beside it with its own price. We call this a call.
• You can write the reading you priced into the clarifications, so the customer knows exactly what the number includes.
• You can ask the customer or the engineer a question before the bid closes, and keep the line open until they answer.

Most open points need two of the three. Here are the ones in the Abajo package, with the money at stake in each.

Two pumps or three: $51,150 at stake

The pump schedule is plain about the count:

The field test procedure, about three hundred pages earlier, tells the operator to run a third pump:

A third pump is more than a pump. It brings its own guide bars and base elbow, its own factory tests and a third starter in the control panel. In the example, those add up like this:

That is 28 percent of the priced total. With three pumps, the priced lines come to $234,200.00 instead of $183,050.00.

How the example quote carries the pump count

The example draft carries two pumps, because the schedule is the list of equipment to supply and it says two pump assemblies in plain words.

The three-pump reading sits beside it as a call with its price. Because both prices were worked out in advance, the estimator can switch to three pumps and see the new total straight away.

The quote then puts it in writing. A clarification such as "This price is based on two pump assemblies, 1 duty and 1 standby, as scheduled on page 421" tells the customer exactly what they are buying.

A question to the engineer asks which count is right and quotes both pages.

The worst outcome is a quote that picks one reading silently.

If you price two pumps and the engineer meant three, you supply a pump you did not price. If you price three and a competitor prices two, you can lose the job by $51,150 for a pump nobody wanted.

An explosion-proof motor in an unclassified area

NFPA 820 is the fire code that marks where explosive gas may collect in a wastewater facility. The schedule says "NFPA 820 Area Classification: Unclassified" (page 420), yet the motor is "FM-explosion proof rated" (page 421).

This reading changes line 1, the pumps. An explosion-proof motor costs more than a standard one, so if the engineer confirms that a standard motor is enough, the pump price may come down.

The example carries the explosion-proof motor as scheduled, which is the safer reading: if the answer is a standard motor, the price falls rather than rises.

It does not price the other reading as a call. The point goes to the customer as a question instead, marked "may change the motor".

A pump brand other than Flygt

This point is open only if you sell another brand. As shown above, the cost of fitting your pump to the station is yours (page 412), and the engineer rules on your pump only after award (page 23).

The money at stake is the whole pump line, $76,800 in the example, because a rejected equivalent means supplying Flygt pumps at a price you did not quote.

The quote should say that it is based on your named pump and its acceptance as an equivalent, and the question should go in before the bid closes.

A test that restarts on a failure

The 3-hour peak flow test restarts if equipment fails (page 106). The example carries four field days, and each extra day costs $1,600 at the sample rate, so two more days would add $3,200.

This one is handled in the clarifications, not with a call. The quote states that it includes four days on site and that extra days are charged at the field service rate.

A warranty clock that starts late

The warranty runs from substantial completion (page 413), not from shipment. If the project reaches substantial completion a year after your pumps arrive, you stand behind them a year longer than a warranty that starts at shipment.

The quote should state the warranty in the owner's own terms, including when the clock starts, so that the $5,800 line matches what the owner expects.

TBD lines and the questions for the customer

A TBD line is a line the quote knows it needs but cannot price yet, because the package does not give enough to price it. A TBD on the page is honest, and a guess hidden in the total is not.

Why standby power stays TBD

The Abajo package lists no generator section. Other owners show how far apart this one line can be:

• Polk County requires a permanent diesel generator at larger stations, with fuel for "a minimum duration of 48-hour failure of the normal power supply" (Polk standard, page 90).
• The City of Houston asks only for a manual transfer switch for an "owner supplied portable generator" (Houston guide specifications, page 201).
• Austin Water's proposed rule, which is a draft that may not be adopted, would make natural gas the primary fuel and accept diesel only case by case (page 23).

A quote that guesses "transfer switch" is short by a whole generator if the owner wanted one. A quote that guesses "diesel generator" may lose the job on price. So the line stays TBD, and the total reads "$183,050.00 + TBD".

The three questions in the example

Each question names its pages, so the engineer can answer without searching. Each one also says what the answer does to the price, so the estimator knows which answers to chase first.

Questions like these usually go to the engineer through the formal question process before the bid closes. The answers often come back as an addendum, and the quote should then be updated and name the addendum it was priced from.

How other lift station specifications change the same lines

The Abajo package is one owner's version. The dozen lines stay the same from one owner to the next, but what goes on them changes. We read four other public documents for this guide, and here is how they would change the example quote.

Two are county standards from Florida, Polk County's utility standards manual and Pasco County's technical manual.

One is the City of Houston's electrical and instrumentation guide specifications. The last is a proposed rule from Austin Water in Texas, which is a draft that we could not confirm has been adopted.

The panel line can leave your quote

In Polk County, the panel supplier "shall be one the following approved suppliers": Curry Controls Company or Unitron Controls (Polk standard, page 116). The checklist adds that the panel builder "Must Be Within Polk County" (page 212).

For a pump package maker, that turns the $46,500 panel line from the example into "by others". A quarter of the example's priced total would leave the quote, and the quote should say so in its first line of scope.

Pasco goes the other way. It wants "pumps, appurtenances, and controls" from the same supplier (Pasco manual, page 46), so the panel line is yours by rule.

Houston wants a system integrator, the company that builds and programs the panel, with "proven experience with the City's existing facilities" and service facilities "within 100 miles of the City of Houston" (Houston guide specifications, page 9).

If you cannot meet both rules, the panel is an exception.

The enclosure and the controller change the panel price

An aluminum panel that suits Pasco is not acceptable in Polk, which wants "NEMA 4X white painted 304 Stainless Steel with a top mounted white painted solar shield" (Polk standard, page 118).

Houston names "Siemens Industry, S7-1214C" as its controller (Houston guide specifications, page 10), not Allen-Bradley. It also asks for "at least 25% of each PLC module furnished as spare parts" (page 14).

A different enclosure metal, controller brand or spares rule makes a different panel, so the panel line needs a fresh price, not the old price under a new name.

The field service line can grow from 4 days to more than a week

Santa Fe's test runs for 3 hours. Houston's runs much longer:

Polk asks for a 24-hour run on every pump before final acceptance (Polk standard, page 79). It also asks for a flow test at start-up against the maker's pump curve (page 189).

At the example's sample rate, each extra day on site is $1,600 before travel. A 7-day test that one alarm can restart may also mean a second trip, so the quote should say who pays when the run starts again.

The warranty line changes length and start date

Polk wants pumps warranted for five years from installation or 10,000 hours, whichever comes first (Polk standard, page 81). Pasco wants at least two years, plus wear parts on a progressive cost schedule for five years (Pasco manual, page 111).

So the $5,800 warranty line in the example is only right for Santa Fe's terms. Each owner's terms need their own price.

Station type and size can rule your product out

Polk says "All stations shall be submersible type stations" (Polk standard, page 41), and it rejects pumps with motors under five horsepower (page 45). Pasco says "Pumps must be submersible-type" (Pasco manual, page 101).

Austin's proposed rule, again a draft, would make submersible non-clog stations the only type allowed (page 2). These sentences are not price lines. They decide whether you quote at all, so check them before any pricing starts.

How to check a draft quote before it goes out

Whether a person or software wrote the first draft, someone has to check it before it reaches the customer. Here is the check we would run on the Abajo example:

1. Add up the lines yourself. In the example, the ten priced lines must come to $183,050.00, and the total must show "+ TBD" for standby power.
2. Open the page behind every line. If a line has no page, ask why it is in the quote.
3. Look at every call and decide it on purpose. In the example, read pages 421 and 110 again and decide whether two pumps is still the right reading.
4. Read the "by others" items one by one. The wet well coating and the temporary storage tank should both appear, so nobody expects them from you.
5. Check that services are stated in days, with a rate for extra days. Four field days at $1,600 should be visible, with the extra day rate written next to them.
6. Check the warranty wording against the owner's terms, including the day the clock starts.
7. Check the qualifications. The 200-mile local representative and the certified panel technician are pass or fail, and a fail is an exception, not a price.
8. Name the documents you priced, which means the project manual title, its date and every addendum you read.
9. Say how long the price is valid, because pump and panel prices move.

On that last point, our guide on how long a quote should be valid for shows how owners stretch the period you hold your price.

The clarifications this example needs

From everything above, the Abajo draft would carry clarifications like these:

• This price is based on two pump assemblies, 1 duty and 1 standby, as scheduled on page 421.
• Standby power is not included, because the package lists no generator section.
• Wet well coating system C2 is by others.
• The temporary storage tank for the field test is by others, as stated on page 109.
• Field service includes four days on site, and extra days are charged at the field service rate.
• The pump warranty follows page 413 and runs from substantial completion.

Each one is a plain sentence the customer can read and agree with. Together they tell the customer exactly what the $183,050 buys and what it does not.

If you keep requirements in a spreadsheet, our specification compliance matrix template holds each requirement, its page and your answer in one sheet. Writing each risk down before the price is set is covered in pre-bid risk assessment.

How Mavlon's AI Quoting Engine produces this kind of draft

We built the example above to show what a finished draft quote looks like.

Mavlon's AI Quoting Engine produces this kind of draft from the bid package your customer sends you, which means the request for quote, the specification, the drawings, the bid form and the addenda.

It prices the way your company prices. It learns that from your own past bid packages, the quotes you sent for them, and your costing workbooks and rate books. The sample rates in the example would be replaced by yours.

When the lift station specifications change from one owner to the next, the draft follows the package in front of it, not the last job you quoted.

What the draft contains

• Every line carries a quantity, a unit price, an amount and the page it came from.
• A line the package does not settle says TBD instead of a guess, like standby power in the example.
• Each open decision becomes a call with the price of each reading, and the total moves as soon as the estimator flips it.
• Anything the documents cannot settle becomes a question for the customer, ready to paste into the reply.

What stays with your estimator

The engine does not decide whether your equipment complies, and it does not set the final price. Your estimator checks the draft, changes what they know better and sends the quote.

The gain is in where the estimator's time goes. Instead of days spent reading 421 pages, they start from a priced draft and spend their time on the decisions, such as two pumps or three.

Before anyone relies on it, we test the engine blind on your own past quotes.

The pass bar is agreed in writing, and our published bar is 7 of 10 job totals within 15 percent of the quote you filed. The protocol is on our pilot page.

More on how this works for pump and treatment equipment makers is on our page about AI quoting for water and wastewater equipment manufacturers.

Sources

• Santa Fe County, New Mexico, Project Manual, Abajo Lift Station Re-Direct, September 2025, prepared by Molzen Corbin. This is the package behind the example draft quote.
• Polk County Utilities, Florida, Utilities Standards and Specifications Manual, Chapter 5 Wastewater, file dated 03-04-2025, latest listed amendment effective December 21, 2024.
• Pasco County Utilities, Florida, Technical Manual for Design and Construction of Water, Wastewater, and Reclaimed Water Facilities, revised February 10, 2021.
• City of Houston, Texas, Lift station guide specifications, Divisions 13 and 16, electrical and instrumentation, revised May 2, 2023. This is a copy issued in TxDOT project CSJ 0028-01-067, hosted on TxDOT's server.
• Austin Water, City of Austin, Texas, Notice of Proposed Rule R161-26.02, posted August 24, 2026. This is a proposed rule, a draft, and we could not confirm that it has been adopted.

Every page number in this guide is the page of the PDF file, so you can open the file and jump straight to it. Found a mistake? Write to atishay@mavlon.co and we will fix it.