Find Private Construction Projects at the Planning Stage

Overview

The best private work never touches a public bid board. A developer announces a project, an owner picks a GC, a design team starts drawings — and the whole thing is bid and awarded through relationships, months before anyone outside the circle hears about it. The suppliers and subs who get in at the planning stage are the ones who get specified.

This Hound watches construction-intelligence feeds and regional press for private projects entering the pipeline, filters for the ones that fit your trade and size, finds the developer or GC running them, and opens the conversation while the plans are still on the drawing board.

How to set it up

Four things to brief your Hound. This is the exact configuration behind this play.

A · Describe the opportunity

This is the brief every source is filtered against. You describe what you're looking for in plain language, add keywords to sharpen it, then set the structured criteria.

Tell Forest what you're looking for:

"I'm looking for private commercial and multifamily construction projects entering the pipeline in my area — projects at the planning or design stage, before they go out to bid. I want the early signals: project announcements, groundbreakings, an architect or GC being selected, major tenant deals that trigger a buildout. Match to my trade and project size. Skip public/government projects, single-family residential, and anything already out to bid."

Keywords to watch for: breaks ground · unveils plans · selected as architect · selected as general contractor · to develop · mixed-use project · multifamily development · distribution center · [your trade] · [your metro area]

Fields to extract: project_name · project_type · estimated_value · developer · general_contractor · architect · stage · location · estimated_start

Match criteria:

• ✓ Project type matches your trade (e.g. commercial, multifamily, industrial)

• ✓ Estimated value in your range

• ✓ Stage is planning through pre-bid (not already under construction)

• ✗ Exclude projects where your scope is already awarded

B · Choose the sources to monitor

Private projects don't hit a public bid board, so this Hound leans hardest on News & Press and on the public early-signal filings that precede a project. All free.

Public early signals (bring your own regional link) 🔵 (free — public government pages)

• City/county permit portals — Design-phase and foundation permits that precede a full project. Paste the public portal URL for each jurisdiction you serve (see the permits use case for how to find yours). — est. 25/wk

• Planning commission agendas & minutes — Projects entering the approval pipeline before they're public. Most cities publish these as public .gov pages or open-data portals — paste the link for your region. — est. 12/wk

News & Press 🟡 (default source — always on, configured in your match criteria)

• This is the primary source for private projects — most surface here first. Prompt it to flag: project announcements, groundbreakings, "selected as architect/GC" releases, and major tenant or development deals; ignore already-bid projects. (See setup note below.) — est. 15/wk

Already pay for construction intelligence? Connect it (optional) 🔵

• If you subscribe to Dodge, ConstructConnect, or The Blue Book, Forest can read your existing account into the same feed. Not required — the public signals above cover the early-stage projects for free.

C · Define the ICP to reach

Which people to find and reach on the project team, in priority order, with fallbacks.

1. Developer / Owner's Rep — Primary — owns the project and early vendor decisions — PRIMARY

2. GC's Preconstruction Lead — Owns subcontractor and supplier selection

3. Project Architect — Fallback for spec-driven trades — FALLBACK

D · Email & LinkedIn sequence

The play the Hound runs for each match. Fields from the project drop in as variables.

Email · Day 0 Saw {{project_name}} in {{location}} is moving into {{stage}} — congrats. We're a {{trade}} firm that's done comparable {{project_type}} work, and getting involved before scopes lock usually saves everyone time on pricing. Worth a quick call while the plans are still flexible?

↓ Wait 2 days · no reply

LinkedIn · connection request · Day 2 Hi {{first_name}} — reaching out about the {{project_name}} project. Would love to connect.

↓ Wait 3 days · no reply

Email · Day 5 · follow-up Circling back on {{project_name}} — happy to send references from comparable {{project_type}} jobs. Even if the team's forming, worth being on your list before bids go out.

⏸ Any reply on either channel pauses the whole sequence — the conversation is yours.