How do you win housing association repairs contracts?
Pick tenders where quality carries most of the marks, then answer every question to the marking scheme with your own evidence. In 12 months of council and housing association repairs awards in England and Wales, the median tender drew 6 bids and 65% of winners filed small or micro company accounts. But only 47% of these tenders gave quality more than half the marks, so choosing where to bid matters as much as the writing.
These figures come from our own analysis of 635,916 public notices. Repairs here means repairs, voids, electrical, fire safety, damp and mould, and pest control, in contracts worth £100,000 to £4 million, October 2025 to October 2026.
Housing repairs tenders in numbers
| Measure | Figure | Based on |
|---|---|---|
| Repairs contracts (lots) awarded in 12 months | 339 | councils and housing associations, England and Wales, £100k to £4m |
| Median bids per competed lot | 6 | 510 competed lots; middle half 3 to 10 |
| Of bids came from SMEs | 56% | 510 competed lots |
| Of winners file small or micro accounts | 65% | 331 awards matched to Companies House |
| Median share of marks for quality | 50% | 480 lots with a published weighting; middle half 30% to 70% |
| Of lots give quality more than half the marks | 47% | 480 lots with a published weighting |
| Let through open or competitive tenders | 62% | 433 lots; 22% framework or DPS set-ups, 16% direct awards |
| Active limited companies won this work in the last 3 years | 1,864 | 1,318 of them file small or micro accounts |
Source: ClearBid analysis of Find a Tender and Contracts Finder notices, October 2025 to October 2026, matched to Companies House. Housing association and council repairs contracts worth £100,000 to £4 million in England and Wales. How we work these out.
1. Bid where the writing decides it
More than half the repairs tenders that published a weighting (53%) gave quality half the marks or less. On those, a cheaper rival can beat a better-written bid. Across all sectors, the Open Contracting Partnership found quality was over half the weighting in only 26% of lots that declared weights in the Act's first year, so repairs, at 47%, is more quality-led than most.
The weighting is in the tender notice or the documents. Find it before you decide to bid. Where quality is 60% or more, or the weighting isn't published yet, your answers carry the most weight.
2. Expect five or six rivals, many of them small
The median repairs tender drew 6 bids, and the middle half drew 3 to 10. 56% of bids came from SMEs, and 65% of the winners we matched to Companies House file small or micro accounts. Many of your rivals will be firms your own size.
One example: Southdown Housing Association's responsive repairs contract, awarded in February 2026, weighted price at 40% and spread 60% across eight quality criteria, from safeguarding and challenging behaviours (10% each) to arranging access and complaints (5% each). It received 5 bids, 4 of them from SMEs.
3. Know how the buyer lets work
62% of repairs lots were open or competitive tenders, 22% were framework or dynamic purchasing system set-ups and 16% were direct awards. Direct awards vary by buyer, so look at a buyer's history before you plan around them:
| Buyer | Repairs awards | Direct awards |
|---|---|---|
| Peabody Trust | 43 | 12% |
| VIVID Housing | 27 | 33% |
| East Riding of Yorkshire Council | 18 | 0% |
| Southern Housing | 16 | 0% |
| Connexus Homes | 13 | 0% |
| Milton Keynes City Council | 12 | 0% |
| Great Places Housing Group | 11 | 0% |
| Hull City Council | 10 | 30% |
Busiest buyers with 5 or more awards; rows are lot and supplier pairs; framework set-ups excluded. October 2025 to October 2026.
Frameworks are worth applying for when they open, because call-offs from them are rarely published. Some include an interview: Irwell Valley's 2026 responsive repairs and voids framework weighted price 40%, written quality 30% and interview or presentation 30%.
4. There is no quiet season
New repairs notices ran at between 70 and 100 a month in every full month from November 2025 to September 2026, with a mild rise from March to July. Check for new tenders every week rather than waiting for a busy period.
| Region | Repairs awards, 12 months |
|---|---|
| South East | 79 |
| Yorkshire and Humber | 50 |
| North West | 45 |
| London | 42 |
| East Midlands | 39 |
| West Midlands | 34 |
| South West | 31 |
| East of England | 29 |
| Wales | 23 |
| North East | 9 |
5. Answer what is marked, with evidence
Buyers score each answer against published criteria, so a good service described in general terms scores like a weak one. Answer every part of each question, in the order asked, inside the word limit, with your own figures and examples. Our guide to how tenders are scored shows what evaluators look for.
Questions
How many bids does a housing repairs tender get?
A median of 6 in our data, with the middle half between 3 to 10 (510 competed lots, councils and housing associations in England and Wales, October 2025 to October 2026).
Do small firms win housing association repairs contracts?
Yes. 65% of the winners we matched to Companies House file small or micro accounts, and 56% of bids came from SMEs.
How much of the score is quality on repairs tenders?
The median is 50%, with the middle half between 30% and 70%. 47% of tenders that published a weighting gave quality more than half the marks.
Do I need to be on a framework?
Not for most of it. 62% of repairs lots in our data were let through open or competitive tenders, 22% were framework or DPS set-ups and 16% were direct awards. Call-offs from consortium frameworks are mostly not published, so the true framework share is higher.
Is care any different?
Home care and supported living tenders drew fewer bids (a median of 3.5) and gave quality more weight (a median of 77% of the marks).
Sources
- ClearBid award statistics and method. Source: ClearBid analysis of Find a Tender and Contracts Finder notices, October 2025 to October 2026, matched to Companies House. Housing association and council repairs contracts worth £100,000 to £4 million in England and Wales.
- Find a Tender notice 013760-2026, Southdown Housing Association, Responsive Repairs. Award criteria and bid counts
- Find a Tender notice 000091-2026, Irwell Valley Housing Association, Responsive Repairs and Void Works Framework. Price, quality and interview weighting
- Open Contracting Partnership, The UK Procurement Act one year on (3 March 2026). Quality weighting across all sectors
Public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Spotted something wrong? See how our figures are built and how to report a correction.