Ground Truth

The ground truth of Texas civil bid pricing.

Guides and live unit-price data built from 1.6 million+ real Texas bid observations across 250+ counties and every major TxDOT district. Not national averages, not cost books — what contractors in your market actually submitted at public bid openings.

1.6 million+
bid observations
80,000+
line items priced
250+
Texas counties
2,000+
public agencies
Index rebuilt Jun 27, 2026 · 1,627,803 observations live

Every figure traces to a real bid submitted at a public opening — not a cost book, not a model. Why you can trust it →

The Caliche 100 · Updated Daily

Texas’s top civil contractors, ranked by the public bid record.

The first public ranking of who actually wins the work — by dollars won, win rate, and momentum. No opinions, no pay-to-play. Search any Texas civil contractor and see exactly where they stand.

$3.5B
won tracked · 24mo
225
firms ranked
1,556
firms competing
See the ranking →How it’s built →

Price any Texas bid item — right now

Type any civil line item and see what Texas contractors actually bid — low, typical, and high — straight from the live index. No login to try it.

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REAL DATA

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No account needed. Type any civil item or pick one below — Low / Mid / High unit prices from 1.6 million+ real Texas bid observations.

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Bid Intelligence · Live Pricing Engine
/bid-intelligence

1.6M+

BID OBSERVATIONS

80K+

LINE ITEMS

4

AGENCY SEGMENTS

250+

TX COUNTIES

◆ DAILY

UPDATED EVERY MORNING

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Market
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MID$—
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Pick an example above or type any civil item — real TX market prices, instantly.

The guides

Market Data8 min read

TxDOT Unit Prices in Texas: What Contractors Actually Bid in 2026

Real average low-bid unit prices from TxDOT statewide letting records — not national benchmarks, not RSMeans, not a cost book. Paving, drainage, earthwork, and roadway structures, each shown with the number of lettings behind it.

May 2026Read →
Market Intelligence9 min read

Houston Public Works vs. Harris County MUD: Why Agency Type Drives Civil Bid Prices Differently

Three distinct pricing environments operate inside the Houston market — HPW, the 318 Houston-metro MUDs, and other municipal work. Real MUD unit prices and the structural reasons each agency type bids the same scope differently.

May 2026Read →
MBE/DBE9 min read

How MBE/DBE Contractors Can Price Texas Civil Bids Competitively — Without Leaving Money Behind

The structural pricing traps MBE and DBE civil contractors fall into, and how real Texas market data — the same data 20-year veteran estimators have memorized — closes the gap from day one. Built for certified firms.

May 2026Read →
The Data4 min read

What’s Behind the Numbers: Why You Can Trust Caliche’s Pricing

Real bids Texas contractors actually submitted at public bid openings — not national averages, not cost-book estimates. What the data is, how deep it goes, the sample size behind every figure, and why it positions instead of predicts.

Updated weeklyRead →

TxDOT unit prices by district

Real low-bid unit prices for each TxDOT district, with how each item compares to the statewide median. The same scope bids differently in Houston than in Dallas — here's the data.

HoustonDallasFort WorthAustinSan AntonioCorpus ChristiEl PasoPharrWaco
The Texas Bid Index · Weekly

What moved in the Texas civil market this week.

Unit-price movers, new lettings, and what contractors are actually bidding — pulled from the same live index that powers Caliche. One email, Mondays. No fluff.

Free. Unsubscribe anytime. We never share your email.

Price your next bid with this data

Every Ground Truth guide is built from the same 1.6 million+ real Texas bid observations that power Caliche's pricing engine. Put them to work on your next bid.

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