The rep you already trust is invisible to the next job
When you send an RFQ from a package, the suppliers who answer fastest are usually the ones whose numbers you already have. If your project engineer typed a generic description into an email, the regional distributor who stocks your tile aisle may not see the request at all, and marketplace search has nothing to index when that branch has not published a catalog yet.
The building materials marketplace opened supply-first in California so specifiers and general contractors can search real depth by category, not a national dump of unrelated SKUs. Your projects still move faster when the distributors you already award also list those same parts on BIM Engine, because every line in your package can resolve to a product record instead of a paragraph someone retypes.
What your suppliers gain by listing
A distributor who publishes on BIM Engine reaches architects and contractors who do not have their rep on speed dial. They keep their own pricing, fulfillment, and customer relationships. Listing is free, there is no sales call before the first publish, and Stripe Connect is not required to put list prices on the public catalog. Payouts through the platform can wait until the distributor is ready to award orders there.
Each row receives a BIM ID, normalized spec fields, and deduplication against the shared product graph, so when your specifier searches tile or paint in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego, or Sacramento, the distributor's branch appears beside peers with real depth in that category. RFQs arrive with quantities tied to package lines, not a vague "please quote the following," and requests stay quotable even while onboarding finishes, because unmatched listings route through BIM Industries until the named supplier's portal is live.
The display license is non-exclusive. The distributor updates or pulls products from their supplier portal when pricing shifts, and can request takedown from account settings.
What you gain when they show up
Your architect's schedule and your buyout package are built from the same product records the marketplace indexes. When a line carries a real SKU, the supplier prices the part that was specified rather than guessing from a PDF attachment, and every reply lands on one comparison board levelled on your package rows.
That cuts the afternoon phone calls to reconcile unit counts. It also surfaces quotes that hid freight in unit price, and awards where the winner's part number did not match the spec section. You still choose who to ask on each package, from your incumbent reps or from marketplace suppliers matched on category once depth is there.
The link to send
Forward your supplier contact to the list-your-catalog section on the supplier platform: bimengine.ai/suppliers#list-your-catalog. Campaign outreach uses the shorter bimengine.ai/suppliers/list-free path, which lands on the same steps.
The supplier creates a free account and marks Material supplier during onboarding, which opens the import wizard. Stripe Connect can wait; list prices can publish without it.
Three upload paths, one review step
The distributor picks how their data enters, and can switch before publishing.
A CSV spreadsheet is the fastest path when their ERP already exports a catalog file. Paste a public website URL when product pages are already live, and BIM Engine extracts SKUs from those pages. When the only source is a static list, a PDF or scanned price book runs through OCR page by page.
Large or recurring feeds can use a secure SFTP drop after the partner team provisions a folder; that path suits manufacturers refreshing thousands of rows on a schedule rather than a one-time upload.
After ingest, the supplier reviews extracted rows, publishes to the marketplace, and products go live with list-price disclaimers where account pricing may differ.
What live means, and how they stay in control
Live means published rows appear on the public California catalog under the distributor's name, searchable by spec and category, and quotable from architect and contractor packages. Until publish, nothing is visible; after publish, the distributor can import more, edit, or take products down without calling BIM Engine.
When you buy out the package, Material Engine keeps the award on the same record as the quotes. Start with the suppliers who already stock your job, then widen the ask to marketplace depth in the category you are opening next.