Crafting the Perfect Proposal for Construction Project with Buildern
The proposal is your first impression. It’s your handshake, your business card, and your sales pitch all rolled into a single document.
Yet, there is no one-size-fits-all template for winning a proposal for a construction project. So, how do you ensure your proposal stands out and wins you the project?
The answer lies in creativity, professionalism, and leveraging advanced tools like Buildern, designed to streamline every construction project management process.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Construction Proposal?
- What to Include in Your Proposal for Construction Projects?
- Best Practices to Send Competitive Construction Proposals
- How to Write a Construction Proposal with Buildern?
- The Bottom Lines
- Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Construction Proposal?
Simply put, a construction proposal is a document outlining the key details of the expected project.
Serving as a tool for the sales pitch, a typical construction proposal should convince the client that your team is the best fit to implement their project. It should also establish trust, showcase your expertise, and demonstrate that you fully understand the client’s needs.
What to Include in Your Proposal for Construction Projects?
Creating an accurate and detailed estimate is a crucial precursor to crafting your construction proposal. Estimating involves calculating the total cost of the project, factoring in all labor, materials, equipment, and other potential expenses. This step ensures that your proposal is not only realistic but also competitive.
So, based on this idea, your proposal should include the following key elements:
- The scope of work: What tasks will be completed, and what materials will be used?
- Timeline: How long will the project take, and what are the milestones?
- Labor, materials, equipment, etc.: What are the main costs associated with the project?
- Budget: How much will the project cost, and how will the funds be allocated?
- Payment schedule: How and when will payments be made?
Apart from these essential components, your proposal can also include additional details such as:
- A header with your company’s name, logo, and contact information
- An executive summary outlining the project’s key details and benefits
- The validity period of the proposal
- Footer with the closing remarks
- Section with your signature and a field for the client’s signature
Why a Standardized Template Isn’t Enough
The construction industry is dynamic and diverse, with each project presenting its unique challenges and opportunities. A standardized template downloaded from the web or a simple Excel file may not capture all the necessary details for your specific project. While useful for ensuring you include essential elements, these types of documents simply cannot capture the nuances that make your proposal resonate with clients.
Clients are looking for personalized solutions, innovative ideas, and evidence of your ability to deliver on promises. To win projects, you need to craft proposals that are not only professional but also tailored to your client’s needs.
Best Practices to Send Competitive Construction Proposals
Creating a construction proposal that will leave a lasting impression on your clients is easy when you are a professional and have reliable software.
Still, there are a couple of proven strategies and things to follow to ensure your proposal is competitive and compelling.
Define a Clear and Detailed Scope of Work
Proposals for construction projects should leave no ambiguity and define the scope of work in detail.
By specifically outlining the project activities, timelines, deliverables, and responsibilities, you minimize the risk of disputes and scope creep, which can lead to delays and additional costs. This ensures that both parties are on the same page and expectations are set clearly.
Moreover, a comprehensive scope of work demonstrates professionalism and thoroughness, which can significantly enhance client trust and confidence. Clients want to feel assured that every aspect of the project has been considered and accounted for. This level of detail enables clients to foresee the project’s progression and makes it easier to track milestones and performance.
Specify Inclusions and Exclusions
Who will be in charge of damages or unforeseen issues that arise during the project?
A good construction proposal example will be one clearly specifying inclusions and exclusions that help set boundaries and manage client expectations upfront. Detail what is included in the project scope, such as materials, labor, and services, and what is not, such as costs associated with unexpected site conditions or client-requested changes once the project is underway.
This transparency helps prevent misunderstandings and future conflicts, ensuring a smoother project workflow.
Check the Status, Follow Up, and Communicate with Your Clients Strategically
Sending your proposal and praying for the best is not an option if you want to win construction projects consistently.
Instead, implement a strategic follow-up plan that allows you to keep your proposal top-of-mind and address any potential concerns or questions the client may have.
Things are much easier for Buildern users!
Our software allows builders to edit and resend their construction proposals at any stage of the process (until the client approves it). This flexibility ensures that proposals are always up-to-date and reflect the latest project details and client requirements.
Additionally, Buildern enables users to track the status of their proposals in real time, providing clarity on whether a proposal has been viewed, approved, or requires further discussion.
Apart from this, proposals in Buildern appear with a section to show whether the client has seen or not your proposal. Such a granular approach to construction project management means no documentation is left unnoticed or forgotten, ultimately improving client satisfaction and project success.
Communication is at the core of any project, and construction makes no exception. Buildern users excel in this regard with the software’s integrated comment sections. You can leave comments directly on the proposal, triggering automatic email notifications to your clients. They can view and respond to these comments through their dedicated and free client portal, which is automatically created for the invited users in Buildern.
How to Write a Construction Proposal with Buildern?
Creating a comprehensive construction proposal in Buildern relies heavily on developing precise estimates. This involves a thorough breakdown of labor, materials, equipment, and other associated costs. By doing so, each aspect of the proposal is systematically accounted for, ensuring the final document is professional and accurate.
💡Recommended Reading: No Penny Is Underlooked: 5 Types of Construction Cost Estimation
With this foundation laid, we can now dig deeper into the step-by-step process of writing a winning construction proposal with Buildern.
Step 1. Create a Detailed Estimate With the Whole Project’s Cost Breakdown
Before you can start putting together your proposal, you need to have a detailed estimate of the project’s costs. This should include everything from labor and materials to permits and allowance funds.
Buildern’s cost estimation allows for a precise breakdown of each aspect, ensuring nothing is overlooked. The estimate is your fundament, meaning you can use the information you have here through all other modules.
First, by creating a proposal from the estimate, you ensure that each cost item, previously identified, is systematically included, making for a thorough and transparent document for your client.
This then serves as a basis for developing bid requests, where you can communicate detailed specifications to potential subcontractors and vendors. Additionally, the same information facilitates the creation of purchase orders, streamlining the procurement process with detailed quantities and material or labor costs.
Step 2. Customize Your Proposal with Your Company’s Branding
Make your proposal stand out by customizing it with your company’s branding elements.
Buildern users can upload their company logo, add a unique cover photo (or choose one with our system covers), and showcase any company-specific contact information.
Not only does this add a professional touch to your proposal, but it also helps establish your brand and make it more memorable to potential clients.
Play Around with Layout Settings for Even More Customization
Now, it is important to mention that you can customize your proposal layout by choosing sections you’d like to show or hide and reordering them for better convenience.
Buildern allows its users to filter the information with a very granular level of detail. You can customize what your clients see and how the proposal appears for them:
- Detailed with or without descriptions: Choose to include comprehensive descriptions for each item or keep it concise.
- Detailed with markup: Present a transparent breakdown showing the cost along with the markup applied.
- Grouped estimate: Organize costs into grouped categories for a more structured presentation.
- Lump sum: Provide a summarized view that shows the total cost without delving into individual line items.
As your proposal for construction project created via Buildern is the organized version of your estimate, you can choose to hide or show certain columns, like quantity, builder cost, unit cost, markup, and others.
This level of customization makes your pitch not only professional but also highly effective and appealing.
Step 3. Define the Payment Schedule
Your proposal for construction project can look even more professional if you add a payment schedule to it. The logic behind this is breaking the total amount into smaller milestones, thus making it more manageable for your clients.
You can define the payment schedule in four ways:
- Having a fixed price for each milestone
- Automatically calculate the percentage of the total estimated amount
- Have a percentage of the remaining amount
- The remaining amount
Once you define the payment schedule in your proposal, you can use it to create progress payment invoices directly in Buildern. This integration ensures consistency and accuracy in billing, as the predefined milestones and amounts in the payment schedule are directly reflected in the client invoices.
Step 4. Turn the Proposal Into an Official Document With Signature Slots
Construction project proposals created with Buildern can serve as official contracts with legally-binding signatures. Our software allows you to have dedicated signature fields – one for yours, and multiple for your clients.
Add the signature fields, customize the email subject and description, and it’s time to send your proposal!
Once the client has reviewed the proposal, they can electronically sign it online, making the whole process smooth and convenient for both parties. This way, it saves you and your clients from signing papers and sending them back and forth.
Yet, depending on your preferences Buildern also allows its users to download the PDF version of a proposal to print and sign physically or continue discussions with the client.
Your clients can also reply to your emails with their comments automatically saved in the corresponding document’s comment sections. All such two-way communications are stored in one place, making it easy to keep track of correspondence history and ensuring nothing gets lost.
The Bottom Lines
And that’s exactly how you create a proposal for construction project using Buildern’s intuitive and versatile construction project management tools.
By customizing your pitch, defining a clear payment schedule, and transforming your proposal into a legally binding document with digital signatures, you’re all set to impress your next client.
Try Buildern today and share your experience with us!👷♂️🏗️
Frequently Asked Questions about a Proposal for Construction Project
What Is a Construction Proposal?
A construction proposal is a formal document that outlines the details of a construction project, including the scope of work, timeline, and cost estimates. It serves as an initial agreement between the contractor and client before starting the project.
How to Write a Construction Proposal?
Here are a few simple steps to help you create winning construction proposals:
- Define the scope of work and timelines.
- Create a detailed estimate.
- Share the initial project budget with a breakdown of all costs, including the labor, materials, equipment, and other costs associated with the project.
- Include a detailed payment schedule with milestones and amounts.
- Add signature fields to turn the proposal into an official contract between you and your client.
- Use specialized construction project management software to automate all the processes.
How Long Is a Construction Proposal Valid?
In most cases, a proposal is valid for 30-90 days. However, it is always best to discuss this with your client and agree upon a specific validity period that works for both parties.
What’s the Difference Between a Construction Proposal and a Construction Bid?
While a proposal for construction project is based on the project cost estimating and outlines everything that is to be done, a construction bid is a price quote or an offer submitted by a builder to the subcontractors and vendors to provide specific construction services.
