Construction Proposal

A construction proposal or bid proposal is a document used to communicate with the clients of a particular project to describe the project in detail. The proposal can be signed as an offer and duly executed as a contract between the construction company and the client. Clients range from ordinary citizens to huge development companies. We’ve tailored this template to be adaptable to your needs.

Construction work requires a lot of resources, cash, people, and planning. And some more planning. And did we mention planning? Project duration, resource estimates, project flows, milestones, and work changes mid-way through are half the battle. Get a start on doing it right by using this construction proposal template, and get your project organized.

You’ll need to do all of the proper research and homework first, but this template will give you a head-start and a good framework. You should always consult a lawyer though before finalizing any contracts.

Download the template today and edit it using any version of our KDAN PDF Reader apps.

Get a head-start on your construction program by organizing the plan on a construction proposal document. If you’ve never written a construction proposal, don’t fear. This template will assist you through it all the way, and ensure that you’ve taken care of all of the most important sections. When you make a construction proposal, it can function as a legal contract. It’s important to understand how that legal contract works, and what sections are part of the contract, versus what sections are just part of the proposal.

In any proposal, you typically have many sections that are more or less required. Because the entire document can be used as a contract offer, we want to define the parties in a more contractural way. At the beginning of the proposal, then, the company name, location, and contact details are included of both the contractor and the client involved. It’s important to include just one legal entity here for each, and it’s always best to type it in, rather than write it in pen.

Your construction proposal mainly needs to include the sections on the project description, resources, and cost estimates. You typically also need to describe the milestones or methods of measurement of the progress of the work, and standards or qualifications that define the work. The remainder of the sections can be entered for contractual purposes. For example, a contract must include the governing law, and execution or offer clauses, indicating that the parties are agreeing to abide by the contract’s other stipulations.

If you want to add more convenience to your proposal, you can include many other sections that allow the client to get a much better idea of exactly what to expect from you as a company. By covering all of the bases, you don’t leave yourself or your company open to questions, and clients will be impressed by how prepared you are. Privacy clauses, communication preferences, and precise timelines on reporting are all things that aren’t necessarily expected by the client but can go a long way to making them happy about your project.

Project management is about investing resources at the beginning to ensure that when difficult changes or circumstances arise in the middle of a project, it is possible to balance resources and still achieve the originally intended milestones. By front-loading this planning work, you can anticipate what problems might occur, and provide for them with redundancies, preventing a failure before it occurs. For example, by applying project planning towards suppliers and vendors, your company can determine exactly how critical each pipeline is. Non-critical pipelines can afford to be reduced or eliminated, saving your company time and effort during a project.

In a project proposal, if your company isn’t the end-contractor, you might want to include language that explicitly permits your company to subcontract the works. Subcontracting isn’t cheating, or becoming an “evil middleman”. It’s about providing value to the project at your point in the chain, by contributing in ways that your company is best at.

Your company can provide general oversight for a project, and still be the general contractor. You may need to also provide guarantees or auditing programs to ensure that your subcontractors are certified and competent. Independent testing or surveying can also be accomplished, showing your client that all of the project’s technical goals are being achieved. These elements need to be stipulated in the contract and in the proposal as well.

By adding or removing many of the elements listed above, you can sweeten the deal for a client. Or, if clients don’t require as robust of reporting processes or certification for your suppliers, they can be offered a discount to remove those items. Although generally quite useful for the client, the additional clauses are mostly just a convenience. They instruct the client on exactly how their job will be completed, and with what assurance and warranty, but aren’t necessary for some projects that require less reporting or are more simple.

You can also write a construction proposal as a subcontractor to a general contractor, or even to another subcontractor as the client. In legal terms, when signed as a contract, the construction proposal treats the client as the subcontractor you report to, and the contractor is you. Just make sure that the client’s details are filled in as the company or person that you report to, not the ultimate client, or your contract won’t exactly be valid.

If your goal is to make your company appear larger by using more professional documents, perhaps take a step back. Your company has value in it’s a small size, meaning that you can give more personal passion and attention, directed at the project at hand. Emphasize that, and your willingness to learn and your client will be pleased. If your client doesn’t need or want the additional documentation, do insist to at least sign a basic contract, but remove the unnecessary sections. Planning is the goal, not making extra paperwork. When in doubt, always consult experienced contract lawyers and other contractors themselves. The experience will teach you how to adapt your proposal to the market and the industry. Don’t be surprised if it takes a couple of years to learn and develop a high-quality proposal you’re confident in. Start now with this template, and get to work!