11 Things to Include in Your Bid Proposals

01.  Our company’s logo and contact information

A professional looking logo including your contact information sets a professional stage for your proposal.

02.  Current date

Our proposal will always be time sensitive, normally thirty days unless specifications require more time. If you do not have a date on your proposal, issues can occur.

03.  Contractor’s name and contact information

A proposal should be professional in appearance, so a shotgun approach without a general contractor’s name or contact information leaves a little to be desired. Most good word processors have mail merge capability; learn how to use it so that you only need to complete one proposal and then merge it with your general contractors list.

04.  Project name and location

Take the time to identify the project, including its location. It is rare that a similar project is bidding at the same time as your project, but it does happen. Protect yourself against this possibility.

05.  Proposal type: electrical, mechanical, plumbing, etc.

Many contractors perform more than one trade’s work. Make certain that your proposal clearly identifies what you’re proposing. My scopes typically are for electrical, however I know contractors that complete electrical, HVAC and plumbing for the same projects. If your proposal does include multiple trades, separate these costs. You may be the low bidder in one discipline while high on another. In my opinion, it is better to get one slice of the project, than to lose them all.

06.  Bid document information

In the opening paragraph, always include drawing numbers that you were provided for estimating purposes; I always insert this as a list of all drawings such as E0, E1, E2 and E3, instead of drawings E0 – E3. I have had contractors/owners insert a drawing E1A claiming that they were part of the original bid documents in the past. Include dates and addendum numbers for all drawings. Also include the specifications used to complete your estimate.

07.  Contract clause that your proposal is to be an attachment to the actual contract

Often all that a general contractor or owner will include in the contract from your proposal is the price. While the price is of course important, often the terms, conditions and clarification are just as important. It is standard for my proposals to include the following: “{Contractor’s} acceptance of our proposal in writing is {Contractor’s} agreement to the terms and conditions herein.” In well over 25 years, this has been an issue less than five or six times while protecting our firm’s interest thousands of times.

08.  Price

Include your price for the base bid in a conspicuous location near the top of the proposal. If you have Alternates or Value Options (Value Engineering) to the bid, include each underneath the base bid.

09.  Scope of work, clarifications, considerations

All points should be listed separately. Typical items to include:

• Any deviation or possible deviation from the bid documents.
• This could include fixtures types that were to be determined. You may want to labor these and include any commodity materials while excluding the fixtures, accessories and lamps.
• Fixtures that have finishes to be determined by an architect or owner. Unless your RFI has been answered you will want to specify that you are supplying the fixtures with standard finishes. I have had fixture prices double (or more) when the final finishes have been provided.
• Often the location of the utilities are not available at bid time. This affects the length of the power, telephone/data and CCTV feeders. Specify what you have included in your estimate.

For remodel projects, exclude all work associated with existing code violations unless the project specifically calls for that repair.

For all projects, I exclude all costs associated with hazardous materials (i.e. asbestos, PCB, etc) unless the drawings and specifications specifically call for this work.

10.  Non-scope terms

Contractors assume a lot of risk. This is part of the game. I prefer to level the playing field with the following:

• A statement that the project was bid using the drawings provided and that all of the construction methods provided meet code requirements.
• That the proposal was an offer to enter into an AIA contract (acceptable to your firm).
• That your firm would participate in building a construction schedule for the project that provided reasonable timeframes to complete the project.
• A clause that the GC would promptly negotiate change orders.

Additionally, I suggest you include that you had no contractual obligations to anyone other than the general contractor and did not have the opportunity to determine the financial ability of the owner to pay your firm. Additionally, that your firm did not rely on the owner for payment, just the GC.

11.  Closing

Always close with a note of appreciation and welcome any questions that they may have.