How to write a construction bid proposal

Read the invitation before you price anything

A bid invitation from a general contractor or owner's representative tells you the format they expect, the documents the price is based on, and the date. Pricing from the drawings without reading the instructions is how firms submit a lump sum when the requester wanted unit pricing, or bid to drawing set 2 when addendum 3 changed the scope.

Write down the document set and revision number you priced from. It becomes the reference point for every change order argument later.

• Drawing and specification set, with revision dates and every addendum acknowledged
• Requested price format — lump sum, unit price, cost plus, alternates, allowances
• Due date, delivery method, and who the proposal goes to
• Required attachments: insurance certificate, bonding letter, safety record, references
• Site conditions, working hours, and access restrictions that affect labor

Scope: say what is in, and say what is out

The body of a commercial proposal is the scope statement. It should read as a list a project manager can check off, organized in the same order as the specification sections, so the person comparing four bids can line them up.

The exclusions list matters just as much. Anything a reasonable reader might assume is covered — permits, testing, temporary power, dumpsters, patching, engineering, off-hours work, escalation on a named material — gets written down as excluded or priced. A bid that is silent on an item is usually read as including it.

Price it the way they asked

If the invitation asks for a base bid plus three alternates, give exactly that, each on its own line. If it asks for unit prices, give the units they named rather than the ones your estimating system prefers. Requesters level bids side by side in a spreadsheet, and a proposal that does not fit the columns is the one that gets set aside.

State what the price holds for. A validity period of 30 days, a named escalation assumption on a volatile material, and a clear statement of what triggers a change are ordinary, professional, and protect the margin you actually bid.

Schedule and assumptions

Give duration and sequence, not just a completion date: mobilization lead time, the crew size you are planning, the durations of your major activities, and what has to be complete before you can start. On a fit-out or occupied building, note the hours you priced.

Every schedule is built on assumptions about access, prior trades, and inspection turnaround. Writing three of them down converts a future dispute into a documented condition of the offer.

Qualifications, and the one page nobody reads unless it is missing

Commercial requesters are deciding whether you can be trusted on their site as much as whether your number is right. Include a short list of comparable completed projects with contact-able references, your safety record, license numbers, insurance limits, and bonding capacity if the job needs it.

Keep it to a page. A proposal that leads with twelve pages of company history before the scope reads like it is hiding the scope.

Submit early, then follow up

Bids sent in the last hour get opened last, and a transmission problem at 4:55 is unrecoverable. Send it the day before when you can, confirm receipt in writing, and ask when a decision is expected.

One week after the due date, a short call asking where the project stands and whether any scope questions came up is normal practice. It is also where you learn whether you were high, low, or simply missing a document — information that makes the next proposal better.