Course outline
Price it and send a proposal to every client
Turn your takeoff into proposal lines, price each one from labor and material, and add your notes. A good starting point is doubling your direct cost. Then send every client its own proposal, well before the due time.
By Michael Reddy, IntelBid
After this lesson you can
- Build a priced proposal
- Send each client its own proposal
Try it with the capstone job — the lines are already priced at a 50% margin. Change a price, add an alternate or a note, and create the PDF.
Build a proposal
Proposal builderStart from the capstone job or type your own. Change the lines, add an alternate or a note, then create the PDF your client would receive.
Start from your own takeoff
Upload a takeoff PDF and we'll pull out each finish code and quantity, like Auto Draft does in IntelBid.
PDF up to 4 MB and 5 pages · 3 reads a day · the file isn't saved. Reading a takeoff replaces the lines below.
Line items
- Line total$37,579.06
- Line total$5,390.32
- Line total$7,664.54
- Line total$3,000.00
Notes (job qualifications)
- Base bid total
- $53,633.92
- Add alternates
- +$0.00
- Deduct alternates
- −$0.00
A sample with IntelBid's document formatting, built from what you entered. Nothing is saved.
In IntelBid, Auto Draft builds these lines from your takeoff, and one click creates a proposal and email draft for each client. Start your free trial
- Price: direct cost ÷ (1 − margin). See markup vs. margin.
- Notes: anything you assumed or excluded for this job.
- One proposal per client, sent early.
Takeoff to proposals in a few clicks
Auto Draft reads your `QTO_` takeoff and builds a line for each finish code with its quantity, priced from the last unit price you used. Adjust with the scope calculator, add Notes, check the clients you're bidding to, and Generate & Draft Emails creates a proposal and email draft for each one.
Try it in IntelBidA 2-minute guided tour on a sample project — nothing touches real data. New to IntelBid? You'll start a free trial first.
About the author. Michael Reddy builds IntelBid, bid management software for commercial flooring subcontractors. These lessons come from the bid desk: how the work is priced, won and paid for.