What’s in a proposal
Every page, in the order your client reads them, with what fills it and where to change it.
Some pages are about this job and change every time. Some are about your company and stay the same until you change them. Some are pages you saved to reuse. On any single proposal you can reword, reorder or leave out any of them.
Cover
The first thing they see: your name and license, the job, and a photo or two of work like it.
A note from us
A letter in your voice, before any numbers: who you are and why this job is worth doing well.
About us
Who you are, what you do, and where, in your website's own words, so a client knows the company before the numbers.
Your project
The job played back in plain words, so they can check you heard them right.
Recent work
Finished jobs like this one, photos first.
Scope of work
The work itself: priced groups and the lines inside them. The backbone of the document.
Your investment
The money page: the total, anything that adds or takes off, and when payments come due.
Allowances
Material budgets on their own page, each with its own number, only on jobs that carry them.
What to expect
What happens when, from first call to final handoff, so nobody is guessing.
The people behind your project
The people who show up: names, faces, and who to call.
In their words
Other people's words about your work, which carry further than your own.
Why clients choose us
The handful of reasons you win work, stated once and reused.
The fine print
Payment terms, your warranty, what isn't included, and the rest of the fine print.
Getting started
What to do if they want to go ahead: the close, and how to reach you.
Blank pages
Some pages don’t have a fixed purpose. You name them and fill them in: a Project story (a photo, a few facts and the story) for a past job worth showing, a Written page for anything the built-in pages don’t cover, or a Photo page for a before-and-after. Add as many as you like and save the ones you’ll use again.
Your template decides which pages a new proposal starts with, and you can add or leave out any of them. A page you leave out is hidden, not deleted, and you can bring it back any time.
Welcome guides
A welcome guide is a different set of pages, for after your client says yes. See The welcome guide.