The proposal nobody budgets time for
A client emails. The district wants to add four classrooms. The parking structure needs a condition assessment. The city is ready for the second phase of the storm drain work. They would like a proposal by Friday.
The principal who owns the relationship writes it that night, starting from the last letter sent to that client, editing the scope by hand and rebuilding the fee in a spreadsheet. ProposalXL catches what that night tends to miss: scope carried over from the last project, a fee on last year’s rates, a margin nobody checked.
These proposals get less attention than a big RFP response, and they decide a large share of a firm’s year.
What goes into a good fee proposal
- Project understanding. A few sentences, in the client’s words, that show you heard what they asked for.
- Scope of services by phase or task. For a building: schematic design, design development, construction documents, bidding and construction administration. For civil work: survey and base mapping, 30, 60 and 90 percent plans, permitting, bidding support and construction support.
- Assumptions and exclusions. The work outside this fee: geotechnical work, permit fees, extra review cycles, additional site visits. This is the part that protects the fee when the project grows.
- Fee and fee type. Lump sum by phase, hourly not-to-exceed, or time and materials, plus reimbursables.
- Schedule. Milestones the client can plan around.
- Terms. Your standard agreement, or a reference to the client’s.
An additional-services letter on a current project has the same parts, shorter, and ties back to the original agreement. It is also the letter most likely to be written in a hurry.
How ProposalXL produces it
The client’s email starts the letter in your format. Scope tasks come from language your firm has written before, hours are priced at your rates, and the margin is checked before the fee is set; then your team edits and sends it. The step-by-step is on how a relationship proposal works.
Example firm and client
The public works director at the City of Port Alder emails Alder Creek Civil: the city wants a proposal to design Phase 2 of the Harbor Street storm drain improvements, the same corridor Alder Creek designed Phase 1 for two years ago. In ProposalXL the letter starts from the Phase 1 proposal and the director’s email, and the fee is built from the scope tasks below at the firm’s current rates.
| Task | Hours | Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Survey coordination and base mapping | 46 | $6,450 |
| 2. 30% design and alternatives memo | 120 | $17,900 |
| 3. 60% plans and cost estimate | 148 | $21,310 |
| 4. 90% and final plans, specifications and estimate | 144 | $21,200 |
| 5. Bidding support | 18 | $2,970 |
| Lump sum by task | 476 | $69,830 |
Rates in this example: principal $245, project manager $195, engineer $150, CAD designer $120 per hour. Exclusions in the letter: topographic survey by subconsultant billed as a reimbursable, geotechnical investigation, permit fees and construction-phase services, which are proposed separately.
Small letters, large share of the year
A relationship proposal is judged quickly and remembered for a long time. If the scope is clear and the fee holds, the next request comes to you too. If the letter recycles the last project’s scope, or the fee was set without checking the staffing, the firm pays for it during the work. Writing these letters from your own scope library and current rates is how a busy principal sends a good one every time.
The same firm may answer an RFQ from the same city next month. That is a different job, covered on how a competitive pursuit works.
Questions firms ask
What should an engineering fee proposal include?
A short statement of the project in the client’s terms; the scope of services by phase or task; the assumptions and exclusions that bound that scope; the fee and fee type, with reimbursables; a schedule; and the terms, usually your standard agreement or a reference to the client’s. The exclusions matter as much as the scope, because they are what you point to when the project grows.
Should we propose a lump sum or an hourly fee?
A lump sum by phase or task suits work whose scope you can define well. Hourly not-to-exceed suits work where the scope is uncertain, such as studies or permitting with an unknown number of review cycles. Time and materials suits open-ended support. Many firms mix them, with lump sum for design and hourly for construction-phase services. Whichever you choose, build it from hours by role at current rates so you can see the margin.
Does ProposalXL use our billing rates?
Yes. The fee is priced from your real staffing and rates, and the margin is shown before the fee goes out, so a proposal built on last year’s rates or an under-staffed task is caught before the client sees it.
Who writes the letter, ProposalXL or us?
ProposalXL starts the letter in your format from the client’s request and your firm’s past work. You edit it with familiar editing tools, every change is tracked by author and time, and your team sends it.