Charging For Commercial Proposals

72chevy4x4

I've dealt with and been dealing with some company's who want proposals to aid in budgeting for upcoming projects. Verbiage regarding price increases should be included to cover material increases, but what about wording to cover labor/OH increases?

Does anyone charge for writing proposals for commercial projects? It can get a bit tiring when the proposals don't turn into business, which is a strain on time.

Grumpy

Pricing shown is valid for a period of time not to exclude 30 days.


Said and done. I don't need to give any reasons why I may withdraw my price but I am only guaranteeing it for X days. After that if any of my costs go up, so does the customer's.


In regards to charging for propsoals, you have to understand that the sales cycle of commercial, multi-family, and clergy is often a much longer sales cycle. More people are involved, meetings need to be set, follow up meetings, and of coarse budgets. I find that for commercial roofing, often times they will want a repair immediately and a replacement cost for a year or two down the road. Since we are usually doing a repair, in essence we are getting paid also to do an estimte for the whole roof.

However I usually also throw in a $400 inspection report for free, since that is powerful in closing the deal. It includes full color photos of problems the roof currently has. It takes about an hour or two, but on a job that is minimum 5 figures, sometimes 6 figures, it's time well spent.