PROPOSAL FORMS | JOB ESTIMATE FORMS | BID FORMS

You will fill out your bid form after you have done your takeoff and put together your bid. The bid forms are what you will fax out to General Contractors when you are bidding a project.

Now, nine times out of ten, you will not contract with your proposal but rather the general contractor will have his own contract that he will want you to sign (but you still need to use a proposal form to submit your bid).

Your proposal form should contain the following (but not necessarily limited to the following):

• Your company name, address, phone number, contractor license number and expiration date.
• Current date, job name and job location.
• The title of your scope of work.
• A description of what your scope of work entails, including material.
• Mention of a joint check agreement if it is applicable.
• The dollar amount on your proposal should be written in words as well as numbers.
• Payment arrangements should be listed.
• Your signature as well as your printed name.
• A statement limiting the number of days your proposal is good for.
• A place for a general contractor to sign, if he chooses to contract via your proposal.

You can make your bid forms as simple or as complicated as you'd like but keep in mind that, although most times you won't be contracting with your proposal, when you do, you need to protect yourself (as well as your general contractor) with the wording on your proposal.

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As a side note: Make sure your proposal form is no larger than 8 1/2 x 11 because fax machines that work with non-thermal paper usually have 8 1/2 x 11 sized paper. If your proposal form is larger than 8 1/2 x 11, it will print on two pages with the possibility of the second page not being attached to the first page. (One more of those 'been there done that' experiences!).

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Often times, your best bet is to use construction estimating books and/or construction estimating software designed to help you put together the best bid you can. I've found several different products that can help, and they'll lessen the amount of time you spend on bidding. Click here to see what we've found! :)