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How to Build a Successful Construction Business Without a Master’s Degree

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Building a Successful Business Doesn’t Have to be Slow and Painful

The majority of small and medium sized construction companies have the construction part figured out but get overwhelmed by the “business” side of things. Most of the people working at these companies learned a trade…not how to run a business.

Like me, most started doing business full of enthusiasm, having no clue what could go wrong. I had no clear plan or system for running a business.

Trying to balance construction projects and running the business can be overwhelming.

I had no idea how to do a proposal, a production budget, or accurately invoice a customer for progress payments. No one told me I should set money aside for things like taxes, tools, or emergencies.

One day I looked up and wondered how I got here. I liked building things…not necessarily running a business. As I built my business, I learned these things, but it was a slow and painful process.

The truth of the matter is…building a business doesn’t have to be slow and painful if you know how.

Think about it, a traditional trade school education will cost between $7,000 and $40,000. It’s been my experience that a real-world, hands-on education is worth even more. Often classroom education doesn’t translate well to the construction site.

Early on in my construction career, I was working for a local house framer. On a couple of different occasions, he hired some young men from the community college’s construction program, for summer help. After a few times of doing this, he stopped.

He said, “It took longer to unteach and reteach than it did to start from scratch.”

Looking back, I now realize how valuable that hands on education was. I just wish I’d had someone teach me the business part.

Instead, I got my business degree from HKU, also known as Hark Knocks University. And let me tell you, the tuition is high and it takes a long time to graduate. What’s an education like that worth?

Wouldn’t be great if you could get 40 years of experience without having to wait 40 years to use it?

You can!

This is what we’re doing a Solution Building. We are taking those 40 years of hands on, trial and error education and making it available to other contractors through programs, trainings and downloadable tools.

One of these tools is the Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal system.

This proposal system allows for the preparation of proposals that communicate clearly and accurately with customers, while allowing for increased profitability. It will give construction companies years of advantage over the competition for a lot less than the cost of a traditional education.

Currently this proposal system is available at a Holiday price of $497 plus some additional bonus templates through the end of the year.

What’s the Most Powerful Tool in the Construction Contractor’s Toolbox?

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This Tool Can Make You More Money with Less Chance of Cutting a Finger Off

The past couple of weeks I’ve written about how much we love our power tools and how tools make building easier.

The sense of control that comes from pulling the trigger on a power tool is amazing. We feel like we are in control of our destiny. There’s no task too big. We can conquer the world.

There’s no doubt that power tools make construction projects go faster and easier than using hand tools. (And there are a lot of cool new tools that we’d like in our toolbox.)

Of all the tools out there, which is the most powerful?

This is a question that could be debated forever.

I would argue that the most powerful tool isn’t a tool in the normal sense of the word.

If the purpose of power tools is to increase control and be more productive, then having a power tool that would 10x these things would be worth 10 times what you paid for the most expensive tool you have.

Increasing your profit margin just 10% on a $5000 project and the tool has paid for itself.

What kind of tool could have this kind of return on investment?

The tool that I’m talking about is affordable and won’t wear out like other tools.

Most construction companies are great at “constructing” but are overwhelmed by the business side of things. This is not where their heart is.

You don’t need a master’s degree in business to be successful if you have the right tools.

A tool for doing clear and accurate construction proposals is this kind of tool.

Without a tool for doing proposals, a lot of contractors make mistakes that cost them a fortune. Unexpected costs, changes to projects after they’re started and poor communication are a lot more expensive than the cost of the tool.

Those mistakes include:

  • Lack of clarity with both the customer and the production crews
  • No budgets for customers and production crews
  • Losing money
  • Not doing accurate proposals due to a lack of time
  • Guessing at pricing of projects

Learn more about those mistakes and how to avoid them with this free download.

Download Here

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a tool that would –

  • Increase you profit
  • Communicate clearly with both the customer and the production crews
  • Allow you to consistently and accurately price construction projects
  • Allow you to customize it to fit your company’s specific needs
  • Give you the freedom to delegate the paperwork so that you could focus on construction

The Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal will do all of this and more. I use this proposal system on every construction project I bid.

Just like power tools make construction projects easier…there’s a “power tool” that will make doing construction proposals easier, allowing you to reduce stress, be more profitable and build a successful business.

You’re not in business to lose money, so get this tool.

Get Your Power Tool Here

We’re currently running a special Holiday offer for our Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal system. The reduced Holiday price is $497, including some additional bonus templates.

In addition to this special offer, we’re having a drawing for building contractors.

One lucky winner will receive a DeWalt cordless tool combo kit valued at more than $700.

Your opportunity to win starts now and ends at midnight 12/3/21.

Enter here
for your chance to win

Can You Imagine What It Would be Like to Build a House Without Power Tools?

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So, why is it That Most Construction Contractors Will Do Proposals Like That?

Think about building a house by sawing every board and sheet of plywood with a handsaw. Mixing the concrete all by hand. And driving every nail with a hammer.

This sounds like a long drawn out, difficult method for building.

This is how most construction contractors do proposals.

The same way they’ve been done for 100 years. It’s like building with hand tools but it doesn’t have to be like this.

There’s a power tool for doing proposals.

When doing proposals, the old “hand tool” way the contractor will do them the same way grandpa would have.

If they are a particular person, they will determine the size and quantities of the material needed. This will include –

  • The cubic yards of dirt that needs moved
  • Cubic yards of concrete
  • Boards needed for framing of floor, walls, roof
  • Siding, exterior trim, exterior paint
  • Shingles, roofing underlayment, flashings
  • Insulation for floor, walls, attic
  • Doors and windows
  • Base, casing, stairways, misc. trim
  • Cabinetry, countertops, closets
  • Interior paint, stain, clear finish, wallpaper
  • Carpet, vinyl, tile, etc.
  • Plumbing pipe, fixtures
  • Heater, AC condenser, ductwork, registers
  • Electrical wiring, fixtures, receptacles, switches, breaker panels
  • Porches, decks, railings

Once these things have been figured and counted, they will get prices for each of them to determine the cost. Then they will guess at how long it will take to do the work and put a price to it.

Less detailed contractors just guess at the whole thing.

Building a house takes a lot of pieces. The same number of pieces…regardless of how you figure the price.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to have a power tool that would allow you to consistently determine the price whether you are a detailed person or not?

The Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal is a “power tool” for doing proposals.

This power tool provides:

  • A scope of work that communicates clearly with customers and production crews
  • A budget providing production crews with a clear understanding of time allowed and material costs
  • A system that allows for delegating portions or the complete proposal process

To get this “power tool” in more contractor’s business toolboxes, we’re offering a Holiday Special beginning Black Friday through the end of the year. This special includes a reduced price for the proposal system plus free bonus templates.

In addition to the reduced price for proposal system there’s going to be a contractor drawing for a…

DeWalt cordless tool kit

Check next week’s post (11/28/21) for details of how to get entered in the power tool drawing.

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about how this power tool can help avoid the 7 common bid mistakes contractors make that cost them a fortune.

Click here.

Things Will Go Much Smoother When the Contractor Knows How to Speak Customer

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The Importance of Learning a Foreign Language When Doing a Construction Project

It’s difficult to understand someone speaking a language you don’t know or understand. Imagine being in a country that speaks a different language and trying to explain something.

This is the same thing that happens with construction customers and contractors.

The contractor says something that the customer doesn’t understand. The customer doesn’t want to appear like they don’t understand so they just nod and go on. This is contractor language…

Most customers don’t speak contractor.

This disconnect can lead to misunderstandings. Misunderstandings can lead to hurt feelings and frustration. The hurt feelings lead to disagreements and impasses.

This is the biggest problem in the construction industry.

I’ve written about the importance of good communication multiple times. On more than one occasion I’ve been asked by customers to help them understand “contractor” they found themselves at an impasse with their contractor.

Every contractor, at some time, has had an unhappy customer. This is almost always due to poor communication and/or a lack of understanding. It may have been some small misunderstanding or might have been major enough to result in being fired or going to court.

Several years ago, a partner and I were meeting with a customer early in the process of building a new home. The customer pointed out that the distance from the electric meter to the house was more than the 50’ allowance, as per the written proposal.

He asked if this was a problem. My partner told him no, it wasn’t a problem. Guess what…

It was a problem.

The problem didn’t surface until later when the customer was billed for the additional 100’. After some research, the communication breakdown was uncovered.

The customer asked, “if it was a problem”. What he really was asking was…”is it going to cost more?”.  

My partner’s response in reality was, “it’s not a problem to dig the additional 100’, but it will cost you more”. This isn’t what was said.

Neither intended nor expected this to be a problem. It was a simple matter of misunderstanding…

A contractor not speaking customer and a customer not speaking contractor.

That was a small thing that was clarified and resolved.

Sometimes they turn into big legal battles than can result in catastrophic outcomes.

Once again, I’ve been called in as a translator. This time it’s by a person having a construction project done by a contractor who doesn’t speak “customer”. This situation is going to be expensive for all parties and involves attorneys.

Situations like this break my heart. I understand why they happen…but they don’t need to. As the professionals in these situations the communication responsibility is the contractors.

Contractors need to learn to speak customer.

This is the reason I developed my proposal system. It’s a way for contractors to speak customer.

If you know someone in the construction industry that would benefit from learning to speak “customer” share this link to the Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal with them.

What is Your Motivation for Being in the Construction Business?

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Having the Wrong Motivations Gives the Rest of Us a Bad Name

I’ve written before about situations where I’ve been involved in resolving issues between contractors and customers where they’ve gotten crossways with each other.

How poor communication leaves both sides with unrealistic expectations and sometimes ends in legal battles.

Once again, I’ve been asked by a construction customer to help them with a construction disagreement. They just want to get their home and their life back.

They’re in the middle of a dispute with a construction company that has been dragging on for more than a year. Their home has been left unfinished, damaged from rain leaking in, poor quality work, etc.

Why is it that they find themselves on opposite sides of this battle?

I’ve always advocated that poor communication between contractor and customer is the biggest problem. However, as I’ve been working on the current situation, I think there might be another deeper level to this issue.

Communication is certainly a part of it, but maybe communication would be better if the underlying motivations of both parties were considered. A skilled communicator can convince you that what their saying is true, even if it isn’t.

I think this is the underlying problem. It’s a lack of trust. None of us want to be lied to. Last week I wrote about competition vs. cooperation and how we can have both and everybody wins. It comes down to who we are competing against and who we are cooperating with.

Our motivation is directly connected to our why.

Contractor – Why am I in the construction business? Is it to help the customer achieve their dream construction project or to just make a lot of money? Don’t get me wrong. To stay in business, you have to make a profit, but if that is more important to you than serving your customer, it leads to situations like the one I’m currently working on.

Customer – Why do I want to do this project? Is it to improve the value, make it more functional, reduce maintenance, or to impress the neighbors? It’s your project and any of these motivations is fine.

The important thing is that both parties involved know the motivations.

Sometimes the motivations are hidden and not discovered until problems begin. Sometimes motivations aren’t clear, even to oneself. Knowing what the motivations are and being true to those motivations is critical to minimizing these kinds of problems.

Discovering motivations requires asking questions.

It frustrates he heck out of me that these kinds of situations happen…and they don’t have to.

We need to raise the bar of construction industry standards.

The Why Question is the Most Important One That Gets Asked the Least

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WHY is That… and What Do We Do About it?

As I’m working on the workshop for Building a Better Proposal system, I was contemplating WHY questions.

Why –

  • Should construction contractors do proposals?
  • Don’t they?
  • Does a customer want to do a construction project?
  • Do we do the same things over and over expecting different results?
  • Do people in horror movies repeat the same bad decisions?

Small children constantly ask the why question, over and over and over…? You know what I mean. This is how they learn. Why do we outgrow this sense of curiosity and stop asking the WHY questions?

The answer to all questions starts with WHY.

  • Why should construction contractors do proposals?

This question is the one that baffles me as much as any. How can contractors expect customers or production crews to know what work is going to be done and what it’s going to cost without some clear communication? I don’t think you would buy a truck without knowing what you were getting. I know I would be disappointed if I ordered a new $70,000 truck and when I got it, it was a 1999 ½ ton pickup missing a wheel and the driver’s door.

  • Why don’t contractors do proposals?

The most common answer to this question is that they simply don’t know how. This is something that just isn’t taught. Most contractors start out doing construction, not paperwork. They figure out some guesstimation process and then wonder why customers are upset when they get a bill that is higher than they expected for less work.

  • Why does this customer want to do this construction project?

This should be the primary question that a contractor gets the answer to. It is more important than what. The “what” answer has a “why” answer behind it. The why question doesn’t have to be asked directly, but regardless, needs to be answered. The why is the foundation for the customer’s dream. A foundation is critical to building construction projects and dreams.

  • Why do we do the same things over and over expecting different results?

We all do this to some degree. Why? Why do we continue to repeat things thinking it will be different this time? We shouldn’t do things just because… “we’ve always done it this way”. The more we walk back and forth in a rut the deeper it gets and the harder it is to get out. I heard it said once that a rut is just a grave with both ends kicked out. Stop walking and determine if this what you want and if it’s the best plan. If not do something different.

  • Why do people in horror movies repeat the same bad decisions?

This question is a fun example of the previous one. If you’ve ever watched any horror movie you’ve seen this. The teenagers are in a dark scary place and instead of getting out they continue to hide in a basement, an attic, a cemetery, etc. The GIECO “horror movie” commercial is a great example of this.

It’s up to us to decide, are we going to do something different or stay in the rut?

These are just a few questions about construction proposals and…horror movies. 😊 We should be asking the WHY question about everything. This is the most important question there is.

We have the choice. We can just keep doing things the same way…or we can stop and ask why. Why are we doing this? Whatever “this” is. Until we answer the why question all other questions are harder to answer.

Be like a child and ask, why…why…why…why… and never stop.

How to Get All of Your Puzzle Pieces to Fit into One Puzzle

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The Subject of Being too Busy is a Broken Record

The term “broken record” describes something that is frequently repeated — it refers to a damaged record that would get stuck and repeat part of a recording over and over again until you moved the record player needle.

This describes the current topic of “busy”.

Every conversation that I currently have with subcontractors, suppliers and customers, starts, ends or is all about this subject. Throughout my career in construction this has been a popular topic, but no more than now. It’s like a broken record.

Construction is where the majority of my conversations happen, but “busy” is everywhere. I’ve had the “busy” conversation with a lot of people in a lot of places, i.e., masterminds, workshops, church, etc.

The “busy” conversation is nothing new.

As a matter of fact, I’ve written about this topic since I’ve been posting blogs. In October of 2015 I wrote about easing the stress of being too busy.

Here is an excerpt of that post –

This morning as I was posting in my journal, I started thinking about all of the things that I didn’t get done yesterday. Then I began to think about how many times I have posted this same thing over and over. It sure seems that I spend way too much time feeling overwhelmed and behind. I really want to get more done!

Then I thought about all of the times that I’ve had this conversation with other people. “How is your day going? Man, I am so far behind I don’t think I will ever get caught up. I sure wish there were more hours in the day.” I have heard these or similar comments more times than I can count.

Our lives can feel like a 20,000-piece jigsaw puzzle was dumped out in front of us with no picture of what it is supposed to look like when it’s done.

So how can we get all of these pieces to fit…or can we? This is the big question. It would be nice to know what the finished puzzle is supposed to look like. This puzzle can be tough and frustrating. I think it is especially difficult for those of us who are ‘recovering perfectionists’. We want all the pieces to fit just right. To know ahead of time exactly where each piece is supposed to go. This particular puzzle, called life, doesn’t work like that.

Here are some reasons we struggle with our puzzle and some ideas to help us get our pieces to fit.

  • We pick up too many pieces by over scheduling. There are so many pieces…Start with the corner pieces. Put in the most important pieces first.
  • The puzzle isn’t going together as fast as we want. Sometimes (most times) things just take longer…do as much planning and preparation as we can before we start, but don’t over plan. Spread the pieces out, find the edge pieces and get started.
  • With so many pieces in front of us we lose our focus. After we have put the edge pieces in place…remember that we can only put one piece in at a time. Concentrate on that one. If it doesn’t fit, then pick up a different piece and focus on it.

Life is a puzzle. What really makes this puzzle fun and exciting is that while we are putting our puzzle together other people are doing the same thing and their puzzle connects to ours.

Taking control of the “busy” requires that we are clear about our mission and only pick up puzzle pieces that belong in our puzzle.

Just like a “broken record” if we don’t want to keep listening to the stuck and repeating recording…we have to move the needle.

Previous “broken record” posts dealing with busy –

How to Get Your Puzzle Pieces to Fit

Riding on a Runaway Train

Flexibly Rigid

Who Should I Blame for Being Too Busy?

Spend Time Wisely, There’s a Limited Amount

Deciding What Should be First on the List

What Makes One Rock More Important Than Another?

What Makes One Thing More Important Than Another?

What Actions Do You Need to Take to Accomplish Your Mission?

Honesty is the Best Policy When It Comes to Construction Communication

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Construction Customers Deserve You Being Brutally Honest with Them

Honesty is something that is in short supply now days. It’s like we think if we say something long enough and loud enough it makes it the truth.

Being honest with people is especially difficult for amiable people with stable “Golden Retriever” characteristics, as per the DISC personality profile. (Take the personality test here) It doesn’t help that 40% of the population is this way. People with this personality just want to get along, they try to avoid confrontation at all costs.

I know this because this is a part of my personality. it’s hard to tell people things they don’t want to hear.

The honesty issue doubles when both the contractor and customer are “Golden Retrievers”. Both parties want to get along, and make assumptions based on their perspective, then are disappointed when things don’t go as expected.

In an effort to get along things get left unsaid.

As a customer you need to be willing to ask questions when you need to know something. Even with written proposals and contracts things are overlooked or misunderstood.

As a contractor you need to take time to go through the paperwork and explain things. Be willing to tell the customer the truth about what to expect through the process. This can be hard, especially when customers wants the project started today and finished tomorrow.

In this fast pace, want it now world, expectations are often unrealistic.

Setting realistic expectations reminds me of an old TV commercial. In this commercial there is a young couple and a “rough and rugged” building contractor in overalls setting at a table in a kitchen.  The contractor is explaining the construction process to them as he is writing.  

He tells them, “…when we get started, we will take out all of your cabinets and then be gone for a couple of weeks. When we come back, we’ll take out the patio door in the dining room and put plastic over the opening. It will be left that way for several days. During that time, it will leak in when it rains. Then when the countertop is installed…it will be wrong. We’ll have to order a new one and that will mean another 4 weeks wait.”

Then he slides the contract over to the couple as they look at each other in disbelief and he says, “But when we’re done, you’ll have the kitchen of your dreams and you’re going to want to kiss me smack dab on the lips.”

Then the tag line for the commercial was “Brutally Honest”. I think the commercial was for a cable company, but I’m not sure. As a contractor I certainly could identify with it though.

This was an exaggeration, of course, but there still is a level of reality in it. Construction projects by nature, with all the various parts, never go as smoothly as anyone would like.

There are going to be some bumps along the way in every construction project.

Construction customers deserve this kind of brutal honesty.

It’s hard to hear things that don’t align with the dream picture in our mind. It’s hard to tell people things that they don’t want to hear.

Setting realistic expectations upfront will reduce disappointment in the end.

Benefits to a Construction Proposal That We Haven’t Even Talked About Yet

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An Overview of the Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal System

This past week John used the Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal system to do a couple of proposals. Just like when he’d learned to build a house, he had some questions.

As John smelled the pizza setting in the passenger seat, it reminded him of his first meeting with Gene. It’s hard to believe that today’s meeting was going to be the 8th time they’d met to learn this proposal system.

As they are eating some pizza, Gene asks John if he had used the proposal system this past week. John said he had. Gene asked what questions he had.

In between bites John said, “The project I was doing the proposal for was a small repair project to a deck that was settling and pulling away from the house. As I put in the numbers for digging a couple of holes, filling them with concrete and setting some posts…the price didn’t seem to be enough for the work that would be needed.”

Cartoon man looking up at large question mark

“Great question.” said Gene. “Sometimes a specific task is small or more difficult than normal. This will be determined once the quantity is entered and the price is deemed too low.

To adjust this, insert an additional row in the spreadsheet, below the row with the low price. Fill down the content from the row with the low price to the new row. Then in the description cell of the new row write small and in the quantity cell put in an amount that will adjust the price as needed for the time to do the small task. Usually the material price can be removed from the second row, due to the small task not requiring additional material. This will depend on what the specific task is. (See the highlighted cells in the example below)

If the low price is due to the task being more difficult, instead of, or in addition to being small, you will use the same procedure listed above. An example of this would be a small concrete project in the back yard where a concrete truck couldn’t get to the construction area and the concrete was going to be moved with a skid loader.

If you remember early in the process, we talked about the common mistakes that contractors make when bidding projects and one of those that this system solves is…

A construction proposal system that is customizable.

This leads to some of the other benefits this proposal system offers that we’ve only discussed in passing. These include, but aren’t limited to, a Scope of Work, a Production Budget and accurate progress payments.

A Scope of Work is important so that production crews and subcontractors know what’s included in the project and what’s not. This prevents the subcontractor/employee from doing more or less than was expected – if too much work is done there will be cost overruns, if everything the customer expects is not done then the customer is unhappy.

A Scope of Work is easy to do. It is simply saving a copy of the proposal and removing the customer’s prices for each item and the totals at the bottom of the page. Making a couple of simple changes to the document title and removing the signature lines.

That easily you have a Scope of Work

Preparing a Production Budget that can be shared takes a little more work. It involves the transferring of numbers from the Worksheet to a separate Production Budget template. The numbers that get transferred are generated automatically when the Worksheet is prepared.

We’ll wait to get into the payment application until later. For now, you just need to use the system for a while and get familiar with it.

This whole system comes down a clear description of what work the project includes or doesn’t and a consistent and accurate process for pricing.

This proposal system is the foundation for building a profitable business.”

Previous posts in this series –

What is “business clarity” and how do you find it?

Learning How to Get a Construction Project Started Out Right

It’s Time for the First Meeting

Being Aware of the Common Bid Mistakes is the Best Way to Avoid Them

Constructing a Building is Better with a Plan, a Proposal is No Different

A Good Construction Proposal Starts by Asking the Right Questions

What is a Construction Scope of Work and Why Do You Need One?

Dollars and Cents Are What Make a Construction Project Profitable…or NOT

The Final Step to Completing a Professional Construction Proposal

The Final Step to Completing a Professional Construction Proposal

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It’s as Rewarding as Seeing a Construction Project Completed

As John is driving to his weekly Saturday training with Gene, he remembers how hard it was in the beginning to convince himself to take the time to learn this system and how glad he was that he did. He thinks back over what he’s learned over the past several weeks:

John’s getting excited as he pulls up to the XYZ Construction Company office. Today they are going to put all the pieces together, creating a finished proposal.

After Gene and John have some lunch and get caught up on the past week’s events, Gene asks John, “You know how exciting it is when you build a new home from blueprint? That is what we’re going to do today…we’re going to be seeing…

A proposal taken from blueprint to reality.

Let’s get started.

The final step in preparing the Proposal is to transfer the information you have gathered from the customer and prepared on the Scope of Work and the Worksheet to the Proposal template.

Start out by opening a Proposal template in the Blueprint for Building a Better Proposal system.

If you use a project number insert it behind the number sign at the top of the page, below the proposal title. Next insert the customer and project information in the open areas as it pertains to the project.

Insert your company name at the beginning of the introductory sentence.

Copy and paste the description of the work to be performed and material to be supplied from the Scope of Work in the body of the Proposal template.

Next, take the prices from the Worksheet for each individual task described on the Proposal and place it on the right side of the page. At the end of each section put the total price for that section. This allows the customer to see a price for each section, i.e. foundation, framing, roofing, etc.

Now that the description of the work to be performed, the materials to be used, the prices for each task, and the subtotals of each section have been placed on the Proposal, it’s time for the project subtotal to be inserted at the bottom. Insert a separate price for the sales tax below the subtotal. Sales tax rates will be determined by the location where the work is to be performed.

Now insert the project total after, “For the Sum Of:” on the Proposal both in written and numerical forms, this duplication (just like on a check) helps with clarity.

Now that you have a project total you need to determine how payments will be made. There are several different factors which can determine how this will be done, i.e. the size of the project, when material will be ordered and/or paid for, the financing of the project, your personal preferences, etc. This could be done at the completion of set production tasks, scheduled times (weekly, monthly, etc.) or when the project is finished.

Determining the date in which the Proposal will expire will be up to you. If the Proposal includes some materials that fluctuate in price often then you may want the expiration date to be sooner. A standard time frame is 30 days.

The duration of time to complete the project can be determined from the Worksheet. At the bottom of the Worksheet there are four cells, with corresponding amounts for each.

The Labor Price is the total amount of labor costfor the project. The Hours, is the total man hours needed for the project, dividing the hours by $60/hr. This hourly rate can be adjusted to whatever dollar amount you determine. The Days are the total hours divided by 7 hours of production per day. The Weeks are total working days divided by 5 days of production per week. You then have the number of working days needed to complete the project. This will then be entered into the corresponding blank space on the Proposal.

You now have completed the proposal

At this point I recommend going back through and proofreading the scope of work for each task, checking the math to make sure that the prices on the Proposal add up correctly. Don’t be surprised if a few of the numbers on the Worksheet totals are off a cent or two from the total on the Proposal. This happens sometimes due the combinations of formulas on the spreadsheet. The most important thing is that the prices on the Proposal add up correctly.

Now sign the proposal and deliver it to the customer.”

Gene looks over at John and asks, “Well what do you think?”

John smiles and says, “You’re right. It does feel like seeing a house where there wasn’t one before. It’s very satisfying.”

“Know this John, it’s also going to be similar to building the first house. You’re going to have questions, when you start using the proposal system. Start using it and let me know when you have questions. It will be tempting to go back to doing bids like you used to, but don’t.”

“Next week we’ll review and spend our time answering questions.

“Now go use this system and build better proposals.”

Previous posts in this series –

What is “business clarity” and how do you find it?

Learning How to Get a Construction Project Started Out Right

It’s Time for the First Meeting

Being Aware of the Common Bid Mistakes is the Best Way to Avoid Them

Constructing a Building is Better with a Plan, a Proposal is No Different

A Good Construction Proposal Starts by Asking the Right Questions

What is a Construction Scope of Work and Why Do You Need One?

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