By
Kenneth R. Dees, P.E., CFM
Copyright © 2024, All Rights Reserved
How We Write Proposals
It’s easy to impress customers once you’re on board and doing what you do best. Demonstrating your value on paper without prior performance records or a previous supplier relationship with the agency to back up your claims, now that’s a different story. Let’s face it, writing proposals is a difficult process due to the amount of “unknown unknowns” at the beginning of a project. We strive to define the scope of services of all proposals to encompass not only tasks which are common to most all projects, but to include tasks which are identified as being necessary to the project in question.
In order to identify all tasks, we must perform quite a bit of research and dig deep into the terrain and overall geography of a project. Especially, we must review the local, state and federal regulations which we believe will apply to every project. Regardless of our experience in a particular community, regulations change quite often so we must go through this process on every proposal for every project located within the community.
We always include tasks which we believe more than likely will not be required, in order to identify the task as an unknown. These tasks will not be spelled in in detail nor is a fee included for these types of tasks. We believe that including what is not included within the scope and fee is just as important as what is in fact included.
Understand we strive to be truthful in all of our dealings with you as our client, and truth starts with preparing a proposal. Too often, we hear of engineers who omit required services, just to reduce the proposed summation of fees. While this can be construed as a lack of “due diligence”, we believe that on occasion, this is intentional. We do not try to “beat out” our competitors. Simply put, we believe that we are the very best at what we do and we do require compensation which is commiserate considering our experience, technical capabilities and understanding of the tasks required to complete a project.
Understand that governing agencies in Texas largely define and control the timeline of a project. Our experience as well as the experience of fellow engineers we communicate with is that most governing agencies within the State of Texas require 4 to 6 reviews of civil engineering documents before approval is awarded. With that said, we do provide an estimated time which should be construed as the earliest time a task can be completed.
We strive to streamline the production process by taking advantage of state-of-the-art technology and management methods whenever possible. Today, we have largely eliminated Preliminary drawings in favor of an inherent focus on producing drawings which can be referred to as “Working Final Drawings” whenever possible.
We understand that ongoing collaboration and communication is part and parcel with modern day AEC partnerships. We will coordinate closely with the entire team on a regular basis, and provide updates on the progress of the project to client on a weekly basis.
In summary, we to invest the necessary time to prepare a comprehensive proposal which strives to identify the necessary tasks as well as compensation which is representative of the quality of work we provide for every client.