Proposals 101: Design Build Proposals

Proposals 101: Design-Build Proposals

Understanding and creating an RFP response for construction companies.

Half-day Virtual Training
+ 1:1 Proposal Consultation

This training is best for:

Companies: Design-Build Companies, construction companies who bid on a lot of design-build projects, design firms who lead proposal efforts on design-build projects

Roles: Anyone new tasked with proposal submissions or anyone growing in that space. This includes Proposal Coordinators, Marketing Coordinators, Business Development Coordinators, and Administrators who will be tasked with proposal submissions for a construction company. It may include leadership or business development-oriented team members who will be supporting the proposal response process and may need to understand how it works.

Class caps at 8 attendees.

Hour 1: Dissecting an RFP

Each attendee will bring a sample RFP and submission that their company has responded to in the past. As a group we will review the RFP to understand the project, why your company is ideal to submit for the project, submission requirements and how to prepare to meet all requirements, and who should be involved from both the construction team and design team. We will review a responsibility matrix used to assign different team members different sections and tasks and let each attendee workshop their own using the RFP they brought. The goal is for the team members to leave this hour understanding how their company approached completing the sample they brought to the webinar.

Hour 2 & 3: Creating your First Draft (2 hours + 30-minute break)

In our first hour, we will break into 2-3 groups: one group focused on public sector submissions, one on private sector submissions, and one all other submissions. Each attendee will learn how to create a draft for design-build projects, pull from old submissions and a company library, edit the draft for submission, complete important forms, collaborate with designers and construction managers, and use AI responsibly through each draft.

In the second hour, we will review how to create strong project plans, safety plans, organizational charts and resumes, and project experience pages. The attendees will use the sample proposal they bring to the webinar to understand how their company structures each one. We will also review the best methods of creating a more aesthetic design submission if that is part of the package.

Attendees will need to be proficient in the design software their company uses to submit proposals, as that is not part of this training.

Hour 4: Proposal Submission

Each attendee will understand how to get a final draft scrubbed for submission and best practices to avoid chaos in the final hour. We will review how to submit a proposal in digital formats for email and uploads and print formats that must be mailed or hand delivered.

1:1 RFP Workshop
($200 for each additional hour if required)

Each attendee will also receive a one-hour RFP prep workshop with our proposal experts following the webinar. Together, we will carry the lessons from the webinar into a workshop where we help your team prepare an actual RFP submission.