01
The job
Who it is for, where it is, and what the work should be called on the cover. One line each.
Revenue Rx · The Bid Room · The preliminary estimateBefore the yes,
Before the yes,
there is a number.
The estimate is the first document on a job and the only one in the suite nobody signs — which is the point. It puts a real figure and an honest range in front of an owner without turning an assumption into an offer. Four pages, in your brand, the same way every time.
- 00 · Preliminary estimate
- →
- 01 · Letter of intent
- →
- 02 · Design agreement
- →
- 03 · Construction agreement
Specimen preliminary estimate · fictional project · 4 pages
Every page is doing one job.
PAGE 1
The scope
Not signedCarries an expiryStates what was assumed
Cover, the strip showing where this sits among the four, and the notice that does the real work: this is an estimate, not a bid, and nothing here asks for a signature. Read that to the owner rather than letting them find it.
Every piece of work is its own numbered card — which is exactly how the owner will talk about it back to you.
- An expiry, in print. An estimate with no validity window is one you can be held to next spring.
- Assumed quantities, admitted. If the drawings aren't in hand, the document says so on page one.
PAGE 2
The number
Package totalWorking rangeAlternates priced apart
The roll-up closes and the total lands, with the working range directly beneath it. Then the two lists that let an owner move the number without anyone re-cutting the document: what they might add or drop, and what they haven't chosen yet.
This is the page they photograph. It should be the page you are most comfortable defending.
- The range is honest or absent. A job you cannot bracket prints no range at all rather than a guessed one.
- Allowances settle at cost. The page says there is no markup on the difference, so there isn't.
PAGE 3
What is not carried
AssumptionsExclusionsWritten before the argument
What you priced as if true, and what you are not carrying at all. Furniture, window treatments, design fees, engineering, survey, site work beyond the envelope, hazardous material. Dull to write, and the cheapest eleven months you will ever buy.
Nobody has ever regretted the exclusions page. Plenty of builders have regretted not having one.
PAGE 4
The handoff
Open itemsNames the next documentEnds on the list, not the price
What has to be answered before this becomes a firm number — measured drawings, selections, a structural opinion, a confirmed construction window — and then the handoff to the letter of intent, which is the first thing anyone signs.
Every line on this page is something you need from them. End the meeting here.
- It points somewhere. An estimate that stops at a number leaves the owner with nothing to do next.
Specimen set, fictional project · the whole thing as a PDF
What we need from you
Send the scope. That is the whole ask.
No forms, no portal, nothing to learn. Six answers, in whatever form you already keep them — a walkthrough, a voice note, a marked-up plan. The document comes back in your brand.
02
The pieces
Split the work into the parts you would price separately.
Which pieces could the owner add or drop without you re-pricing everything else?
03
What is in each piece
A few lines of plain language per piece, and the figure you have worked out for it. How you got there stays yours.
04
What is not chosen yet
Fixtures, cabinetry, counters, tile, lighting. Anything still unselected carries an allowance and settles later against the real choice.
05
What is in and what is out
What you are assuming is true, and what you are not carrying. This is the section that ends arguments, so it is worth five minutes.
06
What would firm it up
Drawings, selections, a soils answer, a town review. Whatever is still open becomes the last page — and the last page is what moves the job to a signature.
Four documents, one job, one brand.
The estimate is where it starts. Each document hands off to the next and every one comes out of the same engine in your colours — so the fourth looks like the first.
00
Preliminary estimate
The number, its range and the open items. Nothing is signed.
You are here · 4 pages01
Letter of intent
The first signature. Reserves capacity and pays for preconstruction.
View specimen02
Design agreement
Drawings, selections and the budget that comes out of them.
View specimen03
Construction agreement
The contract that puts crews on site.
View specimenFree · Nothing signed, nobody callsWant one of these for the job
Want one of these for the job
you're bidding now?
Send the drawing, the photo, or a bid you already wrote. Back comes a ten-point scorecard on that document and a proposal cover carrying your own mark. No charge, by email, and your phone stays quiet unless you ask it not to.
Or skip the form and call (617) 397-5663. Mon–Fri, 8 to 6 Eastern.