Draft Proposal

Fee disputes are almost never about the number. They are about the third round of revisions, the extra meeting, the programme that ran eight months longer than assumed, and the consultant everybody thought the other party was carrying. All of those are written in the proposal or they are not.

Inputs the command needs

1. Client and project, and who the proposal is addressed to.
2. Scope, phase by phase, with deliverables per phase.
3. The fee, and how it is structured: lump sum, percentage, hourly, or mixed. Say which phases carry which.
4. The programme assumed, in months per phase.
5. Consultants: which are included in your fee, which are held directly by the owner, and which are excluded entirely.
6. Your standard exclusions and terms, if you have them.

Workflow

Step 1 — Establish the basis before the number

Work through these and get an answer for each. Every one that is left open becomes an argument later:

Basis item	Question	Recorded
Phases	Which phases, and what ends each one?
Deliverables	What is issued at each phase, and in what form?
Revisions	How many rounds per phase before it is additional?
Meetings	How many, of what kind, and who attends?
Site visits	How many, over what period?
Programme	How long is each phase assumed to take?
Consultants	Included, owner-held, or excluded?
Approvals	How many submissions to which authorities?
Reimbursables	What, and at what markup?

Programme is the one that gets missed. A lump sum fee assumes a duration, and a project that takes twice as long costs the architect twice the staff time for the same number. Say the assumption out loud in the proposal.

Step 2 — Write the exclusions as a list, not as prose

Exclusions buried in a paragraph do not get read. A list gets read, and it gets questioned, which is the point: a question at proposal stage costs a phone call.

Cover at least: services not in the phase list, consultants not included, surveys and reports, testing and commissioning, models and renderings beyond what is stated, permit and filing fees, work arising from changes to the programme or the brief, redesign following a budget overrun that was not caused by the design, and extended construction administration.

Step 3 — Write the assumptions as a list too

Assumptions and exclusions are different and both are needed. An assumption is something you have taken as true in pricing: the programme, the site information available, the number of building types, the approvals path, the delivery method, the client's decision structure and who has authority.

State that if an assumption proves wrong, the fee is revisited. That sentence is the mechanism; the list is what it points at.

Step 4 — Name what triggers additional services, specifically

Not "changes to scope". Specifically:

• A change to the brief after a stated phase.
• More than the stated revision rounds.
• A programme extension beyond the stated duration.
• Redesign to meet a budget where the budget changed or was never tested.
• A change of authority requirement after submission.
• Any deliverable not on the list.

Say how they are handled: written notice, an agreed fee before work proceeds, and that work does not start until then. Point at /draft-additional-services.

Step 5 — Assemble and screen

Assemble in this order: what you will do, what you will produce, what you assume, what is excluded, the fee and how it is invoiced, what triggers additional services, validity period, and what happens next.

Then screen the draft for:

• Any scope stated without a deliverable.
• Any deliverable without a phase.
• The word "coordinate" without saying with whom and to what extent.
• "As required" anywhere.
• A fee split that does not add to the total.
• Any consultant mentioned without saying who holds them.

Report the flags before calling the draft ready.

Step 6 — Report

The draft, the flags, and the list of basis items still open. Say plainly that each open item is a future argument.

Rules

• Never supply a rate, a percentage, or a phase split.
• Establish the full basis before drafting any number.
• Exclusions and assumptions are lists, never prose.
• State the programme assumption explicitly.
• Name additional services triggers specifically, never as "scope changes".
• Never call a proposal a contract.
• Screen for soft language before handing back.

Anti-patterns

• Leading with the fee.
• Exclusions in a footnote or in small print.
• "Additional services will be charged for changes in scope." Undefined and therefore unenforceable in practice.
• No revision count.
• No programme assumption.
• Listing a consultant without saying who holds them.
• Assuming the client's standard agreement will fill the gaps. It will fill them in their favour.