An architecture proposal template serves a practice that sells design services, not a builder pricing bricks: there is no materials line and no crew, only the stages of design work, the deliverables each produces, the hours each takes and the fee that follows. An architectural proposal template that quotes a percentage of construction cost without the stage breakdown has priced the client's building, not the practice's work. The freelance proposal template tool on this site prices the stages from your own hours and rate and presents them as options, free and without an account.
Stages and deliverables, counted
Feasibility, concept, developed design, technical design, tender support, construction observation: each stage names its deliverables, drawings, models, reports, meetings, and the hours behind them. The architecture proposal template carries the stage list so nothing is priced by omission.
Hours or percentage, stated either way
A percentage of construction cost is a convention, not a cost; the proposal shows the hours it implies so the practice knows whether the percentage covers them. Where the practice prices by hours, the fee per stage is the hours at a rate that covers salaries, overhead and profit. Either way the arithmetic is visible to the practice, and the fee and the stages are visible to the client.
Options and exclusions
Three options: the minimum stages the client needs, the recommended service, the full service through construction. Exclusions are stated: surveys, engineers, planning fees and the contractor's costs are not the practice's fee. An architectural proposal template with the exclusions as a standing clause saves the argument later.
Deposit, stage invoicing, the record
A deposit before feasibility, an invoice at the end of each stage, the balance at completion of the last. Under New York's Freelance Isn't Free Act a hiring party must pay a freelance worker by the date in the contract or, if it names none, within 30 days of the work being done; a contract that names the date is the one that protects you. Proposal suites charge per seat: from the vendor's own pricing page, Proposify Basic is $29 per user per month and Team is $49 per user per month on monthly billing. Scopedly Pro is $29 per month for the whole studio, and every tool on this site works free with no account.
Questions people ask about architecture proposal template
What should an architecture proposal template include?
The stages and their deliverables, the hours or percentage behind the fee, options, exclusions, the deposit and stage invoicing, and how either side ends the appointment.
Should an architectural proposal template price by percentage?
It may, as long as the hours the percentage implies are checked against the practice's costs; the tool on this site does that arithmetic.
Is this a builder's proposal?
No. Trade contractors' proposals, with materials and crews, belong to their own ventures; this page is for the practice selling design time.