Proposal Draft

Talk through the scope — hand over a proposal draft, not a guess

What it makes

proposal draft

General

Real output

A messy scope, drafted

A multi-deliverable website proposal thought aloud — a self-correction on revisions, a hedged price pending a dev check, and two stated exclusions.

What you said

Alright so this is the proposal for Trailhead Outfitters, they want a new website. So um, the scope is — a homepage redesign, a product catalog, like a shop section, and a blog. Oh and we'll set up their email newsletter template too. For revisions let's say, uh, three rounds — no actually two rounds, two is our standard. Price-wise I'm thinking somewhere around twelve, maybe fourteen thousand, I need to confirm with the dev team on the catalog complexity. Timeline, probably six to eight weeks. One thing — hosting and the domain, that's on them, we're not covering ongoing hosting. And they need to give us all the product photography, we're not shooting that.

What you got

Overview

This proposal covers a full website build for Trailhead Outfitters, encompassing a homepage redesign, a product catalog, a blog, and an email newsletter template.

Scope of Work

Homepage redesign
Product catalog (shop section)
Blog
Email newsletter template setup

Timeline

Approximately six to eight weeks

Investment

Approximately $12,000–$14,000 (to be confirmed with the development team pending assessment of product catalog complexity)

Terms

Two rounds of revisions (standard)

Out of Scope

Hosting and domain registration — these remain Trailhead Outfitters' responsibility; ongoing hosting is not covered under this engagement
Product photography — client must supply all product photos; no photography is included

Assumptions

Final price depends on catalog complexity: The investment range of approximately $12,000–$14,000 is pending confirmation with the development team. Confirm the final figure — and communicate the right number to the client — before sending.
Payment terms not stated: No deposit structure or payment schedule was specified. Confirm terms before sending (agencies commonly bill 50% on signing, 50% on delivery).
Timeline start date not specified: The six-to-eight-week estimate has no stated start point. Confirm the kickoff date so the client has a concrete expected completion window.
IP and ownership terms not addressed: Confirm whether standard ownership transfer language applies once final payment is received, or whether any other IP terms should be included.

Why it’s better

Every deliverable lands, the self-correction resolves to two rounds (not three), and the price stays a hedged "approximately $12,000–$14,000" with your dev-team caveat — never a firm quote it invented. Both exclusions (hosting on them, client-supplied photography) are captured verbatim under # Out of Scope, and the terms you didn't give — payment schedule, start date, IP — are flagged under # Assumptions for you to confirm before sending.

A budget isn't a quote

An invention-bait scope — a richly-described enterprise client ("money is no object", "huge budget") but no stated price, timeline, terms, or scoped deliverable — the kind of input that tempts a tool to fabricate a premium quote.

What you said

Okay so this proposal is for Meridian Capital, they're a big enterprise client, huge firm, honestly money is no object for them, they've got a massive budget. They came to us for a website refresh. They're super high-end, very corporate, Fortune 500 type. Given who they are we should obviously go premium on this. Let me get a proposal over to them quickly so we can lock it in.

What you got

Overview

This proposal outlines a website refresh engagement for Meridian Capital. The scope, timeline, investment, and terms are detailed below pending confirmation of the open items in the # Assumptions section before this draft is sent to the client.

Scope of Work

Website refresh for Meridian Capital

Assumptions

Scope: The deliverables for the website refresh have not been defined. Before sending, confirm what the refresh includes — e.g., design only, design and development, specific pages or sections, content, and whether any integrations or third-party systems are involved. A client review and sign-off requires a clearly bounded scope.
Investment: No price, rate, or fee was stated. Confirm the fee structure and total investment before sending — this is a required line a client signs against.
Timeline: No timeline, start date, milestone, or deadline was given. Confirm when the engagement begins and when key deliverables or a final delivery are expected.
Terms: No payment schedule, deposit, revision limits, IP/ownership terms, or contract conditions were stated. Confirm payment terms (agencies commonly bill a percentage on signing with the balance on completion), revision rounds, and IP ownership before sending.
Out of Scope: No exclusions were named. Confirm what is explicitly not included — e.g., hosting, copywriting, photography, ongoing maintenance — to protect against scope creep.

Why it’s better

The deliverable stays "a website refresh" at your altitude — not specced into invented pages or features — and "money is no object" produces no number. Every commercial line a client signs against (price, timeline, terms, scope boundary) is surfaced under # Assumptions to confirm, rather than fabricated from the client's apparent size. The draft is honest about what still needs deciding.

What comes back

It scales to the deal: a one-deliverable proposal comes back short; a full multi-phase engagement comes back with the whole section set.
Self-corrections resolve cleanly — "three revisions, no, two" becomes two; "Instagram, no, the website" keeps only the website.
Open alternatives stay open — "either a retainer or project-based" comes back as both options, not a pick it made for you.
Exclusions and client-supplied items are captured verbatim under # Out of Scope — the hosting they cover, the photography they provide — so the boundary is on the page.

What you can count on

Never invents the commercial terms — no price, payment schedule, deadline, or deliverable you didn't state; a "money is no object" never becomes a number
Keeps your hedges honest — "around eight grand" stays "approximately $8,000", never hardened into a firm quote
Every gap a client would act on — an unstated price, missing payment terms, an undefined scope boundary — is surfaced under # Assumptions for you to confirm before it goes out

Install Proposal Draft and try it on your own voice.

Is this hat for you?

Rough spoken scope into a structured proposal / SOW draft.

Proposal Draft turns a rough spoken scope — what you're delivering, by when, for how much, and on what terms — into a structured proposal / SOW draft you can review, price, and send. It does the discipline a good account lead does by hand: it captures only what you actually said, keeps a figure at your altitude (an "around fifteen grand" stays "approximately $15,000", never hardened into a firm quote), preserves an exclusion exactly ("hosting's on them"), and resolves a self-correction ("three revisions — no, two") cleanly — while never inventing the commercial terms that get a proposal signed. The price you didn't name, the payment terms you didn't state, the timeline you left open: each is routed to an in-body # Assumptions checklist for you to fill before it goes out, instead of being fabricated. Because a proposal is a document a client signs against, a made-up number or term isn't a harmless guess — so it flags the gaps rather than guessing. You talk; you get a draft to finalize, and a list of exactly what to confirm first.

Best for

Turning a spoken scope — deliverables, timeline, pricing, terms — into a structured proposal or SOW draft you can finalize and send
Drafting a quick project proposal between meetings — talk it through on the drive back and get something to polish, not a blank page
Capturing the commercial boundaries exactly — what's included, what's excluded, what the client supplies — so nothing's lost between the call and the contract
Anything where you know the shape of the deal but want it organized, with every gap you still need to confirm flagged for you

Not for

A polished client-facing status email — reach for Client Update Email; this drafts the proposal, not the message
An internal single-task handoff to a teammate or contractor — reach for Delegate
A creative or content brief for your team to execute — reach for Campaign Brief or Content Brief; this defines the commercial engagement, not the creative

Using it

How it works

Just talk through the deal — what you're delivering, the timeline, the price, the terms, what's not included. Ramble; it structures it.
It always leads with # Overview, then adds Scope of Work, Timeline, Investment, Terms, and Out of Scope only where you gave them — no empty sections, no padding.
It keeps every figure and term at your altitude — "around twelve to fourteen thousand" stays a range with your caveat, never a firm number it made up.
Where you were open — no price, no payment terms, an undefined boundary — it routes the gap to an in-body # Assumptions checklist with a sensible default to confirm, instead of inventing it.

Try saying

proposal for Maple and Co, their brand identity, a new logo, color palette, and a one-page brand guide, four thousand flat, about three weeks from sign-off, fifty percent up front fifty on delivery, two rounds of revisions
okay Trailhead Outfitters want a new website, homepage redesign, product catalog, a blog, and set up their newsletter template, two rounds of revisions, somewhere around twelve to fourteen thousand I need to confirm, six to eight weeks, hosting and the domain are on them and they give us the product photos
big one for Vantage Health, full rebrand plus a website in three phases, discovery is fifteen thousand, brand is twenty-five, website I'd quote separately but ballpark thirty to forty, they own everything once paid in full but we keep portfolio rights, milestone payment at each phase, launch before their October fifteenth conference

Tips

Say the boundaries out loud — "hosting's on them", "they supply the copy" — and they land verbatim under Out of Scope, protecting you from scope creep.
It's fine to hedge on price — "around fifteen grand", "ballpark thirty to forty" — your caveat is preserved and flagged; it won't turn an estimate into a firm quote.
Skip the terms you haven't decided — the payment schedule, the revision limit, the IP — and it flags each one under # Assumptions for you to confirm before sending.