Dan Holohan is a longtime friend of mine and a renowned teacher and consultant to the home heating industry. His Web site, www.heatinghelp.com, is a treasure chest of advice and information for contractors and consumers alike. Do yourselves a favor and check it out.
At one place in his site, he writes a magnificent proposal letter and gives permission to any contractor who wants to use it-for free. He was kind enough to let me offer it to you, as well.
This letter is aimed at residential heating contractors and might need some tweaking for your business clientele-especially if you cater to commercial customers more than homeowners.
You can add, revise or delete any of the 21 items as you see fit but the basic principles discussed here have counterparts in almost every contracting business. Many of these items pertain to company policies that most contractors don't have but should. Take the hint.
Holohan's wonderful way with the English language can help you land some jobs just as they do his heating contractor constituents. Here is the entire letter: