Turn a budget into a client proposal (estimate)
Add a markup to your budget and generate a branded proposal PDF for the client.
Your budget is also your estimate: build the line items at your cost, then add a markup to get the price you show the client. The markup you set here is the same percentage used as your contractor fee when you bill - one number, one source of truth.
Where it shows up: the Markup box appears on the Budget tab only while a project is still in Planning (before you win it), and only on projects using simple billing. Commercial projects set to AIA pay-application billing bid formally and bill through pay apps instead, so they do not get the markup box. Once a job is Active, the markup is locked (it is your billed fee at that point) and the Budget tab just shows a "View proposal" link so you can reprint what you sent.
- 1Build the budget with your internal costs (Budget tab).
- 2In the Markup box, enter your percentage. The Client price updates instantly (cost + markup).
- 3Click Generate Proposal.
- 4On the proposal page, choose how much to show - Lump sum, By section, or Itemized - then Print / Save PDF.
On a FIXED-PRICE or spec job the proposal shows only client-facing prices (cost + markup). Your raw costs and margin are never printed, so it is safe to hand to the client.
ON A COST-PLUS JOB THE PROPOSAL IS A DIFFERENT DOCUMENT, because a proposal is a promise and the two kinds of job promise different things. A fixed price promises a NUMBER - "this job costs you $863,400", and that is what the bold total at the bottom means. Cost-plus promises a METHOD: you bill actual cost, plus your fee. Nobody knows the final total yet, so printing one as if it were a price invites a client to hold you to it.
Set the job to Cost-plus and the proposal prints accordingly: a line at the top stating the basis before any figure appears, the ESTIMATED COST OF WORK, your CONTRACTOR'S FEE on its own line at its stated percent, and an ESTIMATED TOTAL labelled as an estimate. The terms change too - actual cost plus the fee, not a cap, invoices supported by the costs behind them, and scope changes handled the same way. The bottom line is the same number either way; what changes is what the document claims about it.
That means your costs ARE shown to the client on a cost-plus proposal - which is the point, since cost is the basis of the deal. Use the Lump sum detail level if you would rather show the estimated cost as a single figure than line by line.
The proposal is branded with your logo and details, includes a valid-until date, terms, and a signature line. When you win the job, the same budget is already your baseline - actual costs track against it automatically.