Writing steel bid proposals: inclusions, exclusions and clarifications

Why the scope letter matters as much as the price

A general contractor comparing steel bids is not just comparing totals. They are trying to work out which number covers the whole scope. A bid that is clear about what it includes is easier to compare, easier to carry and easier to award. A vague one either loses or gets awarded with assumptions that come back as disputes.

Your inclusions, exclusions and clarifications also protect the margin you priced. If your number assumes shop primer only, the proposal needs to say so before the job, not in a change order request after the specification turns out to require galvanizing.

What a steel proposal should contain

1. Project and bid identification: project name, location, bid date, and who the proposal is addressed to.
2. Documents the price is based on: drawing numbers with dates and revisions, specification sections, and every addendum by number.
3. Price: the base bid, and each alternate on its own line.
4. Inclusions: what you will furnish and install.
5. Exclusions: related work you are not providing.
6. Clarifications and qualifications: assumptions the price depends on.
7. Commercial terms: validity, escalation, schedule, payment and any special conditions.
8. Acceptance: signature lines or instructions for accepting the proposal.

The document list is the most important line most proposals get wrong. If the drawings change after you bid, your proposal should show exactly which set you priced.

Writing inclusions

Write inclusions as specific, countable scope tied to the documents. Name the systems, not just "structural steel".

• Furnish and install structural steel framing as shown on drawings S-101 through S-501, dated March 4, including columns, beams, girders and vertical bracing.
• Furnish base plates and anchor rods, delivered to the site for setting by others.
• Furnish and install open web steel joists, joist girders and bridging as shown.
• Furnish and install 1.5" Type B, 20 gage galvanized roof deck, with pour stops and edge angles as shown.
• Shop drawings, erection drawings and connection design by a licensed engineer.
• One coat of shop primer on steel not scheduled to receive fireproofing or to be embedded in concrete.
• Steel stairs, landings and railings as shown on sheets A-501 and A-502.

Avoid "per plans and specs" as the whole inclusion. It commits you to everything in the documents, including items you may have priced as excluded.

Writing exclusions

Exclusions should name work the general contractor might reasonably expect from the steel subcontractor. Don't pad the list with trades nobody would expect you to cover; a long list of irrelevant exclusions makes the important ones harder to see.

• Setting of anchor rods and embed plates in concrete; grout under base plates.
• Fireproofing, finish painting and field touch-up of shop primer.
• Galvanizing, unless specifically listed in the inclusions.
• Metal deck, unless specifically listed in the inclusions.
• Concrete fill in stair pans and on deck.
• Special inspections and testing; bonds; permits.
• Temporary bracing of masonry walls; shoring for other trades.
• Cutting, patching or framing of openings not shown on the contract drawings.
• Correction of anchor rods placed by others outside erection tolerances.

Clarifications and qualifications

Clarifications state the assumptions behind the price. They are where you turn the uncertainty in the documents into a defined basis for your number.

• Connections are priced as simple shear connections using standard details unless otherwise shown. Moment connections are included only where indicated on the drawings.
• Erection is based on clear, level and compacted access for cranes and deliveries, and an open laydown area adjacent to the building.
• Erection is priced in one continuous mobilization. Additional mobilizations will be priced separately.
• Steel is priced in mill stock lengths available at the time of bid.
• The price is based on normal working hours. Overtime required by schedule changes not caused by us will be billed at our current rates.
• Shop primer is a standard fabricator's primer and is not intended for prolonged exposure.

If you have priced a specific interpretation of something ambiguous in the documents, say so here. An ambiguity you resolved silently in your takeoff is a dispute waiting for the first change order.

Commercial terms worth stating every time

• Validity: "This proposal is valid for 30 days from the date above." Pick the period your material pricing can support.
• Escalation: "Material is priced at current mill and service center prices. If material costs change before material is purchased, the contract amount will be adjusted by the documented difference."
• Schedule: shop drawing submission time after award, fabrication duration after approved drawings, and erection duration.
• Payment: progress billing for material stored on site or in the shop, if you intend to bill for it, and your position on retainage.
• Taxes and bonds: whether sales tax is included and whether a bond is included or available at additional cost.

Alternates, unit prices and allowances

Alternates are where proposals most often confuse the reader. Write each one so it stands alone: what is added or deducted, the drawings or addendum that describe it, and the price. "Add Alternate 2: furnish and install the entry canopy framing shown on A-401 and S-502, add $(amount)" is far clearer than "Alt 2: canopy, add $(amount)".

• State whether each alternate's price holds for the same period as the base bid.
• Say whether an alternate depends on another one, for example a deduct for galvanizing that only applies if the exterior stair is also accepted.
• Give unit prices in the units the bid form asks for, with what each unit includes (furnish only, or furnish and install).
• If the documents carry an allowance, say whether it is included in your price and what it covers.

Keep alternate pricing separate in your estimate from the start. Pulling an alternate out of a blended number the night before the bid is how mistakes happen.

Tone and format

A steel proposal is read quickly, often by someone comparing five of them side by side. Use short, numbered clauses, one idea each. Lead with the price and the documents. Keep your company's standard terms and conditions in an attachment rather than mixed in with the scope, and send a PDF so the formatting holds. The general contractor should be able to see your scope, price and key assumptions on the first page.

Common mistakes to avoid

• An inclusion and an exclusion that contradict each other, such as including metal deck while excluding "all decking".
• Copying last job's exclusions without reading them against this job's documents.
• Missing an addendum in the documents list.
• Alternates written so vaguely that the general contractor can't tell what changes.
• Wording that changes from estimator to estimator, so the same scope reads differently on every bid.

Build a clause library and use it on every bid

The fix for most of these mistakes is a clause library: a maintained set of standard inclusions, exclusions and clarifications that every estimator picks from. Review it when a job goes wrong and when your attorney updates your terms. Over time it becomes the record of everything your company has learned the hard way.

In Kredna, the proposal is built from your company's clause library, with your logo and colors, and exported to PDF or Word. Conflicts between an inclusion and an exclusion are flagged before you submit, and each submitted revision is locked as a snapshot you can compare later. The optional AI drafting writes the scope sections from the estimate in each estimator's own style, and you accept each section before it changes anything. See proposals.