Generating bid proposals
Turn your bid into a professional proposal document — customize formatting, add terms and conditions, generate a PDF, and send it directly to the customer.
A proposal is the customer-facing version of your bid. It takes your line items, totals, and company branding and formats them into a professional document. Gradeworks generates proposals as PDFs that you can download, email, or share via a link — no separate document editor needed.
Generating a proposal
- Open the bid you want to propose
- Click Generate Proposal in the top-right
- Review the preview — it shows exactly what the customer will see
- Customize the cover page message if needed (default uses your company template)
- Click Generate PDF — the document downloads immediately
What the proposal includes
- Company logo, name, and contact information (from Settings > Company)
- Customer name and project name
- Site address
- Line items with descriptions, quantities, units, and totals (unit costs can be shown or hidden)
- Subtotal, tax, and grand total
- Terms and conditions
- Signature block with validity period
Customizing proposals
Default proposal formatting is configured in Settings > Company > Proposals. Set your standard terms and conditions, validity period (e.g., "This proposal is valid for 30 days"), tax rate, and whether to show or hide unit costs. Per-proposal overrides are available in the Generate Proposal dialog — change terms, add notes, or adjust formatting for a specific customer.
Sending proposals
After generating the PDF, you have three options: download and attach to your own email, copy a shareable link (the customer can view the proposal in their browser without logging in), or use Gradeworks' built-in send feature if your email integration is configured. The shareable link tracks views — you'll see when the customer opens the proposal.
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