PreConstruct AIA drywall proposal is the page a general contractor (GC) holds your price against, and on bid day it sits beside several others. The GC lines it up, item by item, against the other bids to find which one covers the scope in the documents. A proposal that makes that easy gets compared on price. A proposal that makes it hard gets a phone call, or gets dropped.
Below: what goes on a drywall proposal from top to bottom, how a GC levels it, how to word scope so it can be checked, and the terms to state before you sign.
How a GC reads your proposal
Before a GC carries a drywall number, they usually build a leveling sheet: one row per scope item from the specification, one column per bidder. For each cell they ask the same three questions. Is it in? Is it out? Or does the proposal not say?
The third answer costs you. When your proposal is silent on an item the others include, the GC adds their own figure to your price to level it, and that figure is a guess made against you. When you include something the others exclude, you look high unless the GC can see why. The job of the proposal is to answer every row before the GC has to ask.
What goes on it, top to bottom
| Section | What it holds | What the GC checks it against |
|---|---|---|
| Header | Your company, the GC, the project name and address, the tender or bid number, the date, valid until | Their bid list and the tender close |
| Documents priced | Drawing sheets with revision, specification sections, addenda by number | The latest issue of each |
| Scope included | Each wall and ceiling type by its mark, the level of finish, heights | The partition legend and the reflected ceiling plans |
| Exclusions | Work beside your scope you are not pricing | The specification sections that touch yours |
| Clarifications and assumptions | How you priced what the documents leave open | The details and notes you read |
| Price | The total, with a breakdown if the bid form asks for one | The bid form |
| Alternates and optional extras | Each one priced on its own line, outside the total | The alternates listed in the tender |
| Unit prices | Your rate for added or deleted work, per type | Their change order budget |
| Tax | Stated separately, at the rate you set for this job | The bid form's instructions |
| Terms | Payment, holdback, schedule, what the price assumes on site | The subcontract they will send you |
| Acceptance | A signature and date block, or how to accept | Their purchasing process |
Documents priced: the line GCs check first
Name the drawing set the way it was issued: the sheet numbers, the revision on each, the specification sections and every addendum by number. "Addenda 1 to 4 included" is the line most GCs look for before anything else, because a bid that missed an addendum is not the same bid.
If an addendum came out after you priced, say so: "Addendum 5, issued 28 October, not included." The GC can act on that; silence makes them guess. For what to look for in each addendum, see how to read an addendum before you bid.
Scope: by the drawings' marks, not by description
Write the scope the way the drawings label it. "All interior drywall" can't be checked against anything. "Partition types P1, P2 and P3 as the legend on A-501 shows, P1 to 6 in above the ceiling, P2 and P3 to the underside of deck" can be checked line by line, and the GC will.
For each type, the proposal should carry:
- The mark from the legend, such as P2 or W1.
- The layers you are pricing. Studs, board, batts, or a part of them.
- The height you priced to, and where it came from.
- The level of finish. The Gypsum Association's GA-214-2022 guide expects the designer to mark Level 4 and Level 5 areas on the finish schedule or the plans. When the drawings don't, state the level you priced, by room if it varies. Level 5 adds a skim coat over the whole surface, so a GC comparing a Level 4 price with a Level 5 price is comparing two different jobs.
Ceilings follow the same rule, by their marks on the reflected ceiling plan. For splitting each partition type into its layers, see how to read a partition schedule.
Exclusions, clarifications and assumptions
These are three different things and a proposal needs all three. An exclusion is work beside yours that you are not pricing. A clarification says how you priced something the documents leave open. An assumption is a fact your price depends on, and if it turns out wrong, the price moves.
Exclusions have a guide of their own: drywall bid exclusions a GC cannot misread covers the nine items to decide on every bid and how to word each one. The short rule is that each exclusion names the item in the documents' words, says whether supply, installation or both is out, and says where your work stops. "By others" alone doesn't say whose work it is.
Assumptions are the ones most worth writing down, because they are where a change order starts. "Priced to a 16 ft deck height from building section A-301" lets you price the difference if the deck turns out higher.
Alternates, optional extras and unit prices
When the tender lists alternates, price each one on its own line, with the word "add" or "deduct" and the alternate's number. Folded into the base, it can't be separated again and your base looks high.
Optional extras are work you are offering that the tender didn't ask for, such as Level 5 in a lobby the drawings leave at Level 4. Keep each one outside the total, priced separately, so the GC can take it or leave it without asking you to re-price.
Unit prices are your rate for each type, per linear foot of partition or per square foot of ceiling, for work added or deleted after award. They protect you more than they protect the GC. When a corridor wall is added in month three, the change is priced from a number you set on bid day, not one argued over after the fact. Give a unit price for each partition type you carry, and say what it includes: framing, board, taping to the stated level.
Tax
Show tax on its own line, separate from the price, at the rate you set for this job. The rate depends on the job and the bid form, so set it for each proposal rather than copying the last one. If the bid form asks for prices before tax, say "plus applicable tax" and state the rate you would apply.
Payment terms and holdback in Ontario
State your payment terms on the proposal, and read the subcontract against them when it arrives. In Ontario the Construction Act sets the outline, and it says its rights cannot be waived and contracts must conform to it (sections 4 and 5):
- The owner pays the GC a proper invoice no later than 28 days after receiving it (section 6.4), unless the owner gives a notice of non-payment within 14 days.
- The GC pays you no later than seven days after the GC receives payment for the invoice that included your work (section 6.5). If the owner hasn't paid, the GC still has to pay you within 35 days of giving the owner the invoice, unless the GC gives you a notice of non-payment.
- Holdback is 10 per cent of the value of the work, withheld at every level of the contract chain (section 22).
- Since 1 January 2026, an invoice that is missing something the Act requires is treated as a proper invoice unless the owner says in writing, within seven days, what is missing (section 6.1).
Those amendments came into force on 1 January 2026, so read the current Act, linked below, rather than an older summary. Outside Ontario, other provinces and states have their own prompt payment and holdback rules. Check yours, and the bid depository's rules if the trade closes through one.
Before it goes out
Read the proposal against the leveling sheet the GC will build:
- Does every specification section that names your work have an answer: in, out, or clarified?
- Are the sheets, revisions and addenda the latest issue?
- Does every partition and ceiling type carry its mark, height and level of finish?
- Is every alternate on its own line, outside the base price?
- Is the tax rate set for this job?
- Is there a date the price is good until?
Doing this in PreConstruct AI
In PreConstruct AI the proposal is built from your estimate. Your logo, company details and colour are set once in Settings → Company and print on every proposal. Your standing list of what you include and exclude is set there too and prints as "What this includes" and "What this excludes", with job-specific items in the proposal's Notes. Every priced line shows its quantity, unit, unit price and amount. A project bidding more than one trade can have one proposal per trade, or per division. Any priced line can be marked an optional extra, kept outside the total, and the GC ticks the ones they want when they accept. A proposal won't generate while a line is unpriced or the job's tax rate is blank: you type the rate, and 0 is an answer. It goes to the GC as a link you send from your own email.
Your first bid is free, with no card: start your first bid on the job you are pricing now.