Proposal Follow-Up & Decision Recovery
Every proposal gets a value, an age, an owner and a dated next action, and the follow-up branches on why the client has not decided.
- Tier
- Growth
- Build order
- 3rd of 7 for custom builders
- Shape of it
- 10 steps, 2 decision points, 2 escalation rules
- At launch
- Runs supervised, with you approving what goes out
The problem this solves
The largest recoverable pool in a custom building business, and it is an ownership problem rather than a sales problem.
A proposal goes out representing real design hours. The client says they need to think about it, or talk to the bank, or wait until the architect finishes. It is marked sent. Nobody owns the next contact. It ages. The client eventually proceeds with a reduced scope, or with another builder, or not at all, and often the builder never learns which.
And "let me think about it" in custom building is at least five distinct problems:
Budget. The number is real. The answer is phasing or scope adjustment, not discounting, and most clients do not know phasing is possible.
Finance. They are waiting on a construction loan, an appraisal or an equity release. The answer is a date tied to that process, not a nudge.
Another decision-maker. A partner, an architect, or a parent funding it. The answer is a version built to be shown to that person.
Comparison. They have two proposals describing different scopes and cannot compare them. The answer is a like-for-like, which usually favours the more complete proposal.
Timing. They want to build after a life event: a school year, a job move, a birth. The answer is a real date and a scheduled contact.
All five receive "just following up on the proposal", if they receive anything.
How it works, step by step
Every wait, threshold and branch below is a value we set with you during the build, against your stages and your language. None of it is a default we impose.
- What starts it
- It decides something
- It escalates to a person
Step 1Trigger
The proposal is issued from a record carrying value, scope, decision-makers, finance position and whether phasing was discussed.
Step 2
It is assigned an owner by name.
Step 3
The client receives it with scope clearly laid out and, where relevant, phasing shown, because phasing answers the most common objection before it is raised.
Step 4
The system tracks whether it was opened. Unopened after seventy-two hours, which is the right window for a document this size, gets a call rather than another email.
Step 5Branch
At the first branch point the client is asked one question: what is the part you are still weighing? The answer routes the sequence.
Step 6Branch
Architect-mediated proposals branch separately. Where a designer or architect is the intermediary, follow-up goes to them professionally, not around them to the homeowner.
Step 7Escalation
Finance-dependent proposals track the lending milestone rather than being chased weekly, because the client is genuinely waiting on a third party.
Step 8Escalation
Anything above an agreed value with no response escalates to the principal as a live call.
Step 9
A stop condition ends everything when the client proceeds, declines or asks not to be contacted.
Step 10
Every closed proposal gets a reason code, reviewed quarterly against pricing and proposal format.
How it gets built
Built inside what you already run
- Buildertrend
- CoConstruct
- JobTread
- Houzz Pro
- Procore
- or whatever your office already runs on
Nothing to log into and nothing to license. If a system needs a record your platform does not hold, we add the field to your platform rather than starting a second one beside it.
This is the actual build order, in the phases its own steps fall into. It runs in supervised mode first, with you approving what goes out, until you are happy with the tone.
- 1
Agree
Agree the fields that make a proposal record complete.
The thresholds, the wording and the names are yours. We write them down with you and get the consequential ones signed off.
- 2
Build
Name the owner for each proposal. The step that is always skipped.
Built inside the software you already run, against your stages and your language.
- 3
Agree
Build the phasing presentation with the principal. Highest-leverage change in the system.
- 4
Build
Build open-tracking and the two responses.
- 5
Agree
Write the five branches, including the honest version of what happens to price if they wait a year.
- 6
Build
Build the separate architect branch.
- 7
Agree
Set the escalation threshold.
- 8
Build
Build stop conditions and test them.
- 9
Agree
Agree reason codes and diarise the quarterly review.
- 10
Prove
Load the existing open proposal backlog on day one and work it by hand.
It runs with a person approving what goes out until you are happy with the tone. Nothing sends unreviewed on day one.
What changes after it goes live
How it runs today
The largest recoverable pool in a custom building business, and it is an ownership problem rather than a sales problem.
After this one is live
No proposal sits without an owner and a date. Open proposal value becomes visible by age band. And the conversation changes from "any thoughts on the proposal" to an answer to the specific thing that stopped them.
How to measure whether it worked
Your arithmeticRun with your numbers, not ours
Pull every proposal from the last twenty-four months that did not become a contract, and total by age band. Twenty-four rather than twelve, because the cycle is long. Apply the firm's own close rate to those that received no second contact. At project values in the hundreds of thousands, one recovered project usually exceeds the entire cost of the engagement.
We agree the baseline before anything is built, and we do not take credit for things that were going to happen anyway. There is no figure on this page claiming what we have produced for somebody else, because there is no verified figure to publish.
What we will not do
This is from the same delivery document as everything above it. It is on the page because a supplier who has not thought about it will not tell you, and you would find out later.
Client privacy is the primary exposure. Custom building clients are frequently wealthy and deliberately private.
- Never expose a client name, address, project value, floor plan or photographs of their home in any demonstration, template or marketing asset.
- Photography and case-study permission is obtained explicitly, in writing, and recorded. A permission granted for one use is not a permission for all uses.
- Several clients will have a confidentiality expectation even where no NDA exists, and some will have an actual NDA.
Contract and lien law.
- Draw requests, lien waivers and retainage are governed by state statute, and the requirements differ materially between states. Any automation touching draw documentation must be built to the specific state's requirements and reviewed by the builder's counsel.
- Change orders are contract amendments. An automated approval flow must produce something that satisfies the contract's own requirements for a valid change order, which frequently means a signature rather than a click.
- Nothing in these systems constitutes legal advice about lien rights or notice deadlines, and no automation should be relied upon for statutory notice timing.
Messaging.
- TCPA and CAN-SPAM apply. Consent per number, quiet hours in local time, immediate opt-out honoured across every system.
- Subcontractors and suppliers are businesses, but the same consent and opt-out discipline applies.
Subcontractors are not employees. Any system that assumes subcontractor adoption will fail. Systems must work with the trades as they are, and where a system genuinely needs subcontractor participation, that must be flagged to the builder as a commercial negotiation rather than a configuration step.
Nothing here is legal advice. State contractor licensing, lien statutes, building codes, contract law and consumer protection rules can each add requirements.
Nothing here is legal advice. Rules in this area have moved more than once recently, and every template that states a commercial term or a guarantee goes to your own counsel before it goes live.
Seven systems forcustom builders.
We build one at a time and prove it moved before starting the next. The tiers are the dependency order, not a price list.
Tier 1Foundational
Nothing arrives late or unowned. These come first because everything above them assumes they are true.
- 1Enquiry Capture & Qualification Before Design HoursProtects design hours, which is the scarcest resource, and captures the architect introductions that currently live in email threads.
- 2Consultation & Site Visit PreparationProtects the most expensive hour in the sales process and calibrates cost before the meeting.
Tier 2Growth
The recoverable money. These work the pools the foundational systems have made visible for the first time.
- 3Proposal Follow-Up & Decision Recoveryyou are hereUsually the single largest recoverable pool.
- 4Selections, Change Orders & Draw ControlStops the margin loss and improves cash through faster draws.
Tier 3Flagship
One connected system end to end, plus what the owner reads on a Monday. Only once the pieces are proven individually.
The tiers are the dependency order for custom builders, not a price list. Most firms do not start at the first one, because the order is a default and the call is where it gets changed.
A note on sequencing this trade
Sequencing note specific to this trade. The build cycle is six to eighteen months, so System 5 cannot be proven inside a normal engagement window. Prove Systems 1 through 4 on live projects, and implement System 5 on projects starting during the engagement with the understanding that its results arrive after it. Say this at the start rather than being asked about it later.
Back to the custom builders overview for the stage map and where these fit.
Is this the oneyou need first?
Often it is not. On the call we look at what is actually costing you most right now, which is frequently a different system from the one that brought you to this page. If there is nothing worth building yet, we will say so.