Project Proposal

The Project Proposal is your primary contract type for selling project work. This is what most companies use for their standard contracts.

When to Use

Use a Project Proposal when you're ready to present final pricing to your customer for a complete project. This is typically the last step in your sales process before work begins.

Example: You've completed the design, finalized the scope, and are ready to sign the customer for the full construction project.

What Happens When Signed

When a customer signs a Project Proposal:

1. Estimate locks - The production estimate becomes read-only to prevent accidental changes
2. Project marked sold - Project status updates and appears in production boards
3. Invoices created - The system generates invoices based on your payment schedule
4. Workflows trigger - Automated processes kick off (notifications, task assignments, etc.)
5. Production dates calculated - Project start and finish dates are set based on system fields

This is the most comprehensive contract type and represents a full commitment from both parties.

System Fields

Template-Controlled Visibility

These fields can be shown or hidden per template. If your administrator has turned off Show Project Duration Fields in the template settings, the fields below will not appear and signing the contract will not update production dates. See Contract Template Settings for configuration details.

Project Proposal contracts include these system fields in the contract sidebar:

Field	Description	How It's Used
Starts Within	Number of weeks/days until work begins	Added to today's date to calculate project start date; sets Predicted Start Date and Contracted Start Date on the project
Project Duration	How long the project will take	Used with Duration Interval to calculate finish date; sets Predicted Finish Date and Contracted Finish Date on the project
Duration Interval	Weeks or Days	Determines the unit for both Starts Within and Project Duration calculations
Financing Plan	Select from configured financing options	Links the selected financing plan to the contract and estimate

How These Fields Calculate Project Dates

When a Project Proposal is signed, the system calculates the project's production dates:

1. Start dates are calculated by adding Starts Within to today's date
2. Finish dates are calculated by adding Project Duration to the start date (accounting for business days, excluding weekends and holidays)
3. These dates appear on the project's Info Panel as:
   • Predicted Start Date
   • Contracted Start Date
   • Predicted Finish Date
   • Contracted Finish Date

How Dates Affect Payment Schedule Invoices

These calculated dates also determine when payment schedule invoices are due:

• Commencement payments → Due on the Contracted Start Date
• Progress payments → Calculated from the start date plus frequency intervals
• Final payments → Due on the Contracted Finish Date

Related Topics

• Creating Contracts - How to create a Project Proposal
• Payment Schedules - Configure payment terms
• Change Orders - Handle scope changes after signing