How to write a winning construction bid proposal?

Understanding the Bid Proposal: The Strategic Document 80% Misread

A winning construction bid proposal is not a price quote. It is a strategic argument for why your company presents the least risk and greatest value. The 80% failure rate before submission isn’t about bad math; it’s a failure of strategy. Proposals that focus solely on a bottom-line number treat the process as a commodity auction, ignoring the client’s deeper psychological and operational needs. For a homeowner, the hidden need is trust and peace of mind. For a public agency, it’s audit-proof compliance and political defensibility.

Why this matters: The proposal is the first deliverable of the project. Its clarity, thoroughness, and strategic alignment telegraph your company’s operational competence and cultural fit. A client reads a disorganized bid and subconsciously envisions a disorganized jobsite. The root cause of most losses is a contractor answering their own question (“What do I need to get paid?”) instead of the client’s (“Who will solve my problem with the fewest headaches?”).

How it works in real life: The mechanism is risk transfer. Every line item, qualification, and clause is a vehicle for assigning or absorbing risk. A bare-bones proposal forces the client to absorb unknowns. A strategic proposal uses detailed scopes, clear exclusions, and documented methodologies to demonstrate you’ve pre-managed those risks. For example, instead of just “site preparation,” specify “excavation to subgrade with proof-rolling, including removal and off-site disposal of unsuitable material (test results provided weekly).” This doesn’t just inform—it assures.

What 99% of articles miss: They treat the proposal as a static document. In reality, the most competitive proposals are born from pre-RFP intelligence. This means analyzing past awarded contracts on platforms like USAspending.gov to understand an agency’s spending patterns and favored contractors. It involves networking to uncover unstated priorities—like a municipality’s urgent need to complete a project before a fiscal year ends or a private developer’s desire to use a specific, sustainable material. Your proposal should reference this intelligence, showing you didn’t just read the RFP; you understand the context behind it. Before you even think about a template, you need a foundational construction business plan that defines your strategic niche, because you cannot bid strategically on work that falls outside your operational DNA.

The Core Components of a Strategic Proposal

• Executive Summary: Not an intro, but a standalone argument. In 300 words, state the client’s problem, your core solution, and your unique qualifying differentiator (e.g., “Our firm, with 15 years specializing in historic masonry, will preserve the courthouse facade using documented lime mortar techniques, ensuring state historic tax credit approval.”).
• Technical Approach: The “how.” This is a narrative of your project management process, linking methods to the client’s explicit and implicit goals. Use flowcharts or a phased table.
• Qualifications & Experience: Hyper-relevant proof. Don’t dump every project. List 3-5 nearly identical projects, with references, photos, and key metrics (completed on-time, under budget, zero safety incidents).
• Cost Proposal: The logical conclusion of all previous sections. It must be perfectly clear, traceable, and aligned with your technical approach. Ambiguity here destroys credibility built elsewhere.
• Compliance & Certifications: The table stakes. Missing a required insurance certificate or license number is an automatic disqualification, a technicality that kills the most otherwise-excellent proposals.

Decoding the RFP: Finding the Hidden Scorecard

An RFP is a puzzle, not a checklist. Winning government construction bids, in particular, depends on solving it. The published document contains mandatory requirements (the “go/no-go” gates) and weighted criteria (the “scorecard”). The hidden curriculum includes the agency’s political pressures, past project failures they aim to avoid, and the personal biases of the evaluation committee.

Why this matters: Public procurement laws demand objectivity, so scoring rubrics are used. However, the interpretation of “technical merit” or “management approach” is subjective. Your proposal must speak directly to the underlying concern behind each criterion. If a criterion is “Community Engagement,” the agency’s hidden need might be avoiding negative press; your response should detail a specific communication plan with local stakeholders, not just state you’ll be “a good neighbor.”

How it works in real life: Perform a granular line-by-line analysis. Create a compliance matrix, but go further. For each section, ask:

1. What is the stated requirement?
2. What problem is the client trying to solve with this requirement?
3. What would exceeding this requirement look like?

Pay obsessive attention to terminology. If the RFP uses “Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP)” vs. “Stipulated Sum,” it signals a desired risk profile and contract type. Note all “shall” statements (mandatory) versus “should” or “may” statements (desirable). Reference past solicitation documents for the same agency on SAM.gov to see how requirements have evolved—this reveals their pain points.

What 99% of articles miss: The critical importance of “or equal” clauses and the strategy behind sample submittals. When specs list a brand-name product “or equal,” they are inviting value engineering. Proving “equality” is a technical and bureaucratic hurdle. Your proposal can stand out by pre-submitting a request for approval of your proposed equal, including independent test data, weeks before the bid deadline. This demonstrates proactive problem-solving and can lock in a cost advantage competitors didn’t pursue. Furthermore, understanding the legal framework, like the Little Miller Act governing state-level payment bonds, is non-negotiable for compliance.

Advanced RFP Decoding Tactics

RFP Language	Surface Reading	Advanced Interpretation	Proposal Response Tactic
“Proposer must demonstrate experience.”	List past projects.	The evaluator needs defensible, quantifiable proof to justify the selection to auditors.	Provide project summaries with client contact info, percentage of work self-performed, and key performance data (safety record, change order rate).
“Schedule is of critical importance.”	Provide a Gantt chart.	A past project was severely delayed, causing public backlash. They fear it happening again.	Include a critical path method (CPM) schedule, highlight float management, and detail a specific delay mitigation plan referencing common local causes (e.g., weather, permit delays).
“Emphasis on small business/subcontractor participation.”	Promise to try.	The agency has a mandated participation goal and faces political pressure to meet it.	Include signed letters of intent from certified DBE/MBE/WBE subcontractors, already integrated into your schedule and cost breakdown.

Mastering the Construction Estimate: The Engine of Credibility and Profit

Accurate estimating is the linchpin of a winning bid strategy. It’s not a clerical task; it’s an exercise in predictive analytics that blends historical data, real-time market intelligence, and quantified risk. A “competitive” price isn’t the lowest—it’s the most realistic. An unrealistically low bid loses you money or gets rejected as non-responsive. An inflated bid loses you the job. The sweet spot is a price that reflects true cost plus a fair profit, presented with such transparent detail that it builds unshakable confidence.

Why this matters: Your estimate is your primary risk management tool. It forces you to confront every assumption before a shovel hits the ground. Systemic effects are profound: consistent underestimation leads to cash flow crises, damaged client relationships, and business failure. A robust estimating process protects your margins and your reputation, allowing you to invest in the talent and technology that create a sustainable competitive advantage, a core topic in any guide on how to scale a residential construction business.

How it works in real life: Move beyond unit-cost databases. Build your own historical cost database from past projects. Track not just final cost, but cost at each phase, productivity rates (labor hours per task), and variance causes. For new projects, use this data to run probabilistic estimates (“three-point estimating”) for high-risk items: define optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely costs. This yields a expected cost range, not a single point, allowing for intelligent contingency planning. For site work, leverage modern tools like drone photogrammetry or LiDAR scans imported directly into estimating software to generate ultra-precise earthwork takeoffs, eliminating a major source of error.

What 99% of articles miss: The legal and financial dependencies baked into the estimate. Your pricing strategy must account for contractual terms that impact cash flow and risk. For instance, a project with a high retainage percentage (e.g., 10% held until final completion) directly affects your working capital needs—that withheld cash is a cost that must be financed. Similarly, the choice between percentage-of-completion and completed-contract accounting methods can create significant tax liabilities mid-project that your cash flow must cover. Your estimate isn’t complete until it models these financial mechanics.

The Integrated Estimate Framework

1. Scope-Based Takeoff: Quantify everything from the 100% complete plans and specs. Use a standardized hard costs vs. soft costs checklist to ensure no category is missed.
2. Price with Intelligence: Apply current, vendor-confirmed material prices (not 6-month-old quotes). Use crew-based labor pricing, factoring in local prevailing wage laws if applicable, not just generic hourly rates.
3. Model Risk & Contingency: Assign a calculated contingency, not a flat percentage. A 3% contingency for well-defined interior build-out differs from a 15% contingency for unknown subsurface conditions. Factor in current material volatility indices.
4. Apply Overhead & Profit Strategically: Calculate overhead and profit using your actual company burden rate. Consider tiered profit margins: a standard rate for the base bid, a lower rate for additive alternates (to make them attractive), and a higher rate for high-risk or specialized scope.
5. Validate & Benchmark: Compare the final cost/SF or cost/unit to your historical database for similar project types. Major deviations require re-examination. This final step is where intuition, born from experience, meets data.

The Narrative That Wins: Storytelling as Your Ultimate Bidding Weapon

Most proposals are transactional documents that answer “what” and “how much.” A winning proposal is a strategic narrative that answers “why you” by preemptively solving the client’s deepest anxieties. This moves far beyond a polished construction bid proposal template. It’s about engineering your document to demonstrate unique foresight, transforming your bid from a cost into an investment narrative. The 99% miss that clients, especially in complex projects, aren’t just buying labor and materials—they’re buying risk mitigation, peace of mind, and the guarantee of a predictable outcome.

HOW it works: Start by diagnosing the client’s unspoken pain points. For a municipal client, it’s public scrutiny and budget overruns. For a private developer, it’s speed-to-market and hidden change orders. Structure your proposal’s executive summary and technical approach to directly address these. Embed value engineering not as an add-on, but as the core of your narrative. Instead of just listing alternatives, frame them through the client’s priorities: “Option B reduces long-term maintenance costs by 15%, aligning with your stated goal of lifecycle value over initial spend.”

Use a framework like VESOP: Vulnerability (acknowledge a project complexity), Engineering (your tailored solution), Savings/Opportunity (quantified benefit), and Proof (brief case reference). This demonstrates strategic thinking. For example: “Given the site’s limited access (Vulnerability), our team will utilize modular assembly for the mechanical units (Engineering), reducing on-site labor hours by 120 and cutting the critical path by 5 days (Savings), a method we successfully employed on the [Similar Project] (Proof).”

Traditional Proposal Section	Strategic Narrative Approach
Company History	“Our 15 years specializing in historic retrofits directly equips us to handle the unforeseen substrate conditions common in this district.”
Project Understanding	“We identify three key risk vectors: seasonal weather windows, adjacent business operations, and supply chain for specialized brick. Our plan mitigates each.”
Value Engineering Option	“Alternative flooring system: Saves $25,000 upfront, reduces installation time by 20%, and carries a 20-year warranty versus the specified 15-year, enhancing asset value.”

WHAT 99% miss: Strategic vulnerability. Admitting a potential challenge—and immediately presenting a proven solution—builds immense trust and disqualifies competitors who gloss over complexities. It shows you’re a partner, not just a vendor. This level of strategic thinking should be rooted in a solid operational foundation, as outlined in a comprehensive construction business plan.

The Competitive Intelligence Matrix: Bidding Not Just on Price, But on Position

Competitive bidding strategy for contractors fails when it’s just about sharpening your pencil. It succeeds when you systematically deconstruct the competitive landscape to bid smarter, not just cheaper. WHY this matters: Every bid exists in a relational ecosystem. Your price is only meaningful relative to the expected prices of others. Winning requires understanding not just your costs, but the constraints, habits, and strategic goals of your competitors.

HOW it works: Build a simple Competitor Intelligence Matrix. Use public data to make educated inferences:

• Bonding Capacity: Check a competitor’s aggregate and project-specific limits on SAM.gov or via their surety. A company near its aggregate limit may bid high or avoid large projects.
• Past Bid Results: Many DOTs and public agencies publish bid tabs. Analyze competitors’ unit prices and markups for patterns.
• Equipment & Fleet: A competitor with new, financed equipment may have higher overhead and less pricing flexibility than one with owned assets.
• Recent Wins/Losses: A firm that just secured two large projects may be resource-stretched and bid high, or may need backlog and bid aggressively.

Position your bid accordingly. If three large nationals are vying for a project, your pricing strategy for remodeling bids or smaller commercial jobs might highlight agility, direct owner involvement, and lower overhead—turning your size into an advantage. Use this intelligence to identify “pricing gaps.” If all major competitors are likely within 5% of each other, a bid that is 10% higher but includes superior, de-risking value (like a longer warranty or integrated technology) can win.

WHAT 99% miss: The “incumbency discount.” If a competitor has performed repeated work for the same client, they often bid with lower contingency/risk factors, knowing the client’s processes. Your strategy must either offset this with undeniable innovation or target clients where no incumbency exists. Furthermore, understanding complex regulations like size standards is crucial; knowing how to appeal a denied SBA size standard determination can open up new competitive avenues in government work.

Government Bid Alchemy: Turning Compliance into Competitive Advantage

Winning government construction bids is a specialized discipline where perfect compliance is the entry fee, and strategic insight wins the prize. WHY it matters: Public procurement is designed to be objective, but human committees evaluate bids. Your task is to make your proposal so responsive, clear, and committee-friendly that it is the path of least resistance for the evaluators, while also uncovering hidden scoring opportunities.

HOW it works: Mastery begins with systems. Ensure your System for Award Management (SAM) registration is flawless, updated, and includes all relevant NAICS codes. A single error can cause disqualification. For the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), pay acute attention to recent changes, like those around cybersecurity (FAR 52.204-21) and domestic content preferences. Your bid package checklist for public work must be exhaustive.

The real game is played before submission:

1. Pre-Bid Conferences: Attend every one. The questions asked by agency staff reveal their unstated concerns. The clarifications issued become part of the contract. Listen more than you speak.
2. Past Performance: Tailor your past project descriptions to mirror the language and goals of the current solicitation. Use the CPARS (Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System) ratings as a guide for what the government values.
3. Certified Payroll & Reporting: For Davis-Bacon Act projects, your system for managing prevailing wage compliance must be bulletproof. Propose a dedicated compliance officer in your management plan. This reduces the agency’s administrative risk.

WHAT 99% miss: The “protest window” strategy and teaming dynamics. Understanding the precise timelines and grounds for a bid protest can inform how you structure your bid. More importantly, for set-aside contracts (SDVOSB, HUBZone, 8(a)), the structure of teaming agreements and joint ventures is critical. A well-structured agreement that clearly defines roles, profit sharing, and meets all SBA requirements can be a winning differentiator. Many contractors also overlook the strategic benefit of certifications like DBE; understanding how to structure a construction company to qualify for DBE certification can unlock exclusive bidding opportunities. Finally, always budget for and include the cost of performance and payment bonds—their required presence fundamentally shapes your construction estimate best practices for public work.

The Remodeling Bid Differentiator: Pricing Strategy for Scope Uncertainty and Client Psychology

Winning a remodeling bid requires a pricing strategy that is less about unit costs and more about managing human and physical uncertainty. While most articles preach adding a flat contingency, they miss the core truth: the contingency isn’t just for hidden rot; it’s a psychological and financial instrument to navigate the client’s emotional journey and the project’s inevitable discoveries. A winning strategy synthesizes forensic estimating with behavioral cues.

Why This Matters: The Dual Nature of Risk

The financial risk of a remodel is obvious: unknown conditions behind walls. The greater, often ignored, risk is behavioral. A client faced with an unexpected $15,000 change order for a necessary structural repair doesn’t just see a cost; they experience a breach of trust and a threat to their vision. This triggers loss aversion, a powerful cognitive bias where the pain of losing money feels more acute than the pleasure of gaining an equivalent amount. A poorly managed discovery can lead to conflict, stalled decisions, negative reviews, and unprofitability as you scramble to accommodate. Your pricing strategy must account for both the tangible and intangible costs of uncertainty.

How It Works: Tiered Pricing and Proactive Change Order Framing

Move beyond a single-line contingency. Structure your proposal with strategic pricing tiers that guide client decisions and protect your margins.

1. The “Base Bid”: This covers all visible, documented work. Price it competitively, but ensure every item is explicitly defined. Ambiguity here is your enemy.
2. The “Identified Allowances”: For client selections not yet made (e.g., tile, fixtures), use allowances. Crucially, educate the client on realistic market ranges. An allowance set too low becomes a future point of conflict.
3. The “Active Contingency”: Instead of a hidden percentage, present a line-item contingency budget for high-probability unknowns (e.g., “Floor Leveling & Subfloor Repair: $4,500”). Frame it not as a cost, but as “Project Integrity Assurance.” This transforms it from a suspicious padding to a valued safeguard.
4. The “Discovery Protocol”: In your proposal, include a clear, step-by-step process for handling unforeseen conditions. State: “If hidden conditions are found, we will: 1) Halt affected work, 2) Document with photos/video, 3) Provide a written change order within 24 hours with fixed-price options, 4) Await your written approval before proceeding.” This establishes trust and process before a crisis hits.

For managing client psychology, train your team on a simple framework based on initial client interactions:

Client Archetype	Pricing Strategy Focus	Communication Tactic
The Value-Seeker (Asks about ROI, long-term durability)	Emphasize lifecycle cost, quality materials, warranty transferability.	Use comparative tables showing 5-year cost of cheap vs. quality fixtures.
The Visionary (Emotionally driven by aesthetics, Pinterest boards)	Bundle design assurance. Use higher allowances and offer design-time packages.	Protect against scope creep by linking all aesthetic upgrades to formal change orders.
The Controller (Requests detailed breakdowns, multiple references)	Provide extreme transparency in estimates. Use detailed scope documents and fixed-price options where possible.	Offer a pre-construction meeting to review every line item, satisfying their need for control upfront.

What 99% of Articles Miss: The Data-Driven Contingency Model

Top contractors don’t guess at contingencies; they build them from historical data. They analyze past projects to answer: What is the statistically likely cost overrun per project type (e.g., kitchen remodel, pre-1980s home)? Which trade (plumbing, electrical, structural) most frequently triggers change orders? This allows for a dynamic, evidence-based contingency rather than a flat 10-15%. For example, data might show that in your market, 70% of bathroom remodels in homes built before 1970 require cast iron pipe replacement, averaging $2,800. That becomes a specific, justifiable line item, not a guess. This approach also forms the backbone of a robust financial model for your own business, a topic explored in our guide to essential financial statements for construction.

Furthermore, the most sophisticated bidders use tiered pricing options to guide the client toward a profitable middle ground. Presenting three packages (Good, Better, Best) with clear value differentiation does more than just upsell; it makes your “Best” package the anchor, making your “Better” package seem more reasonable, and it psychologically involves the client in a choice that feels empowered, not pressured. This directly ties to the broader need for a solid construction business plan that understands profit margins beyond just direct costs.

The Zero-Error Bid Package: A Dynamic Checklist and Submission Protocol

A bid package is not a pile of documents; it’s a credibility delivery system. Errors—a missing notary seal, an expired insurance certificate, a non-compliant file format—are not minor oversights. To the evaluator, they signal incompetence, inattention to detail, and higher project risk. A winning strategy transforms the checklist from a simple to-do list into a phase-gated validation protocol that eliminates disqualification risk.

Why This Matters: The Psychology of Evaluation

Public and large private clients often receive dozens of bids. The initial review is frequently a ruthless compliance check performed by junior staff or software. Your masterpiece of a technical proposal is irrelevant if you’re disqualified for a clerical error. This process is designed to quickly narrow the field. Your goal is to survive this first cut with zero friction, presenting a package so complete and compliant that it allows your substantive advantages to be evaluated. A flawless submission also subconsciously primes the evaluator to view your entire company as professional, reliable, and low-risk.

How It Works: Implementing a Phase-Gated Review System

Break your bid preparation into distinct phases, with a clear “gate” or validation step before proceeding. This is especially critical for government construction contracts, where rules are strict.

Phase 1: Pre-Solicitation & Documentation Readiness
* Gate: Maintain a “Live Documents” folder with current, auto-renewed certificates (Insurance, License, Bond).
* Action: Set calendar reminders 90 days before expiration for renewal. Cross-reference bond limits with project requirements and insurance certificates to ensure alignment.

Phase 2: Solicitation Release & Deconstruction
* Gate: Create a compliance matrix from the RFP/IFB.
* Action: List every submission requirement (format, page limits, sections, forms, deadlines). Assign each item an owner on your team. Identify “go/no-go” items like surety bond thresholds or prevailing wage certifications.

Phase 3: Assembly & Internal Review
* Gate: Conduct a “Red Team” review.
* Action: Have a colleague not involved in the bid’s creation use the compliance matrix to audit the entire package. Check: Are all forms signed in blue ink? Are all PDFs OCR-readable and not password-protected? Are digital signatures compliant with the solicitation’s definition (e.g., a DocuSign signature vs. a scanned JPEG)?

Phase 4: Submission & Verification
* Gate: Obtain and archive submission proof.
* Action: For electronic bids, screenshot the successful upload confirmation and timestamp. For physical bids, use a tracked courier and save the receipt. Record the name of the person who received the package. This creates an audit trail critical for dispute resolution later.

What 99% of Articles Miss: The Checklist as a Strategic Tool

The advanced use of a checklist is to ensure every element actively supports your win theme, not just meets a requirement. For example:

• Resumes: Don’t just list Project Manager experience. Tailor the resume bullet points in the proposal to mirror the keywords and challenges mentioned in the RFP.
• Safety Plan: Go beyond a generic template. Reference your specific safety compliance plan and include metrics (e.g., “Our EMR is 0.72, 30% below industry average”) to demonstrate a culture of safety.
• Project Schedule: Use it to highlight your understanding of key milestones and your strategy to mitigate potential project delays.

Your bond forms and insurance certificates should be reviewed not just for expiration dates, but to ensure the listed project name, address, and value are exactly as specified. A single character discrepancy can be grounds for disqualification. This level of detail is the hallmark of a business built on sound systems, much like those outlined in a foundational construction business plan template.

Leveraging Technology and Emerging Trends: AI, Data Analytics, and Future-Proofing

The future of competitive bidding is predictive, not reactive. While many talk about project management software, the real edge lies in using technology to de-risk the bid/no-bid decision, sharpen pricing, and anticipate client priorities before they’re even stated.

Why This Matters: From Gut Feeling to Data-Driven Decision Making

Bidding is expensive. Pursuing a bid you have a 5% chance of winning consumes resources better spent on a bid with a 40% chance. Similarly, mispricing by 2% can be the difference between winning and losing—or winning and losing money. Technology moves you from instinct (“This feels like our kind of job”) to evidence (“Our win rate on projects with this client type, in this geographic area, with this project delivery method is 38%”). It also future-proofs your business against evolving requirements like sustainability mandates and digital project delivery.

How It Works: Building a Bid Intelligence System

1. AI-Powered RFP Analysis: Use natural language processing (NLP) tools to scan RFPs and subcontracts. They can flag onerous clauses—like aggressive liquidated damages, “pay-if-paid” terms, or ambiguous scope language—that human eyes might skim. This allows for proactive risk mitigation or a strategic no-bid decision. Understanding the risks of these payment clauses is crucial.
2. Predictive Win Probability Scoring: Create a simple database of past bids. For each, record: Client Type, Project Value, Location, Delivery Method (Design-Bid-Build, CM-at-Risk), Key Competitors, and Outcome (Win/Loss). Over time, analyze patterns. You may discover your win rate plummets when a certain competitor is involved, or soars on negotiated projects over hard bids. This informs resource allocation.
3. Historical Cost Analytics: Integrate your estimating software with your accounting/job costing system. Compare estimated vs. actual costs at the trade and task level. This reveals persistent estimating blind spots (e.g., consistently under-estimating demolition) and allows for hyper-accurate future bids.
4. Blockchain for Verification: While nascent, blockchain’s application for secure, time-stamped, and unalterable bid submission is growing, especially for public projects concerned with transparency and tampering.

What 99% of Articles Miss: The Coming Wave of Non-Price Factors

Technology isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about meeting new client demands. Two under-discussed trends will reshape bidding:

Embodied Carbon Accounting: Major corporate and public clients are starting to require calculations of the carbon footprint of building materials. Your future bids may need to include a “materials passport” showing the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of your proposed concrete, steel, and insulation. Getting ahead of this means building relationships with suppliers who can provide Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and learning the basics of lifecycle assessment tools. This directly impacts your material costing.

Digital Twin and BIM Deliverables: The deliverable is shifting from paper manuals to a living digital twin—a data-rich BIM (Building Information Modeling) model handed over at project closeout. Bidders who can demonstrate proficiency in creating and managing these models will have a decisive advantage. This isn’t just for skyscrapers; it’s trickling down to large multi-family and commercial remodels.

Finally, cybersecurity is becoming a bid requirement. Clients are asking for proof of cybersecurity protection plans, especially when project data includes sensitive building information. Including your policy in your bid package can be a differentiator. The most forward-thinking firms are even beginning to require their subcontractors to carry cyber liability insurance, a clause that will soon appear in bid solicitations.

Ultimately, winning bids is no longer just about being the best builder; it’s about being the most trustworthy, data-smart, and future-ready business partner. Your bid is the first proof you can be exactly that.