# Discovery Extraction Discovery arrives in whatever form the owner could capture between jobs. Every one of these is a normal input, not a degraded one. The output of this step is always the same structure, regardless of what came in: ``` Customer: Wants: Scope, clear: Scope, fuzzy: Constraints: Out of scope: Dates: Budget signal: Gaps: ``` The Gaps line is the one that protects the owner. Everything else describes the job; that line describes what could go wrong. --- ## Call and meeting transcripts The richest input. Read the whole thing — the useful details are usually in the middle, not the summary. **Zoom's limits, so a missing transcript is not mistaken for an empty call.** It is read-only. It only reaches meetings the owner hosted or attended. And a recordings list covers a one-month range per call, so history older than that needs a second, earlier request. When a meeting is not reachable, say which one and ask the owner for the recording or their notes — never build a proposal on a call you could not read. Look for: - **Direct quotes about what they want.** Use their words in the proposal. Customers recognize their own phrasing and it signals they were heard. - **Constraints mentioned in passing.** "We can only get in after 6" is a cost driver that never appears in a scope list. - **Who actually decides.** "I'll need to run it by the board" changes the timeline and the follow-up. - **Budget signals.** "Last time we paid around 8" is the most valuable sentence in the transcript. - **What they complained about with their last vendor.** That is what the proposal should quietly address. --- ## Voice memos Recorded in a truck, often mid-thought, often with detail nobody would write down. Treat interruptions and self-corrections as real. If the owner says "call it four units — no, five, there's one on the back roof," the answer is five, and the fact they nearly missed it means the back roof deserves a note. If audio is unclear on a number, do not guess it. Flag it: "couldn't make out the tonnage at 0:47 — confirm before this goes out." --- ## Photos Photos are excellent for some things and worthless for others. Being honest about which is what keeps the owner out of trouble. **Photos can establish:** equipment make and model from a nameplate, visible condition and age, access constraints, obvious obstructions, approximate layout, what is already installed. **Photos cannot establish:** dimensions without a reference object, what is behind or above anything, condition of concealed components, code compliance, or capacity. Never derive a quantity from a photo unless something of known size is in frame. Estimated square footage from a photo is the single most common way a job goes underwater. State what each photo contributed and what it left open: ``` Photo 3 shows a Carrier 48TC rooftop unit, nameplate legible, visible rust at the base pan. Age not determinable from the plate. Roof access appears to be ladder-only — confirm, because a crane changes the number materially. ``` --- ## Drawings and plan sheets Read the title block first: revision, date, scale, and whether it is issued for construction or preliminary. A quote against a superseded revision is a quote against the wrong job. Take quantities from schedules and legends, not by measuring the drawing. If a schedule is absent and quantities must be counted, say so and state the count as an assumption. Note anything marked "by others" or "NIC" — that is scope boundary and it belongs in the not-included section verbatim. --- ## RFPs, RFQs, and solicitations These are compliance documents before they are pricing documents. A perfect price on a non-compliant response loses. Extract in this order: 1. **Submission mechanics** — deadline, format, page limits, delivery method. Miss any of these and nothing else matters. 2. **Mandatory qualifications** — licenses, bonding, insurance limits, certifications, past-performance minimums 3. **The actual scope of work** 4. **Evaluation criteria and their weights** — this tells you what the response should emphasize 5. **Terms that carry cost** — liquidated damages, retainage, payment timing, warranty length, prevailing wage **Run a go/no-go before writing anything.** If the owner cannot meet a mandatory qualification, say so immediately. Writing a full response to an RFP they are disqualified from is a wasted evening, and this segment does not have spare evenings. ``` Go/no-go: This requires a USD 2M umbrella policy and you carry USD 1M. That's disqualifying unless you can bind additional coverage before the 8th. Worth checking before I write the rest? ``` --- ## Scrappy notes Sometimes it is four lines typed on a phone. That is enough to start, and it is better than the owner writing the proposal from scratch. Extract what is there, then list what is missing as direct questions — the smallest set that would let the price be real: ``` Enough here to draft the shape of it. Three things I need before the number means anything: - Square footage of the space - Is the existing ductwork staying? - Any deadline you know about? ``` Three questions, not a form. The owner is answering this on a phone. --- ## Handling the gaps Every gap resolves one of two ways, and never a third: **Ask,** when the answer materially changes the price and the owner can get it quickly. **Assume, in writing,** when the job needs to move. The assumption goes in the proposal itself, in the customer-visible text: ``` This quote assumes roof access by existing ladder. If a crane or lift is required, add USD 1,800. ``` That sentence has saved more margin than any pricing refinement. It converts a dispute into a pre-agreed line item. **Never guess silently.** A number with an invisible assumption behind it is the mechanism by which a profitable job becomes a loss.