How much does a bid writer cost?
A review of a charity's funding application is £400 to £750. A review of a tender response is £550 to £950, because a tender response is longer and scored question by question. A grant application or small tender written for you is £500 to £2,500, and a full tender is £2,500 to £5,000. A charity's month of applications is £950 a month at the entry band and a company's month of tenders is £1,950 a month, and the band you pick sets the number.
What does each fee include?
| What it is | Fee |
|---|---|
| Bid reviewThe bid you've written, checked against the criteria before it goes in, with one round of the changes you choose made inside the fee. | £400 to £750 |
| Grant application or small tender, writtenWritten from your evidence against the funder's criteria and ready to submit, with the decisions that are yours listed at the end. | £500 to £2,500 |
| Full tender, writtenQuality answers, method statements and social value written against the criteria and weightings, with the compliance list. | £2,500 to £5,000 |
| Retained bid supportThe funds and tenders that fit you, found every month, with a set number of applications written from your evidence. | from £950 a month |
| A free read on whether to bidSend the guidance or the tender pack with the deadline, and you get a price and a plain yes or no on bidding. | Free |
The fee is fixed in writing before we start, and it doesn't move if the job turns out harder than it looked. You pay on delivery, and there's nothing payable up front on a first piece of work. The fees here are what you pay, and there is no VAT to add.
What does a month cost?
| What the month includes | Each one | In a year | |
|---|---|---|---|
| £950 a month | 2 applications that fit | £475 each | 24 in a year |
| £1,450 a month | 4 applications that fit | £363 each | 48 in a year |
| £2,400 a month | 6 applications that fit | £400 each | 72 in a year |
| What the month includes | In a year | |
|---|---|---|
| £1,950 a month | 1 full tender, or 2 shorter responses | 12 in a year |
| £2,950 a month | 2 full tenders | 24 in a year |
Above the top band, a month is priced individually.
What a month covers, what sits outside a band and how it ends are on the retained support page.
The founding offer
The founding rate is £950 a month and it holds for your first three months. What follows it is written into your agreement before you sign anything.
For your first three months the entry band carries everything the band above it carries, at the entry price. That is £1,000 a month less. What follows it is written into your agreement before you sign anything.
What is payable on an award
A charity
On an award there is one more payment, a flat £500 on any award over £10,000. It is agreed in writing before the work starts, and it is the same amount whatever the award comes to.
A company
On a win there is one more fee. It is agreed before any work starts and invoiced when the award letter arrives. The amount is fixed and printed below, so it goes into your bid budget before you commit.
| Payable on the award | |
|---|---|
| First year under £100,000 | £1,500 |
| First year £100,000 to £250,000 | £3,000 |
| First year more than £250,000 | £5,000 |
What the free read covers
Reading the guidance or the tender pack and your deadline, a fixed fee for the piece of work, and a plain answer on whether the bid is worth making and why.
The free read stops there. Drafting, a read of a draft you have already written, and funder research past the pack you send are all paid work.
Why is each fee a range?
One organisation sends a monitoring spreadsheet, two evaluations and a previous bid. Another has the same strong service and nothing written down.
What moves a job inside a band is how much of your evidence is already written down. The quote tells you which of those you are.
What the fixed fee already covers
One round of the changes you choose after a review is inside the review fee. The first read on whether to bid is inside it too. If a funder moves a deadline back, the fee stays where it is.
Each fee has its own page: the review, the writing and retained support. If you'd rather read one page written for your situation, there's one for charities and one for companies.
Questions about money
Isn't hiring a freelancer going to cost a lot of money?
A review of a charity's funding application is £400 to £750. A review of a tender response is £550 to £950, because a tender response is longer and scored question by question. Either is the smallest thing to buy first. Writing a grant application from your evidence is £500 to £2,500, and you pay it on delivery.
Why not a day rate?
A day rate bills you for the writer's week whether it was a slow one or not. The quote here is for the finished piece of work, and it is the number on the invoice.
Get the fee for your bid
Send the guidance or the pack and the fee for your own bid comes back before you commit to anything.