Always do, I am inquiring if anyone has experience, thoughts or advice on people who do not respond at all to a proposal that was sent out.

Its not like I just send them out cold, they are prepared after I spend some time with them discussing a project they are considering.

I think 3 or 4 days before you call should be reasonable. They may be trying to get other proposals for design and waiting on that.
Clients really should call you within a week to let you know whats up. Thats just me, and what I consider courteous. Althought, I've had clients that travel alot and may just not be available. Certainly a condition they should make you aware of. I've sent out plenty of proposals and heard nothing. I've considered They probably weren't sure what a designer or architect costs in the first place or No response usually means they weren't serious in the first place. So don't take it personally. Homeowners are lousy business people and lack the courtesy you would expect in a business transaction. It can't hurt to tell them up front you need to know within a week because of your schedule. Last summer, I had a client wanting me design his addition, I told him I couldn't get to it for a few weeks. He didn't want to wait. A month later he called again. I reminded him that since my schedule was busy I couldn't get to it right away and hadn't saved a space for him from the last phone call. I knew he was serious so I gave him my fee and did the job. All on my terms. It worked better for me because financially I was unavailable...

Thanks Studio- I actually don't take it personally, but i was beginning to wonder if it was a phenomenon just for me- but I agree and its funny to hear nothing.

This happens all the time in my practice...some people are just funny that way. I don't think they're intentionally mean spirited, I assume that they would feel bad telling someone no to their face, so they just ignore the issue until I stop with the follow ups. There's nothing you can do to change that behavior.

At the same time, for one of the largest project we've done to date, I had left multiple messages, w/ no reply. Months later, I was cleaning up my desk, and came across my list of follow up calls, and decided "what the hell, I'll call one more time, then thrown this in the trash."

The owner's secretary picked up the phone, and when I explained who I was, put me on hold, then the owner picked up. 3 days later, I had a signed contract and initial payment in hand.

S now, after a couple of weeks of no replys, I now make a final call about 2 months later. Lightning hasn't struck twice...yet, but you never know.

or maybe they took your proposal to a contractor and are getting it built without paying you the fee, but that's just me being paranoid. why else do they not respond, the basterds.

This happens a lot to me as well. With residential work, I suspect that it is more common than commercial. For me it typically comes down to three reasons; 1) they do not want to hire you and would rather just avoid giving bad news, or 2) they just haven't made up their mind/can't pull the trigger, or 3) they just have not gotten around to it yet.

In my experience, I've learned that my proposal is sometimes a lot more important and higher on my radar than it is on some of my clients. Sometimes, they just have more pressing issues to deal with than the proposal. On one of my current projects, the client did not get back to me and I would hear from her every 6 months or so saying that they were still interested, but they hadn't made a decision on the architect/scope of work and then I would not hear from them again for another 6 months. Finally, a year and a half later, they called and hired me, so you never know.

Having said that, I typically will call about 3 or 4 days after sending the proposal, just to make sure that they received it and let them know that I am available to answer any questions that they may have. Then, if I have not heard from them after a week or so (after the first call), I might try to touch base with them again. Then after that, if I have not heard back from them, I stop.

randomized, I could be wrong in this case, but typically the proposal does not include any design work. I know my proposals never do anyway.

Great answer Tyvek...its just the nature of the small scale residential beast.

I do on occasion send a email soon after, just asking to confirm they got my proposal. It seems like everyone these days has a half dozens email addresses and may never look at the one certian one I was given. I have two, one for person, one for work works great.

Tyvek's response is right on, I believe. It also applies, generally, to that corollary situation: the job application + interview, after which many prospective employers never follow up with an answer in the negative.

it's happened to us in residential work (not getting a response one way or the other). suppose it does have something to do with avoiding delivering bad news, but i've always chalked it up to client inexperience as much as anything. rarely take it personally...

Having spent some time on the owner's side of the table during my career, I know that people who are putting together a project will solicit fee proposals as part of the early budgeting process, even though the funding is not entirely secure or the deal is not entirely solid -- they want to know what to budget for design fees as part of the overall project budget. Fees are just one small part of the many components that go into a project budget or proforma.

Then, it may take quite a long time to secure tenants, nail down financial partners, arrange financing, get the land under control, secure the necessary approvals, etc. before the project actually can move forward. Sometimes this takes a very long time and, more often than not, it goes nowhere for quite a while. This is one of the most important reasons why every proposal we write MUST have a "this proposal will be valid for __ months" clause. You don't want to get stuck with a 2-year old fee quote when the client finally decides to get started.

good point file on the background reasoning- but i do put the time valid for clause in my proposals.
I would hope a potential client would be upfront about such a thing, even though I could understand why they might leave that little detail out. I would still meet with them, you never know...