Urban Studio, based in Southern California, helps AEC firms assess project fit, shape a win strategy, and develop a clear, coordinated SOQ or proposal.
Request a quoteUrban Studio helps firms choose the pursuits where their expertise can have the greatest impact, enter new markets with a compelling point of view, and shape each proposal into a clear, confident expression of their value.
Proposal and capture figures come from Deltek’s annual study of 896 architecture and engineering firms, produced with ACEC, AIA, and SMPS. Its 2026 figures arrive with next year’s edition, so those rows stay empty. The 48.2% is calculated from the reported 3.8-point decline. Spending comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, and forecasts from AIA’s panel of construction forecasters. Spending measures the size of the market, not the number of solicitations or competitors. Your firm’s numbers will differ.
Pursuit economics
Today, each award costs you in staff time
$24,49060 team hours × $200 ÷ 49% win rate
12 awards and $300,000 a year on proposals
Two ways to win more
The 2025 trend
25 to 33 a year, win rate slips to 45.2%
What firms did in 2025. Industry capture fell 3.8 points as volume rose.1
You send 8 more proposals for 3 more awards, and $96,000 of billable time goes into the extra proposals.
With Urban Studio (Illustrative)
We take on strategy, writing, design, and coordination. Overhead drops, your team stays on its utilization targets, and capacity goes to the active projects in your pipeline. Our fixed fee is quoted separately.
You win 2 more awards from the same 25 proposals, and $150,000 of billable time goes back to your projects.
Starting values: 25 proposals a year, about two a month, as an example, since no agency or association publishes an average; 60 team hours per proposal, the midpoint of the 40 to 80 hours a typical 10-page public proposal takes in our experience; $200 an hour, consistent with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics mean wage for California architects ($58.07)5 billed at the 3.0-plus labor multiplier Deltek uses to define high performing firms;6 and the 49% median win rate from Deltek’s study with ACEC, AIA, and SMPS.1 Replace them with your own. This illustrative estimate values your team’s proposal hours at your billing rate; billable time regained assumes freed hours go to project work. Our fixed fee is quoted per pursuit and is not included. The Urban Studio scenario assumes we take on half of your team’s proposal hours and that your win rate rises 5 percentage points; results vary and are not guaranteed. The 2025 trend applies the 3.8-point drop in industry capture rate to your win rate.
How it works
01
We read the solicitation against your experience, capacity, and competition to determine whether the pursuit deserves your time.
Deliverables
02
We map each evaluation criterion to the evidence that answers it: projects, people, references, and consultant materials. Gaps surface while there is still time to close them.
Deliverables
03
The win strategy sets the message. Every section, resume, project sheet, and graphic is then built to reinforce it.
Deliverables
04
At set milestones, principals and consultants mark up one coordinated draft in a shared Bluebeam Studio Session, or the platform your firm prefers. Every comment is logged, assigned, and resolved in one place.
Deliverables
05
You approve the package and submit it to the agency. What we built together carries into your next pursuit.
Deliverables
Selected wins
Awards were made to the firms we supported. Values are estimated construction value, not fees.
Approach
Every submission is a design opportunity: a chance to make the project’s value clear to the selection panel. We shape the response with the same care as the project itself, bringing architecture and engineering into a coherent vision, using data to guide the strongest decisions, and crafting visual narratives that make the proposal intuitive, memorable, and easy to evaluate.
Experience
Public and civic
Science and technology
Commercial
Share the RFQ and deadline. We’ll assess the opportunity and send a proposed scope, schedule, and fee.
Prefer email? info@urban-nomad.org
Each pursuit gets one fixed fee, based on the scope of the submission and the deadline. You’ll see the full fee before you commit. We do not charge success fees.
AI speeds up drafting. It does not decide which pursuits deserve your time, shape the strategy, or bring your principals and consultants to a deadline. We do that work in the tools you already use. We use AI ourselves for research and early drafts, review every line before you see it, and follow your firm’s AI and confidentiality requirements.
It’s the reason Urban Studio exists. Your next market rarely starts from zero. We map the work you’ve done to what the agency is asking for, find the real gaps, and build a plan to close them through positioning, key staff, or the right teaming partner. Every claim stays true to your record. If the gap is too wide for this pursuit, we’ll say so and help you prepare for the next one.
We’ll sign your NDA before reviewing nonpublic material, use your materials only for your pursuit, and never share your name or work without written permission. We do not support competing firms on the same solicitation.