The Rush For the Low Bid And How to Stay Competitive
The Rush to Bid Low In my early years as a cost estimator, I received the most useful piece of advice from the owner of the company I was working for at the time. He told me: “your job as a cost estimator is to figure out the best price our company can do this project […]
Maximizing Profits – Estimator’s Role
Efficiency versus productivity Estimating a construction project for bidding is a task that requires a multitude of skills. Cost estimating skills are the top competencies that good estimators have to master. To be a great estimator, one needs to go beyond productivity and become efficient at cost estimating. When asked what they do for a living, most […]
Project Delivery Methods
Project Delivery Methods and the Impact on Project Success Among the many factors that greatly affect the successful delivery of a project is the project delivery method. Choosing the right one can make or break it for a project. The project delivery method is sometimes not considered necessary until the project goes through a few […]
Contingency in Capital Cost Estimating
Contingency in Cost Estimating Owners add a contingency to a project to deal with project overruns due to uncertainties. A large number of projects are finished with costs and schedule overruns. This is why, as a cost estimator on a capital project, it is very important to understand how to use contingency and how to evaluate […]
Benefits of Using Production Rates in Construction Cost Estimating
Why use production rate versus unit rate cost estimating? Using production rate cost estimating, also called “bottom-up”, is the very first level of knowledge a cost estimator should acquire. It takes time and consistency, but it is all worth the effort. From my observations in the field of cost estimating and working for various clients, […]
Use of Allowances in a Cost Estimate
Cost Allowances in Detail and Conceptual Cost Estimates Let’s look at what allowances are and how they are used in a cost estimate prepared for construction contracts vs. allowances used in conceptual cost estimating. We will see that they can be very different. Firstly, let’s define the term “allowance” in the context of cost estimating. […]