How can you estimate construction budgets more accurately?

Gather a treasure map of details: blueprints, site surveys, material lists, the architect's dreams (interpret with caution). Become a material whisperer: research costs, factor in delivery gremlins and squirrel-proof options. Befriend the labor oracles: chat with contractors, understand local rates, and add a pinch of "unexpected coffee breaks" for good measure. Season with contingencies: unforeseen hiccups are like sprinkles on a budget cake, just don't overdo it or it'll taste like stress. Bake with transparency: share assumptions, be open to adjustments, and remember, laughter is the best garnish for any budget surprise. Follow this recipe, and your construction budget might just come out of the oven golden brown and delicious.

On construction projects specifically, clearly defining the scope of work is cruicial because if you miss a part of any SOW, the added cost could be significant and normally, when this added SOW comes as a change order later, it will be at a premium.

Defining the end result expectations are I believe the first and most important single action required for an accurate estimate. working from that knowledge the more you can identify the individual components that are involved, the more accurate your estimate becomes.

1 Read the Contract (the main body, not just the scope of works), half of your indirect costs out of your responsibilities will jump out from there. Insurance, infrastructure, supply chain etc. 2 Know your scope of works - expected scope creep. Know this!! Plan for it. 3 All the logic in the world won't replace experience, talk to people who have done similar job. Read up on archived project reports/actual spent data if possible (If your company doesn't have an archiving system, implement it, be a change agent) 4 When making an estimate, try to relate items with each other, if they are not in sync they will tell you something is wrong or at least needs recheck. A million cum of excavation means a million cum of disposal (or use)!

Preconstruction (all the work that happens before your start) is so critical. Poor scopes of work is by far the biggest failure in the construction industry. Some projects come with specifications and plans but even those require a diligent review. If you aren't given a scope of work, develop one yourself to qualify your estimate. Be specific! We like to develop unit level detail and qualify any areas assumptions were made. Your stakeholder may not know building codes or there may be areas where an actual selection can't or hasn't been made. Stay away from allowances where possible. Help the stakeholder through decisions as much as possible whether through RFI's or clarifications.

In the context of specialized EPC Fast track projects, the estimator has to work with limited resources: 1. Establishing communication with the tendering team and trying to grasp their estimation calculations during the bidding phase can be extremely challenging, but insightful. However,its efficacy hinges on the experience and transparency of the tendering team lead. 2. Collaborating with estimators in more advanced stages of similar projects provides an understanding of the anticipated challenges the project is likely to face. 3. Interaction with procurement teams to gain insights into specialized vendors and their pricing structures empowers the estimator to enhance accuracy, ensuring that estimates align with market dynamics.

Once you have a thorough understanding of scope of work, prepare a suitable Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) as assign work packages and cost packages to each item of the WBS. Each cost package typically has three components: Labour cost, Material cost and Plant cost. 1) To estimate labour costs, you will need estimated quantity of work from BOQs, assumed productivity as per your experience or industry standards, and hourly labour wages of your area. 2) To estimate material cost, you will need estimated quantity of work from BOQs and cost of material from your procurement team. 3) To estimate plant cost, you will need estimated number hours of deployment, owning / hiring cost and operating costs of required plant and machinery.

Para tener una estimación exacta de nuestro presupuesto, recomiendo utilizar SOFTWARES BIM. Ya que de esta manera sacaremos las partidas de nuestros modelos y si está bien conectado, cualquier cambio que haya en el modelo, se reflejará en el presupuesto.

Since you have put in the time to have a well defined scope of work supported by unit level details, its important to track. Most conflicts can be avoided if you capture changes or deviations from your original scope and those changes whether they have a cost/time impact or not as soon as possible if not before the work is done. You will instill confidence by remaining transparent throughout the process. Own your mistakes but also don't be afraid to address substantive changes. Neither you nor the stakeholder wants to deviate from the original plan but understanding why they happened and their impact and dealing with them upfront.

Aprende softwares BIM de mediciones y presupuesto como: - Cost-It y Presto - Arquímedes - Med-It - Otros softwares que se puedan conectar con tus modelos BIM

All of the above items are very important and crucial for having an accurate estimate and budget. I would also add that building a comprehensive database of previous projects performance and details would help a lot in developing that preliminary estimate that you can work of and start refining. To build this database you need to properly record track and monitor your projects in real time and ensure at project completion you record lessons learned and adding any notes that can provide context as to why the cost of specific items ended being as they reflected at the end of the project.