How to Prepare an Estimate

Recently I asked a Carpet fitter to provide an estimate for flooring to one of our Commercial units, the sequence of events that followed unfortunately are far to often the norm than the exception, so I thought I would write a blog on the subject.

The Carpet fitter came highly recommended, so I contacted him be Email with all the details that he would require, (see list below) the carpet fitter contacted me a few days later to inform me that he would be away on holiday for 2 weeks but would contact me on the date he returned to organise a visit, good I thought we will be on site and I can show him around, on the date I heard nothing so assumed that he was not interested, 4 days later he called to say he was calling in  to take a look and measure, I informed him no one was on site but keys were available at one of our other units. Later that day I received a call from him it would be X amount, I informed him that it sounded reasonable but as my email stated I required a written Estimate, I shortly received a Text, with the Estimate, ( the last half of the Text was missing ) I called him and explained that I required an email with a proper Estimate as this can save a lot of confusion and misunderstanding, shortly after I received this email from his phone

Supply and fit carpet x amount

I again contacted him to ask what sort of floor covering, did his price include vat exclude vat etc, as you can guess I had already decided that I would not be using this contractor or ever contacting him again.

The above happens more often than it should by so called competent business professionals.

I now have written guidelines that I insist on when asking for Estimates/Quotes see below

• I always send an Invitation to tender in writing
• The invite has my name , company name and contact details
• The invite has the site address, post code and access arrangements
• The invite will have all the relevant Drawings and associated documents
• A Document register is included so the contractor can check he has everything required
• I require the contractor to confirm by such a date and time that he will be Tendering
• I set a  date and time when I require the Tender by
• I list any special provisions that may be relevant
• I list any Provisional or Prime costs that should or should not be included within the contractors price.
• I require that the contractors Tender should be dated, on letter headed paper and in writing
• I ask for the Tender to be a detailed as possible or to be specific to the drawings and schedules, document supplied
• I give an indication of when the works are programmed to start and ask that the contractor to take into account any price fluctuations that might occur before and during works.
• I ask the contactor to point out any discrepancys that they might find
• Ask the contactor if he might identify where cost savings might be made with out affecting the quality and standard of the works.

last year I arranged a meeting with contractors to look at some works before tendering, the Decorator walked through the door his first words were what are we doing  then, I replied that it was all on the Documentation and drawings that I had sent, his reply was oh I have not brought it with me, I must admit I lost it a bit infront of the Clients agent and told him what was the point of me going to all that trouble if he couldn't be bothered also that I was not there to wipe his proverbial for him, the Clients agent is an old friend and thought it quite funny, I didn't, I removed the contarctor from my tender list.

I don't have time to run my own and somebody elses Business

What I require for and try to include in writing an Estimate

• Letter headed paper, with contractors details address
• Date
• Site details
• Refer to drawings and documents
• My company details
• How long is the tender current for
• Provisional sums and Prime costs
• Any items that might affect the Tender sum, missing items specification may not conform to regulations ect.

At this stage I am not to bothered about payment terms copys of Insurance certificates and so on, this can be sorted at a later stage, when I provide an Estimate I use estimating software which prints off a priced schedule, which is very detailed, I later use this for submitting valuation of work completed.

A good example is a decorator who I use followed my procedure as above on my instruction, he sent me an invoice followed with a phone call to point out that decorating the Oak Balustrade was an addition, I thought this somewhat strange but checked through my instruction and his estimate which clearly stated that we might install steel balustrade so do not allow for this at this time, easily resolved and invoice promptly paid.

I  hope this is of some use, I have found through experience that you have to be very thorough, the nature of building is that there are always unforeseen items and if you have very clear documentation at the beginning this will help resolve a lot of issues at a later stage

           Note. there is a difference between an Estimate and Quotation