Just Estimating

One of the most common responses I get when I tell someone I’m an estimator is, “So you just price buildings before you build them?” Actually, No! Then, the next question is “So what is a typical day for an estimator?” I always reply “Which day?” One of the most important traits of an estimator is versatility.  As an estimator you learn quite quickly that you’ll have to wear many hats in order to be successful; essentially the perfect estimator is all of these, but not limited to: an analyst, a consultant, the liaison between the subcontractors and Architect/Owners, business developers, salesperson, a “value engineer,” construction engineer and a student.

The term estimating is thrown around pretty loosely nowadays, whether it is in the industry or just day to day operation. Estimating is way more than just an intelligent guess. Estimating is more than just a price per square foot during this era. Estimating is more than just getting plugging in a number and chugging away in a proposal. There is a process, similar to any type of engineering. In fact,  every job seems to be a "Value Engineering" job, because construction in South Florida is at the height of supply and demand. Value Engineering is a nice way of saying decrease the cost of the job through eliminating scopes or substituting the "Cadillac" for the "Toyota" for some material. Also, value engineering consists of analyzing the entire job for more cost effective ways to build the structure, of course along with Engineers and Architects. Before I get off topic about value engineering, back to the basics, Estimating is a process.

It begins with the conceptual phase; you have to be experienced enough to look at a 3 sheets of drawings and come up with a price that will eventually be a 1000+ sheets of construction documents. Then, you have the schematics design and development design phase, where drawings and Subcontractors inputs and estimates are needed. Finally, you'll have the construction design and permit sets where now a constructability review, an actual Guaranteed Maximum Price (GMP) estimate and schedule can be provided to the Owner(s). You better hope that GMP estimate is somewhat close to the conceptual estimate (which is not the case 99.5% of the times). 

It is the sole responsibility for the estimator to analyze a set of construction documents and scrubbing all the drawings before presenting a price to the Owner. In the process of analyzing, if you’re working for a GC you have to make sure you plug in your subcontractors because at the end of the day they know their trade in and out. During analyzing, scope gaps are hopefully bridged. When you have multiple trades, you will realize simple things like final connections, sealants, fire-stopping, etc. will affect your final pricing. It is crucial that the scope of work is clearly defined and communicated amongst the subcontractors and your estimating team. Scope gaps can eventually put a halt to a job, so it should be the goal of the estimator to make sure every gap is closed. Even $500 in every line item can turn into a million.

There is nothing easy about being an estimator in the construction world, whether you are the General Contractor or the Sub-Contractor. To put a dollar on most things these days during the high volume of work can get tricky in the whole grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, estimators will always continue to learn and grow within the industry.  Just know that estimating is the cornerstone of every construction company, but it is not to be misconstrued that Project Management and Superintendents are vital to a successful project.