Estimating Course
Construction Estimating for Beginners
Estimating comes down to one question: what will it cost us to build this, and what do we need to charge to make money doing it? The steps are the same on every job.
The five steps
Measure the work from the drawings (takeoff). Price the materials from current supplier prices. Price the labor using what an hour really costs, including taxes and insurance. Add overhead and profit. Check the total against similar jobs and against what you may have missed. The full walk-through is in how to estimate jobs when you start a contracting business.
Mistakes beginners make
Leaving out labor burden. Using old material prices. Forgetting waste, delivery or tax. Skipping overhead and profit. Missing items that are on the drawings but not in the quantities. Never comparing the estimate with the real cost afterward.
Practice
Skill comes from repetition on real drawings. The PoPs Estimating Course is a very low-cost course in development built around that. It is not accredited. In the meantime, the free calculators help with everyday quantities.
FAQ
What is a takeoff?
Measuring and counting the quantities of work from the drawings, such as items, lengths and areas.
What is labor burden?
The real cost of an hour of labor, including taxes, insurance and benefits on top of the wage.