Hi All, just need a small outlet to vent anonymously.

Im a GC Estimator with about 6 years experience (I started at age 20) and worked in competitive bidding, pretty much all low bid lump sum, PLA type work. I loved ripping apart plans and combining numbers to create buy power, and the whole deal. I worked in another state (the one i grew up in) and while i loved it, nearly every GC was either ran by nepotism/the “old boys club” (nearly impossible to get paid a half decent salary) or, rampant toxic workplace culture where you would get paid, but deal with gossip, threats, empty promises, lack of any care to push things forward.

I moved across the country and now I love my company, and my team, plus the salary is great to start. But, instead of hard bids, its completely changed over to CM at-risk work, lots of budgeting, dealing with project owners who really don’t know what they are doing and don’t listen to you when you emphasize importance of timelines, overpay design teams, etc.

I think I’m having an early career crisis where i cant seem to land in the comfortable middle ground of the spectrum. And it’s giving me a bit of imposter syndrome, even though i know im capable of raw estimating, but not this “fluff” of babysitting adults and repeating myself 1000 times just for shit to hit the fan and me being the one to clean up the mess.

Again just needed a good vent sesh and maybe some reassurance that im not the crazy one. Hopefully.

Hi everyone,

I have an upcoming interview for an Estimator role focused on wastewater treatment plant projects.

I have over five years of estimating experience, mainly with subcontractors, but I have not worked as a GC estimator before.

What should I prepare for the interview? Which scopes, drawings, equipment, risks, and bid-closing topics should I understand?

Any helpful videos, courses, sample drawings, or other resources would be greatly appreciated. I really want to do well in this interview.

Thank you!

I was thinking about this earlier today and I was curious as to how others put their pricing together. Do you submit the numbers that your customers bid directly to your final cost sheet then add a percentage for overhead and profit at the bottom?Do you mark up your sub contractors bids at all? Do you mark up your subs bids and still add O&P to the job? Do you add any line items in the job for unknown costs that are most certainly going to happen in the job to hopefully be able to cover them? What kind of mark up are you putting for O&P?

There are many ways to skin a cat, just curious the methods others are using.

Hey all, RCE here from the Philippines, been doing cost engineering, BOQ prep, planning/scheduling, and EVA for a while now — mostly local standards and practices. Lately I've been curious how different estimating looks in other markets, so thought I'd ask around here instead of just guessing. Mainly interested in: How you structure a takeoff or BOQ for whatever trade you work in What software your market leans on (Bluebeam, PlanSwift, etc.) How contingencies/markups get handled where you're at Not looking for anything formal, just comparing notes really. If it's useful, I can put in 2-4 hrs a day helping out on actual takeoffs/BOQ/schedule stuff too, just to get more hands-on exposure to how it's done elsewhere. No pressure either way. Also open to any resources or communities you'd point me toward if you've got them.

Hey everyone! I am currently a pipefitter with 3 years of experience. I love the work but know I’d like to make a switch for the betterment of my family. I’ve been looking at various courses online. Do you guys have any recommendations for someone with no estimating experience? Not looking for any handouts or jobs, just some guidance.

A few older upper management/owner peeps kept the entire company from progress because they were afraid of the digital process. Smaller shop, 25 to 30 people and 5-8 million/year. They lost some data on an iPad in the field 10+ years ago and scarred them for life. The printing costs alone was roughly 6 figures/year for paper and ink on their nice ass Canon printer they have a 5 year contract with, and nothing was digitized for measuring or takeoffs. The storage for all these physical bidsets was insane, especially keeping all non-awarded bidsets for 18 months. This pic from late 2023 shows the extent to which I had to highlight so they can pin down blame for an item when something is inevitably missed when drafting comes along. I left over 6 months ago, and when I did they were just dipping their toes into Bluebeam, but not fully switched over. I was taught in a 100% digital environment so moving to a manual process at this company was always mind boggling and insanely frustrating, and I'm so glad I'm at a place now that is back to the norm of 100% digital.

I recently started to use Claude and have been very impressed with it's capabilities. Now I am wondering how best to use it in our estimating and project management rolls. I would appreciate any comments on other's experience with AI. Please let me know what has or has not worked for you. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I've been learning how to use PlanSwift, Bluebeam Revu, and CostX. I understand the software navigation and basic tools, but since I don't have professional estimating experience yet, I've mostly been relying on AI, online articles, and documentation to learn estimating principles and workflows.

At the moment, my biggest challenge is finding good practice materials. I don't have access to real project drawings or estimate templates, so it's difficult to build practical experience.

Would anyone be willing to point me in the right direction? I'm looking for things like:

• Sample residential or commercial drawing sets that I can practice takeoffs on
• Sample BOQs, estimate templates, or bid packages
• Any advice on how you learned estimating when you were starting out

I'm genuinely eager to learn and would really appreciate any guidance or resources you can share.

Thank you!

We need more songs about estimators

Recently have started estimating larger electrical projects(at least for me). We have been putting together a lot of bids lately and am worried I am going to piss off my suppliers with the amount of jobs I am throwing at them.

I’m relatively new to estimating, just starting to come out of the field. Is there a better way to get pricing on large gear/equipment assemblies then just sending your list to your supplier?

Hey everyone, new poster here. I have going on 15 years experience as a commercial mechanical and plumbing estimator for various contractors in Southern California and Tennessee, all sizes and types of projects (restaurants, hospitals, hotels, government/ military, etc). I am considering starting a 3rd party estimating firm (first as a side hustle, then possibly go full time if it works out). I figured this would be a good place to:

1. bounce the idea off of ya’ll and get some feedback on your experiences with 3rd party estimators (what makes them great and what makes them suck).
   
2. Throw it out there to anyone that may be looking for some extra help bidding mechanical and plumbing projects of any size. Feel free to DM me!

Looking forward to your responses!

I've been working for myself as a remodeler since I graduated high school. I'm 27 now. I don't think I want to chase work forever nor scale to a large company.

What's the best way I can enter into the field? I see course careers has a course on it. But I'm hoping some of you experts can help me. Thank you

I run a small real estate development company in the US, we build some single family homes and do a lot of flips. I’ve been thinking of hiring remote estimators maybe in Egypt or the Philippines (what other developers have recommended.) Maybe even in the US. I have only looked around on Upwork. Seems like most people have industrial or commercial experience. Any advice for me?

Bucees - Lafayette, LA

This is my first LA takeoff project I did for a new client of mine. This time around I am taking off EFIS. I have honestly never taken off EFIS but seems pretty straight forward since it only amounts to SF amounts. Made sure to include as much info. The architects on this one did a great job with the details. Shout out to them.

What is a good software in estimating irrigation dams, structures and canals. Mostly I use manual estimate with help of excel but I want my estimation be easier. Any suggestion?!

I don’t have an engineering degree. I graduated with a business degree. very unrelated.

I’ve been an estimator for six months. I like learning it but there’s no structure or little to no training at where I am now as I was promised. I even took a pay cut to pivot and learn. It’s been an upward battle since. I’ve traveled with PM’s at where I work and I want to eventually try to apply to entry level jobs at a GC and hopefully they train better. I don’t have guidance in my circle on how I can get there. Any advice?

Where can I learn in the meantime while I’m thinking of pivoting again in this tough job market? I want to avoid school if I can.

(Based in USA, open to moving anywhere)

Drawings are from the 90’s.

Im an architect working with a new estimator the past few projects (20M - 100M) and the design contingency dosnt drop below %15 once we hit %95 CDs. Can any estimator here share thier contingency percents from SD, DD and CD?

My previous estimator started at %10 for %100 SDs and proceeded to drop when the project developed further. Is this new estimator just covering his ass???

Hi everyone! I recently started with a new company, was asked to revamp the Precon department, and I'm very confident I can get this machine to new heights. However, the templates being used previously are astonishingly bad. Cells are not formulated correctly, just sloppy across the board and so time consuming to work with.

Does anyone have great templates that would provide the following within one workbook (not in this order):

- estimate summary

- qualifications

- detailed estimate

- bid leveling tabs with cells linked to the estimate

If not, could you point me in the right direction to have this sourced? Very much appreciated for your time! Anything is helpful.

Hi everyone,

I'm in my early 40s and work full-time as a construction estimator in Canada. I have about 3 years of estimating experience in Canada, along with many years of experience in architecture and project management before immigrating.

I'm thinking about trying Upwork as a way to earn some extra income in my spare time, but before investing time in building a profile, I'd like to hear from people who have experience with the platform.

A few questions:

1. Is it still possible for a newcomer to get clients, or is the platform too saturated?
2. How long did it take you to land your first project?
3. Did you start with lower rates to build reviews, or did you price yourself according to your experience?
4. Is Upwork worth the time compared with other freelance platforms?
5. As a freelancer based in Canada, did you have to provide your SIN (Social Insurance Number) to Upwork? If so, at what stage was it requested, and were you comfortable providing it?

I'm not looking for work through this post—I'm just trying to understand whether Upwork is still a good option before creating an account.

I'd appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thanks!

Hey all,
I am one year into being Div 26 estimator. Got hurt in the field and was lucky enough to be brought in to estimate. Since this was not my desired career, not really sure what I should be working towards and what my options are. Current company is roughly a 45-60 mill a year company based in the Phoenix metro area. I do really like doing this compared to previous jobs so not trying to leave the field.
Let me know what options and avenues yall think. Also is there any course work you recommend I take?
Thank you!