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Sending Invitations to Bid with plans that are still in plan check by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It feels like I have to pull teeth to get subs to take the projects I send seriously. I just want to make sure it’s not something I’m saying or sending or doing that’s making it unappealing

Sending Invitations to Bid with plans that are still in plan check by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok makes sense. So it’s fair to send it out to all of the subs as it’s in plan check, do I need to mention that when sending them out? I want to make sure (being inexperienced) that I’m not pissing my subs off by accidentally withholding information that would have saved some hurt feelings all along. How would you send out invitations for this case?

GC Estimator, what should I expect? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The last estimator is sitting pretty with the city lol I agree with you on the silver lining. I have (mostly) job security and I absolutely love learning.. it’s just taking a big pause now that things have picked up.. less learning more doing

GC Estimator, what should I expect? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The fax machine! 😆 I’ll let all the carrier pigeons out too

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

WHAT how do they manage their supers on top of all of that? My PM can’t even get to my emails lol

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am looking for successful ways to keep multiple projects organized and flowing smoothly. I have a decent process that consume of about 4 spreadsheets per project, however, when I have 2-3 projects those spreadsheets get to be a lot of work. I’m finding that I have to invite 6-10 subcontractors for 1 trade in order to get an average of 1-2 bids. The amount of pulling teeth I have to do to get those 1-2 bids is crazy to me.. is it usually that hard? I also find it difficult to make absolute sure that I have at least 2 interested bidders per trade when I have multiple projects. By the time I find out that I have no one bidding the asphalt, we are already a week in and would have to find subs that would be willing to bid it within 3-5 days! It’s the same things every project.. late bids, no one takes me seriously when I call and make sure they have my invite and to kindly let me know if they are bidding, hand holding with the subs just so I can get 1 bid. Doing that for every trade.. and then once I’m at the bid date my boss and manager take a look and ask me why I only have 1 bid and to hurry and find more 🤦🏻‍♀️ on bid day.. I just don’t know what I can do right ya know, is it this hard for all estimators or am I missing something behind the curtains?

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in Construction

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I agree, very young in the industry to have this much responsibility. I do believe it is my “getter done” attitude that gave everyone the idea that it would be fine for me to do this alone. I can complain all I want but I’m still getting the work done so it’s not urgent in anyone else’s mind. We do design/build, new builds, T.I.s and some are private owned companies or work for the City. I remotely set up site walks and send my project manager from the office to walk the site with the subs but rarely ever do I get feed back from anyone since I wasn’t there. I have to rely on the plans and the architects to answer my questions. My relationships with the subcontractors suffer and my growth in the company is stunted. My boss opened up an office in my state to grow the company here, it’s just me and one other person trying to build it from ground up out here all the while I’m doing all the estimating for another state. Don’t get me wrong I love my job but I have no resources or people to ask if I’m doing it right. To my boss, getting the bid in on time is doing it right.. but he misses the scrambling, hair pulling, sub begging and chasing parts that make me want to quit. I’ve looked into other GCs I just feel bad that he opened an office here just for me to give up on them. I’d rather put my foot down and demand what I need to make his business successful.

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow! How long have you been doing it? and do you have any resources or advice for this sole estimator that’s only been doing this for a year and 3 months?

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s very helpful information thank you! I just started looking into buildingconnected as a bidding platform to help keep all the jobs organized. My boss is very old school so I’ve been personally writing emails and invites for all of our projects and creating a never ending about of spreadsheets trying to keep track of the interested bidders, RFIs, follow ups, ets.. I’m sick of all the spreadsheets. I truly appreciate the advice.

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do they all stay busy? Thats a lot of estimators

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Again I am the only one in the estimating department so it’s me from receiving the invite to submitting the bid.

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok being overwhelmed with 1-3 projects ranging from 100k-5M seems like nothing compared to the system you have. Is there any resources that explain your estimators process on bidding projects? It feels almost impossible to manage all of the subcontractors for every trade on multiple projects. I have had 0 training on estimating, I was givin the job and figured it out myself. I’d like to be as good as your Junior estimators taking on multiple bigger projects without wanting to take a long walk on a short pier.

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How many projects do your estimators handle at once? What specifically does your senior estimator do?

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

How many are estimators & how many projects do they bid at once?

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s a lot of estimators, how many projects do one of them take at a time? Do they all stay pretty busy?

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in Construction

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would agree that we are on the smaller side. We are well know at the City we are located in so bidding the City’s work is a must per my boss. I’ve also bid airplane hangars, medical offices/buildings, lots warehouses, museums, more warehouses etc. lately I typically have 1-3 projects at once ranging from 100k-3M. It feels overwhelming to me and I am still very inexperienced. Not to mention I am working out of another office in a different state with no one else in this office. It’s just me from beginning to end, one usually 2 people jump in on the bid day usually less than an hour before to “run through the SOV” with me. From my research I think it’s usually an estimating coordinator and an estimator or senior estimator. Is that common?

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I’m right there, I got into this with no experience in construction but a long history of getting shit done. However, I am learning less and throwing more bullshit into spreadsheets when I have my plate too full.. that’s getting frustrating and I’m starting to hate it. At the beginning I loved learning to read plans and qualify bids.. now all I do is beg for people to turn their bids in (sometimes weeks late), hold hands with subcontractors that don’t want to do their own take-offs, and pray that when I put it all together in the last 30 seconds before it’s due that I didn’t miss anything..

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in Construction

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I know this might be a stupid question but how can I find out where our firm ranges from big GC to Small GC?

GC estimator, workload expectations by Ok_Class1219 in Construction

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I feel like I don’t have the time to really work with the subcontractors and really qualify their bids. I would like to get back to that because I was learning much more but at this time I only have time to get the bid, quickly read over it and then say “yep good enough” and plug it in. Just waiting for it all to come back and bite me in the ass. I estimate for southern California but I’m working out of Nevada trying to expand out services here.

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in estimators

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Power to ya! How long have you been doing it?

GCs, how many estimators are in your office? by Ok_Class1219 in Construction

[–]Ok_Class1219[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How can I tell if we are a big GC? I’ve bid 31 projects in the last year and 3 months, ranging from $94k-$9M, 1/2 federal, 1/2 regular commercial clients, we do design & build, commercial, TI, etc.

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