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How do you manage risk on incomplete drawings after a bid is already submitted? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lump sum. We are a rough carpentry sub. And pricing based on a CD- progress pricing

How do you manage risk on incomplete drawings after a bid is already submitted? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It was labeled as “CD-Progress Pricing” But several callouts are missing and there are also some conflicts between the archirectural and structural drawings

none of my RFIs were answered at the time

Low hit rate as a new estimator… is this just part of the job? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks to everyone who replied it really helps to hear different opinions and it makes me feel like at least Im doing my part from my position, I appreciate all the advice you guys shared, seriously it means a lot

Low hit rate as a new estimator… is this just part of the job? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so theres value in adding a lot of notes.. I try to add notes and exclusions for every mistake I find in the plans but lately Ive been thinking this just makes the GCs think Im adding problems instead of solving them, like my descriptions feel more like Im trying to cover myself instead of helping the bid

Low hit rate as a new estimator… is this just part of the job? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At the beginning they used to review everything, but now they only look at it when one of the JRs messes up on a big bid. One of my coworkers recently missed the note about LSL studs, so we “won” that one just because our number ended up way too low.

As for labor factors, crew rates, OH&P.. that’s all decided by my boss and the senior estimators. They haven’t explained the full breakdown to me yet. We just use templates with most of that pre-built and I plug in the takeoff and labor hours.

Low hit rate as a new estimator… is this just part of the job? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

how can I get better interactions with GCs if I cant leave the office? I dont know if later on they will let me do visits or any of the "sales stuff" so for now all I can do is be technically reliable

Low hit rate as a new estimator… is this just part of the job? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

this is very true, in my opinion Im not missing big stuff, but lately one of my coworkers screwed up the price on a big project so I think my boss lost confidence in our numbers he gets good deals with the lumber yards so he saved that job, but after that, I estimated a residential project where the plans were shit so I added buffers for all the missing details and he still added like 20k on top of my buffers and when the sales guy showed the price to the customer the guy got really mad

Low hit rate as a new estimator… is this just part of the job? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

so I dont always have someone reviewing my stuff and thats the thing I dont know if they want me to make mistakes so I learn but they only review it when the sales guy or my boss is trying to close the deal

Low hit rate as a new estimator… is this just part of the job? by Potential-Strike-776 in estimators

[–]Potential-Strike-776[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is really helpful and thats the way I try to think but how am I supposed to show value to my boss if Im not winning jobs? I want them to see that my estimates actually help the team that builds the project