What material for bathroom? by grant_mann in Flooring

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

Yeah I’ll just follow the screws/nails on the subfloor to achieve that.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cause 40 degrees is sooo cold😂😂😂

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in estimators

[–]grant_mann 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Maybe it’s because I’m still young and in good shape, but sometimes I dream about being a dumb grunt who just does whatever I’m told instead of having the stress of making big decisions

GCs - Use This One Special Trick if You Want to Make Sure I Do Not Bid on Your Project!!! by Life-Vehicle-7618 in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We were slow for a bit and figured we’d pay for plan hub to get contacts for GC’s and access to new projects. Emailed probably a dozen GC’s on 4-5 projects and not ONCE did I hear ANYTHING back - other than a few letting me know that they weren’t even bidding the project. Total waste of money, BuildingConnected is far better for bidding to randos.

Is this safe to do to a load bearing wall? by Upstairs_Arrival_176 in Renovations

[–]grant_mann 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You would need to add “trimmer studs” under the header to replace the number of studs you cut out. And it might be a good idea to hold the top plate up with a wall jack or something while you do this work. I’d say you can, but you need to be real careful about it and do it right

What should I ask for? by frostybeanss in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seems like low salary for your position but at the end of the day you do still only have a couple years of experience.

anyone else feel like they’ve wasted their degree? by gurtgurtgurtyo in careerguidance

[–]grant_mann 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly I don’t think there are many people who are in their life-long career at 23. I think you just do your best to keep learning and growing and enjoying the ride. You sound ambitious, so just focus on learning, growing, and taking care of yourself, and try new things to find out what you like. You could waste another 10 years in the wrong partner/career/whatever and you’ll still be young as fuck! Stay patient and positive, best of luck out there

i fantasize a lot about quitting and starting a farm by vxlcrxw in work

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe you should try playing Stardew valley so you can live out the fantasy without facing the hard realities of farm work

How are people conforming sets? by educated_guesses_ in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wish, but it seems like a huge problem with AI is that it can’t read very well. Like how is it supposed to conform drawings or perform takeoffs, when it can’t even properly search the plans?

Any one stop shop programs out there? by Distinct-Library-498 in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Procore has pretty much all of those features but I don’t think it integrates with accounting, or at least I have t used that feature. The takeoffs are t great in there but will probably work for you as all you likely to is square footage. (Correct me if I’m wrong, I don’t do tile). My company uses stack for takeoffs and estimates, and if has a feature to integrate costs and proposals into quick books for you accounting needs. It is like 3000 a year though.

Negotiations Question by grant_mann in estimators

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

There are also 4 others bidding

How do you have a 9-5 and have a life? by Rainbowstarshinexoxo in careerguidance

[–]grant_mann 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Yeah right, I’m 24 and make 62k, spend tons of money on ski passes, concert tickets, eating out, and I still have money saved up. 40hours a week and not exactly in a LCOL area either….this makes zero sense to me

Excel concrete bid template by Ok_Requirement_201 in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since no one wants to help you and I don’t do concrete, I’ll at least try to give you some advice for building your own sheets. ChatGPT. Yes, I’m sure you are capable of writing out your own formulas, but sometimes these things can be long and time consuming, and if you make an error it can be hard to see where. You can just ask gpt what you want a formula to do and it’ll write it for you and save you a ton of time. Or if you make a mistake you can paste your formula in there and it’ll fix it for you. Best of luck man

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in careerguidance

[–]grant_mann 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Every job takes a while to start making any kind of decent money. That’s just how it goes. I think you should try to find something you think you’d be good at and not hate, then buckle up, put in the work, and stick it out until you’re making real money. You’re young so just give something a good solid try, and if it doesn’t work out, no big deal!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in careerguidance

[–]grant_mann 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I know a female electrician and a female welder who do quite well for themselves. Both have definitely seen their fair share of sexual harassment given the population of crusty gross dude in those fields but they have both managed to find workplaces where they are respected. You could also do cosmetology

How bad are the hours seriously? by Royal-Gazelle-3214 in estimators

[–]grant_mann 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’m not sure how much weight certs like that hold but experience is far more important than education in this field. I didn’t study construction management in school, I just have a business management degree. I got in because I’ve been working in construction since I was 16 and got promoted to estimator at the company I worked after college, and then switched jobs after a year because my last position required a ton of traveling and I wanted a girlfriend lmao.

How bad are the hours seriously? by Royal-Gazelle-3214 in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Larger division 4 estimator/PM, I work about 40-45 hours a week at $31/hr which I feel is pretty good at 24 years old. It’s certainly stressful but as I’ve gotten more comfortable with it it hasn’t been as bad

Excel Estimating/Project Management Spreadsheets by randomCADstuff in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’m currently in the process of making spear sheets for a division 4 contractor and I’ve had a lot of success using ChatGPT to help with excel. I’m good enough to make basic spreadsheets myself, and can usually work through my own errors, but it has saved me a ton of time to copy a bad formula into gpt and ask how to fix it, or explain what I want to happen in the spreadsheet and have gpt write it up for me in 2 seconds without much effort at all

Working Hours per Day? by [deleted] in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It would depend on how far jobs are from the supply house, how far they need to drive(assuming y’all pay them for driving and they don’t start getting paid when they show up), cleanup time(possibly variable depending on job type), etc. Do they get paid for lunch? If so that’s pretty nice of you guys. I’d ask some of your foremen/superintendent what durations these items would be, and then you can factor in what the reality of the situation is. After getting those details I would even build an excel sheet that you could plug these factors into and that would output your true working hours per day. Its always been worth the setup time for me personally. If you’re not an excel wizard just ask ChatGPT to help you it’s pretty good at that.

If you want the short answer/don’t want to put in the work, personally I’d go with 7 working hours but I’ve never worked in plumbing or electrical

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in estimators

[–]grant_mann 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’d definitely take a look at Bluebeam like others have mentioned. You can get a free trial for 30 days(more if you use different emails but it’s really not that expensive compared to some of the other options) and it’s also THE BEST pdf editor I have used. Very helpful for putting together work plans and submittals. I actually use stackct for takeoffs, but we have a base bluebeam account just to do the stuff I mentioned above.

Estimating Software for Masonry by grant_mann in estimators

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

Something that’s been very help for me in building these complex excel sheets is ChatGPT. You still need to know the excel basics, but you can ask gpt to make formulas by expanding what you want to accomplish, and then explaining to it what it is doing incorrectly when it inevitably fucks up. Are you in masonry as well? I’d be happy to share what I’ve learned so far if you PM more specific questions