Electical Contractor

It's 6 pm as two estimators walk into a bar. They sit down, order a beer and start comparing takeoff techniques. The old estimator, who has been estimating more than 30 years, says, “I put all my counts on paper spreadsheets, then I enter them into the computer later.

McCormick Systems User’s Conference is set for April 2-5 in Tempe, Ariz. The event brings dozens of contractors and estimators together to talk with each other, speak with McCormick staff, and listen to presentations. Two full days of educational sessions are scheduled.

Regardless of size and type, disconnect switches are typically shown as the same, nondescript symbol. If you don’t find out and know everything you can about the disconnect switches you are estimating, you could be losing your company thousands of dollars and even a bid here and there.

If your schedule is anything like mine, you have tons of time to surf the Web and research all the new technology and features offered by the many different estimating software companies.

I have been told there is a coming storm in the electrical construction industry of which the impact will be felt far into the future. It’s the loss of our trained labor force.

I can hear youRfrustrated cries of “Part 2? When did he write Part 1?” Well, you need to keep up. It appeared in the June 2006 issue, and it was called “Estimating Blind.” If you don’t have that issue, visit www.ECmag.com, and enter the headline in the keyword search box. OK?

Questions every estimator should ask In every area of business, trends play a vital role in the analysis of what makes a business successful (or not) and predicting the possible future. As estimators, we play an important part in our company’s current state of business and its future.

McCormick Systems' annual user's conference generally informs attendees of its basic software package's "extras." As with Microsoft's Word, it's estimated most users only take advantage of 10 to 20 percent of the program's capabilities.