Estimating

 
Know Your Scope
by
Stan Shook
| March 2007
| under

What you don’t know can hurt your company: Knowing your company’s complete scope of work is critical to successfully estimating a project; simply studying the electrical design and reading the electrical specification is not good enough.

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Another Year of Estimating Passes
by
Stan Shook
| January 2007
| under

What's the plan this year?

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Big Bad Bid Day
December 2006
| under

How to review your bid, part 3: Note to estimators: I write this article assuming you have finished and reviewed your takeoff (see part 1, October 2006), and ran and reviewed all of your extensions (see part 2, November 2006); if you haven’t, you will need to accelerate the following to Warp 10.

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Almost Last Chance: The Extension
by
Stan Shook
| November 2006
| under

How to review: part 2 My previous article discussed how you should review your takeoff. Now I am going to discuss how to review the byproduct of your takeoff: extensions. No speed-reading allowed And no interruptions! Reviewing your extensions requires calm, steady, uninterrupted focus.

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Bidding an IBS Job
by
Deborah L. O'Mara
| November 2006
| under

 

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The Birthplace of Mistakes
by
Stan Shook
| October 2006
| under

How to review during the takeoff I SOMETIMES GET AHEAD OF MYSELF when I write these articles. In my April article, I discussed what you should do when you find one of your mistakes. But I never told you how to avoid making mistakes. Nobody can.

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Estimating the NECA Show
by
Stan Shook
| September 2006
| under

New labor-saving products are out there In just a few short weeks, the NECA Show, hosted by the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), will be underway in Boston. Are you attending? Will your estimators be attending?

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For Nate
by
Stan Shook
| August 2006
| under

Electrical estimating is a tough, involved subject to teach and a very hard subject to learn. This is not a class they teach in high school or in most colleges, if any. Heck, I don’t recall the word “estimating” ever being said at career day.

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Estimators Wanted: Alive, Not Dead
by
Stan Shook
| July 2006
| under

Estimators come in all shapes and sizes. Most I have met are not very athletic, except for a few golf games between bids. I’m sure there are many who are very athletic, but let’s face it—on any given day, our most strenuous moment is lifting a 40-pound set of drawings onto our workstation.

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Estimating Blind
by
Stan Shook
| June 2006
| under

As the economy stands on firmer ground, privately funded buildings are coming back to life, bringing a surge of design-build projects with it. This is very good news for estimators, because more buildings mean more work to bid on and win for the company.

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Pay Your Fees!
by
Stan Shook
| May 2006
| under

It is already the month of May—I know, I can’t believe it either—and the feeling of spring is in the air. Spring typically means warmer weather, longer days to get the estimates done and, of course, your annual tech support fees are due.

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Estimating Software Update
by
Stan Shook
| May 2006
| under

The upgrades are coming! The upgrades are coming! Yes, it is time for your favorite estimating software company to release its thoroughly beta-tested new features and much anticipated repairs of any bugs and glitches.

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What if You Find a Mistake ...
by
Stan Shook
| April 2006
| under

We all make mistakes. After all, we are human, aren’t we? Flesh and blood, instinct and intellect—we can’t be just computer chips and software, calculators and ScaleMasters. Yes, estimators are only human, and we make mistakes. But don’t tell your boss; that is, unless you actually make a mistake.

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Are Your Estimators Bored?
March 2006
| under

Estimating can get boring. Count, count, count—highlight all the little symbols, color all the lines red, enter the counts into the computer. Clicking the days away, one job at a time. It is nobody’s fault—any job can become tedious.

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Hire an Outsource Estimator
by
Stan Shook
| February 2006
| under

In this highly competitive industry, you need to bid more work than you are capable of doing. Most of this work comes with unforgiving deadlines and requires many hours of estimating. Hours you don’t have. Estimators you don’t have.

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Are You Ready?
by
Stan Shook
| January 2006
| under

In my December column, I recommended you review last year’s estimating strategy. By examining what worked and the reasons for losses, you understand how to be more successful next year. Well, guess what? It is next year and the estimating clock started ticking two weeks ago.

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The Year’s Estimate
by
Stan Shook
| December 2005
| under

My final thoughts for 2005 are for all the owners, chief and senior estimators out there—the team leaders who bear the responsibility of determining which direction their estimating department will take their company.

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Facing the Genesis: MasterFormat 2004
by
Lewis Tagliaferre
| November 2005
| under

A leading architecture/engineering member of the CSI revision team (who requested anonymity) described the genesis of the change to MasterFormat 2004 this way: “Division 16 was used to describe means and methods of lighting and distribution of power in buildings.

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Building Your Estimating Database
by
Stan Shook
| November 2005
| under

Even with the best software, training and proficient users-a program is only as good as its parts database. A parts database must be accurately built and consistently managed. Just like your company trucks, it is an important tool.

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Estimating the Reconstruction
by
Stan Shook
| October 2005
| under

The destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina is unfathomable to me. To think about the reconstruction seems premature and pointless; a self-serving distraction to take my mind away from the tragedy. But as Americans, this is what we do, and I believe it is why this country succeeds.

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