Milton Fineline has been chief estimator for Altair Electric (a fictional entity) for over 17 years. He has earned a reputation for detailed accuracy, meticulousness and good judgment, although he has had little experience...

I recently became aware of a significant problem with material pricing. Reviewing an estimate I prepared, I found that a few nuts and bolts made up more than 50% of the entire material cost for the project. These particular...

You know that brief euphoria you get when the takeoff is complete? You sit back, take a deep breath, and then the bubble bursts. You realize you still have to manually input the takeoff into your estimating system.In the past...

An electrical estimator has to deal with a lot of people, including general contractors, engineers and architects. Many estimators interact with vendors. How they treat those vendors can make a world of difference.An ethics...

With their vast capabilities, emerging building information modeling (BIM) technologies continue to challenge and transform the construction industry. BIM software can operate in the cloud, conduct virtual design...

For each forward-looking company that embraces building information modeling (BIM), tablets and time-capture technologies, there are two or three who still use spreadsheets to estimate and paper for daily reports and...

To get an idea of how estimators operate, we continue last month’s discussion with H. Tom Browning, vice president, preconstruction of The Truland Group Inc., about how estimating work continues to develop and change.How has...

Every contractor runs projects in a slightly different manner. The Truland Group Inc. has a high project base and large portfolio. Talking with H. Tom Browning, vice president, Preconstruction, about how business has evolved...

The challenges associated with electrical contracting are great and varied. Of course, estimating is one of the most crucial aspects of the process. It requires close attention to detail, an ability to analyze drawings and...

Many estimators in today’s market attempt to bid any and all projects regardless of the type of work. The company’s need to secure work can cause some estimators to lose sight of one of the primary goals of an educated bid...

Competitive bidding in today’s electrical construction market is one of the most frustrating and challenging tasks the electrical estimator faces. Fewer projects to bid coupled with more competitors makes preparing a...

There’s a lot to learn from stories. In our industry, there are many stories being told: crazy, scary stories about bids and deadlines, addendums and job walks. Stories like, “One time I forgot to enter the feeder conduits...

This article is for all you junior and associate estimators who are trying to decide what you want to be and do for the next 30-plus years of your lives. I’ll begin with a simple but very serious question: Do you want to be a...

I only have 1,200 words to tell you as much as I can about some of the best estimating software programs available on the market, so I’m not going to waste any of them chitchatting. Let’s get started in alphabetical order...

This article is for all the junior and associate estimators out there whose estimating clocks have run out. Your time is up. Addendum 7 isn’t coming, and that bid extension is not going to happen. It’s time to wrap everything...

With this last article on paperless estimating, I want to touch on a few of the greater benefits and potential issues you may face. I’m hoping some of you have already purchased and are now using “in-screen” takeoff (IST)...

Bid day is the most critical moment of your estimate. It is the time when you work with numbers and calculations, which can affect the entire job, not just the single installation. So when mistakes happen, they can be severe...

Although I never recommend it, estimators are often forced to work on more than one project at a time. This is especially true in today’s highly competitive and light-on-opportunities market. It is also very common with...