estimate cross checks

[twowatt]

Does anyone know of any cross checks for after a bid is prepared?
example what percentage of the total bid is the feeders?

 

[480sparky]

Considering that projects don't have feeders, and some are rife with them, it's not easy to say that xx% should be feeders.

You can, however, check your total pipe lengths with total wire lengths, number of fittings, boxes, etc.

 

[nakulak]

for what ?
an outhouse ? an airport ? a condo building ? a bar ? a coal plant ?

 

[mdshunk]

About the only cross-check I normally do is to do some math and get a see what the square foot cost ends up being.

 

[e57]

Have your top guy walk through it with you.... If he says "Oh man - you're out of your mind..." under his breath - ask why..... :grin:

 

[bradleyelectric]

assuming new construction commercial, the only thing I give a quick look at is basic materials should be pretty close to labor before burden.

 

[ITO]

1) Square foot prices as compared to other similar jobs.
2) Break out gear, lights, and branch for comparison. (yes there is a formula this, its not rocket surgery)
3) Look at total man hours as compared to projected job length.
4) Quadruple check your feeders, and make sure you have enough wire.
5) Make sure your bid number is divisible by 3. (just for good luck)

 

[cdslotz]

Margin $/man hr
Average Manload
Sell Price per sq/ft
Direct labor hrs per sq/ft
Material $ per sq/ft
Margin $/Direct labor $ (this gives you risk protection on labor overruns)
Material and Subs/ labor $ ratio

 

[JeffD]

Make a spreadsheet that will have project name, sf, year. Then list the total $/sf and the $/sf for each subsystem you want to track, I track all of them because of the type of job I'm in. You will also have to be able to index it for inflation. ENR and Turner Construction has inflation indexes for construction. You may want to put this number in instead of the year since that is really what you are concerned about. Also as already mentioned you can do labor hours/sf. I only do that for the entire job never per subsystem. It is best if you get your own history and data because only you know what kind of jobs you do and what each number actually contains. Using other people's information can get you into trouble if you aren't carefull. Is that before or after taxes, mark-up, what is the labor rate, where do they put what material, that kind of stuff. Once you have a few years of this info you will have very valuable knowledge and be able to do conceptual budgeting for people.

 

[macmikeman]

I'd check this link http://www.kitcometals.com/charts/copper_historical.htmlout for a look at how important it is to get a firm supplier quote on the wire prices, or else get a surcharge clause written into your proposal. Notice the 5 year high, and even if your estimate is exactly right on the money, it does little good if the cost of the wire swings up fast, which in todays market is a likely event.

 

[Lxnxjxhx]

Make a spreadsheet

Make a spreadsheet

Absolutely.
Nobody can do that much tedious math that many ways without hair-pulling and errors. There will be a setup/debug period but once it's ticking it's very fast.