Electrical Estimating

[FlyWhale]

Hey folks, I hope everyone is doing well. I am seeking advice from the forums on estimating. I've read tons and tons of posts about estimating and I read a few books. I understand labor units and take-offs and what not. What I don't understand is how to properly calculate strut, nuts and bolts and rod...etc....
There are many different ways to run conduit, mount boxes and install hardware.
How does one calculate how much of miscellaneous hardware items?? For example.. Mike Holts Electrical Estimating is a great start but it says "either take off miscellaneous items or add 10%". Adding 10% seems like a big risk so I'm trying to learn a good method for taking off miscellaneous materials. I would greatly appreciate any help.

 

[Rick 0920]

Adding 10% to a multi-million dollar project will price you out of the ballpark. It's relatively easy to do a takeoff on these materials. You know you'll have strut below and above panels, figure runs down lengths of the buildings for trapezes. (building length divided by 8) 1 - 10' length of allthread for each 10' of strut. Fender washers, lock washers and hex nuts x 8 for each piece of strut. You will usually have hardware leftover and if you keep a great inventory and organized warehouse, you'll make money on that hardware twice at times.

 

[brantmacga]

You just have to draw it out or picture it in your head and note the dimensions and how many attachment points to calculate bolts/washers/nuts.

Conest intellibid has a strut rack assembly I use for estimating panel racks; you input the dimensions and it’ll create an assembly for it.

For support racks I just figure my linear runs around the building and give myself an extra 1”-3” for each conduit depending on size. If I know I’ve got to take 10x 1/2” conduits the length of the building, I figure 18”-24” of strut every 5’, and then however many feet I have to drop with rod, 2x beam clamps for each, etc etc.


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[Strathead]

Hey folks, I hope everyone is doing well. I am seeking advice from the forums on estimating. I've read tons and tons of posts about estimating and I read a few books. I understand labor units and take-offs and what not. What I don't understand is how to properly calculate strut, nuts and bolts and rod...etc....
There are many different ways to run conduit, mount boxes and install hardware.
How does one calculate how much of miscellaneous hardware items?? For example.. Mike Holts Electrical Estimating is a great start but it says "either take off miscellaneous items or add 10%". Adding 10% seems like a big risk so I'm trying to learn a good method for taking off miscellaneous materials. I would greatly appreciate any help.

This is one of the harder things to deal with. Whatever you do, it is not going to be how it is installed, and you will just have to live with it. If the job is mostly conduit secured to a wall of ceiling, I just use 1 mini and 1 anchor every 8 feet of conduit. For Feeders a rod mini 3 nuts 2 fender washer and a beam clamp every 8 feet. If everything has to hang I will use the rod min etc but at 10 feet for all, since I don't need that down a wall. I usually add 3% for misc material, but you would then need to know what I put in for string, tape, glue, screws, brackets strut to know if it works.

 

[FlyWhale]

This is one of the harder things to deal with. Whatever you do, it is not going to be how it is installed, and you will just have to live with it. If the job is mostly conduit secured to a wall of ceiling, I just use 1 mini and 1 anchor every 8 feet of conduit. For Feeders a rod mini 3 nuts 2 fender washer and a beam clamp every 8 feet. If everything has to hang I will use the rod min etc but at 10 feet for all, since I don't need that down a wall. I usually add 3% for misc material, but you would then need to know what I put in for string, tape, glue, screws, brackets strut to know if it works.

You just have to draw it out or picture it in your head and note the dimensions and how many attachment points to calculate bolts/washers/nuts.

Conest intellibid has a strut rack assembly I use for estimating panel racks; you input the dimensions and it’ll create an assembly for it.

For support racks I just figure my linear runs around the building and give myself an extra 1”-3” for each conduit depending on size. If I know I’ve got to take 10x 1/2” conduits the length of the building, I figure 18”-24” of strut every 5’, and then however many feet I have to drop with rod, 2x beam clamps for each, etc etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You just have to draw it out or picture it in your head and note the dimensions and how many attachment points to calculate bolts/washers/nuts.

Conest intellibid has a strut rack assembly I use for estimating panel racks; you input the dimensions and it’ll create an assembly for it.

For support racks I just figure my linear runs around the building and give myself an extra 1”-3” for each conduit depending on size. If I know I’ve got to take 10x 1/2” conduits the length of the building, I figure 18”-24” of strut every 5’, and then however many feet I have to drop with rod, 2x beam clamps for each, etc etc.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you guys for the advice. It sounds like I'd just have to get into it and measure and count. I'm down with that. I appreciate the help!