Estimating goals for 2014

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Greenboy

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Seattle, WA
Regarding revenue, I want to set goals for the 2014 year.

I've been in the trade for 15 years, and project managing for 5 years. I was asked to take a role as an estimator. For the past 2 months I've been a dedicated estimator, and landed a $15K project. Now, if I do the math, I can't see myself being successful bringing in only $90K worth of revenue for my company.

What is a good goal that I can set for myself to be successful with my company. I am hoping that this discussion lead me into the direction where I can author a business plan for my myself for the year 2014 to set my goals.

Primarily we do commercial new construction and TI work. Last year our company had $15 MM of work. We have 4 Senior estimators, each bringing in approximately $4 MM of work each. Any suggestion will help.
 
Regarding revenue, I want to set goals for the 2014 year.

I've been in the trade for 15 years, and project managing for 5 years. I was asked to take a role as an estimator. For the past 2 months I've been a dedicated estimator, and landed a $15K project. Now, if I do the math, I can't see myself being successful bringing in only $90K worth of revenue for my company.

What is a good goal that I can set for myself to be successful with my company. I am hoping that this discussion lead me into the direction where I can author a business plan for my myself for the year 2014 to set my goals.

estimating 5 mil worth of work isn't the goal.
you can look impressive as hell spinning in your chair, and it doesn't do squat.

winning the bids on 5 mil worth of work isn't the goal.
blowing a bid badly enough can kill a company.
that is why you are bidding little jobs. it's training wheels time.
be grateful for it. your handlers are watching you to see if they
trust you with their company. that's what it amounts to.

getting $500k worth of work at 24% net profit is a good goal, IMNSHO
you paid your keep, sharpened your skills, and brought some food in
to feed the other people.

i just finished a written inventory. i like written inventories. they give
you an accurate assessment of the stock in trade, so you can discard
things that don't work, promptly, and without regret. or maybe a little
regret.... but not too much regret.

i inventoried a customer i've had for 3 years. i've quoted a bit of work
for him. i ran a report, and printed out the quotes.

i've quoted 29 jobs for him in three years, totaling $107k. service truck
work basically, one day jobs mostly.

i've gotten 4 of them, totaling about $3k. and my prices are excellent....
so that means i'm just the 1-800 dialafreeestimatetoknockdownapriceguy

however, the four that i've gotten, have led to billing of $119,000 so far,
and one of those led to another customer, with a schedule of work around
$1.5M over the next four years. there is no reason, unless i screw up pretty
bad, that i won't be the person doing that work.

i've gotten everything i've quoted for these four customers. all are repeating customers.
i quote them for what they want done, they send a PO#, i schedule the work,
send in the invoice, and get paid net 30, mostly. :lol:

so, was all those "wasted" bids a waste? the way i look at it, i've done enough
bids on the 405 freeway, that i can quote most anything at 64 MPH unless it's
over about $6k, then i have to stop and pause a bit.

so this customer taught me how to shotgun bid without changing lanes, not
lose money on the work, and directed me to excellent customers without
him finding it necessary to participate in my income summary.

i'd lend him to you so you could get the bidding lessons he's taught me, but i
can't let him go.....

he's my most valuable customer.

enjoy the ride.

-btw, a local shop in my area that's been around since the 1950's, nice
25 man shop, hasn't won a bid in six months. not one. everyone is sitting
at home, and there is NOTHING in the pipeline. and nothing on the horizon.

this is the market you are working in now. i don't care what number you
write down, someone will fall on their sword to take it away from you.

if you can simply survive as an estimator right here, right now, and get any
work at all at a decent profit margin, consider yourself very very ok.
 
i've gotten everything i've quoted for these four customers. all are repeating customers.
i quote them for what they want done, they send a PO#, i schedule the work,
send in the invoice, and get paid net 30, mostly. :lol:

so, was all those "wasted" bids a waste? the way i look at it, i've done enough
bids on the 405 freeway, that i can quote most anything at 64 MPH unless it's
over about $6k, then i have to stop and pause a bit.

so this customer taught me how to shotgun bid without changing lanes, not
lose money on the work, and directed me to excellent customers without
him finding it necessary to participate in my income summary.

Can you do those 64MPH quotes on the motorcycle or do you have to be in your work vehicle?:D
 
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