Estimating Services

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I think a couple of people here are missing Fulthrotl's point especially as it relates to the OP. This thread isn't supposed to be about a bad lighting submittal it is about contracting an estimator, and his point about that was BE CAREFUL. In my experience all estimates are wrong if you look at them a certain way. We just pray that the minus wrongs and the plus wrongs balance out.
 
n my experience all estimates are wrong if you look at them a certain way. We just pray that the minus wrongs and the plus wrongs balance out.
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Every estimate I've ever done, is exactly correct in my mind, or it doesn't leave the office.
I would never go into a job praying.
Which is to my point....if you can't estimate, how do you know the person you hired or contracted to do it is accurate?
Every company I have ever worked for, the owner, the company administrators, the PM's, are ALL ex estimators
 
cdslotz said:
Every estimate I've ever done, is exactly correct in my mind, or it doesn't leave the office.
I would never go into a job praying.
Which is to my point....if you can't estimate, how do you know the person you hired or contracted to do it is accurate?
Every company I have ever worked for, the owner, the company administrators, the PM's, are ALL ex estimators
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If that was the case you would be an exactimator. I assume you pay exactly what you use for you price fore every component, account perfectly for waste and lost time, etc. Of course you don't. I have been estimating for years. I still wonder, "Oh no, what did I miss?" when I get that call that says I landed one. I also think, "How could they possibly do it for that?" regularly when someone else beats me. I would be truly concerned if you were actually that sure of your estimates.​
 
Strathead said:
If that was the case you would be an exactimator. ​
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I don't think he meant they're correct to the penny, I think he was trying to say you don't send a bid out a cross your fingers that you're not at risk of sinking the company. That's how I took it at least, and I agree. I wouldn't send something out if I didn't think I had everything covered.



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brantmacga said:
I don't think he meant they're correct to the penny, I think he was trying to say you don't send a bid out a cross your fingers that you're not at risk of sinking the company. That's how I took it at least, and I agree. I wouldn't send something out if I didn't think I had everything covered.



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Nor did I mean that praying or "crossing your fingers" was because you didn't bother to put together a viable estimate, yet he wrote a response that was implying that was what I meant. In my fairly extensive experience, if you are sure you have everything covered, (as opposed to thinking so), then you are probably not going to win many jobs.
 
I am well aware it has been a month since I posted my question and fortunately I had someone send me a direct message right away who has taken care of what I need which was a take off AND an estimate on labor hours. Some posters seem to have missed that it was more than just a take off.

Regardless, this is a classic example why I do not come here for help very often. 3 pages of replies and not a single person recommended a company that would do a take off and estimate. Why in the world did any of you reply in the first place??? Stick to the topic, help out the original poster with the question they have. Don't go off on tangents amongst yourselves or question why the original poster is asking the question in the first place. Either offer advice or ask for a bit more information to provide a correct answer or move on. Don't worry about the size job I am asking help for. Saying it's too small is relative to the contractor. The question was simple...does anyone know of a firm that offers a service to provide a take off and estimate of labor hours. My favorite was the 2nd person who replied with "No, don't know anybody". You replied to a question in the forum just to say you don't have an answer??
 
Estimating Services

gsurace said:
. My favorite was the 2nd person who replied with "No, don't know anybody". You replied to a question in the forum just to say you don't have an answer??
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Cash me ousside


I also asked you what restaurant you are trying to bid, to which you never replied, because that's literally 90% of what I do and there's a chance if it were a national brand I would've had a take off for that done .

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gsurace said:
I am well aware it has been a month since I posted my question and fortunately I had someone send me a direct message right away who has taken care of what I need which was a take off AND an estimate on labor hours. Some posters seem to have missed that it was more than just a take off.

Regardless, this is a classic example why I do not come here for help very often. 3 pages of replies and not a single person recommended a company that would do a take off and estimate. Why in the world did any of you reply in the first place??? Stick to the topic, help out the original poster with the question they have. Don't go off on tangents amongst yourselves or question why the original poster is asking the question in the first place. Either offer advice or ask for a bit more information to provide a correct answer or move on. Don't worry about the size job I am asking help for. Saying it's too small is relative to the contractor. The question was simple...does anyone know of a firm that offers a service to provide a take off and estimate of labor hours. My favorite was the 2nd person who replied with "No, don't know anybody". You replied to a question in the forum just to say you don't have an answer??
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So, someone did answer your question, and right away. So, your justification for coming here is not valid. I know how to do a Google search, and I assumed you did as well. I would be hard pressed to be willing to recommend anyone for something so personal as an electrical estimate. As I have stated in the past, I am considered a fairly good estimator in my area, and I wouldn't recommend me to someone contracting it out, mostly because if I hired someone else to do an estimate, I would not likely be happy with the results. Several people here responded with cautions and others asked clarification questions that you didn't answer, also, so why do you feel we should rush to do a Google search for you?
 
Why in the world did any of you reply in the first place???
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Because it's important for you to know how estimating services work

I did get off track with that lighting thing, but I stand by my first response, which was....

If you are not an estimator, how do you verify it's accuracy? Because it is up to YOU to verify this. If they left something out, or used the wrong column of labor units.......It's all on YOU.

Also I asked why you would use a service for such small jobs?
 
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