Help with estimating a basic retail store out of town.

[electriciansnet]

Been talking with this GC that has several retail stores locally and out of town. I told him I would not consider unless I knew his electrical budget and average so he sent some of that over. I came up with a much different number than his provided documentation. A few years ago I would have found a way to get to his number but this is a different time and I'm a little wiser.
I don't take much stock in his 10 store carrot at the end of the stick but I am a little hard headed and my numbers could be off.

I wonder how much it would cost for a seasoned estimator to review my numbers and see how close we can get to his budget??

Anyone interested?

 

[petersonra]

There are companies that are very good at doing specific things for less than others. They know exactly what to do and how to go about doing it. They know how to wring every penny of cost out.

They are very hard to compete with when they are in their sweet spot.

We have a customer that has another supplier for a specific requirement for a control panel. We are consistently higher than them on this particular kind of panel, even when we cut to the bone. Away from that sweet spot, we do pretty well against this supplier.

 

[iwire]

There are companies that are very good at doing specific things for less than others. They know exactly what to do and how to go about doing it. They know how to wring every penny of cost out.

They are very hard to compete with when they are in their sweet spot.

Very true, the company I work for did at least a couple dozen Lowes stores and knew just what it took. Same with large supermarkets, we have done tons of those. We also have a crew very good at large site utility projects.

 

[zbang]

(Not trying to hijack the thread, just being philosophical on a Saturday morning.)

I don't doubt it, but why do you think this is? Because normal & customary things for this type of project or client aren't on the plans? Better familiarity with certain codes? Better understanding the order the work needs to be done? Specific things about the other trades involved? Have or rent special tools to make things easier?

I'm not thinking of the usual resi/commercial/industrial split; I'm more thinking about the more narrow ones like big-box & grocery stores or petersonra's control panels.

 

[lakeview100]

Estimating a retail store

Estimating a retail store

I can take a look at the project and provide an estimate.

I am an Estimator for commercial EC's. I've done all kinds of retail stores.


MT

Been talking with this GC that has several retail stores locally and out of town. I told him I would not consider unless I knew his electrical budget and average so he sent some of that over. I came up with a much different number than his provided documentation. A few years ago I would have found a way to get to his number but this is a different time and I'm a little wiser.
I don't take much stock in his 10 store carrot at the end of the stick but I am a little hard headed and my numbers could be off.

I wonder how much it would cost for a seasoned estimator to review my numbers and see how close we can get to his budget??

Anyone interested?

 

[electriciansnet]

(Not trying to hijack the thread, just being philosophical on a Saturday morning.)

I don't doubt it, but why do you think this is? Because normal & customary things for this type of project or client aren't on the plans? Better familiarity with certain codes? Better understanding the order the work needs to be done? Specific things about the other trades involved? Have or rent special tools to make things easier?

I'm not thinking of the usual resi/commercial/industrial split; I'm more thinking about the more narrow ones like big-box & grocery stores or petersonra's control panels.

Repetition mostly I guess.
Crude example but we don't wire new homes. I would never consider trying to bid against the handful of ECs in our area that do.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Been talking with this GC that has several retail stores locally and out of town. I told him I would not consider unless I knew his electrical budget and average so he sent some of that over. I came up with a much different number than his provided documentation. A few years ago I would have found a way to get to his number but this is a different time and I'm a little wiser.
I don't take much stock in his 10 store carrot at the end of the stick but I am a little hard headed and my numbers could be off.

I wonder how much it would cost for a seasoned estimator to review my numbers and see how close we can get to his budget??

Anyone interested?

why, in all honesty, would you want to take a number
where surviving the job becomes the goal....?

out of town entails all sorts of expenses that you don't
see playing in your home neighborhood, from subsistence
for crews, to local labor if needed, local union issues,
material, it goes on and on....

so, in summary, the home jobs are gonna suck making any money
off of them, and the away jobs are gonna be harder than that.

and if you work your ass off and tread water, you can do ten of them
instead of one.

have i missed anything?