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Alwayslearningelec

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Occupation
Estimator
I work at a small family owned business. Where the two owners are also the PM's. We get along well.

Is it out of line for me to ask if the jobs I estimated and won made money, broke even etc.?
 
I've met very few ECs, even the ones that have been in business for 50 years, that ever made money on a job :)
I would not think it out of line to ask since you are involved but, if you were not doing well I think they would let you know.
 
I would ask. That should not be a company secret for an employee of your level. In fact it would be a very poor company management style to not have a conversation about how each job did when it is closed out. Contractors complain they never make money on their way to the country club. I worked for a company for almost 30 years who I really liked but everything there was a secret. I'm not sure how the management could expect to do better on the next job when they keep making the same mistakes over and over again.

I had an old foreman who used to tell me that on big jobs if the owner actually knew what was going on with the day to day field operation he'd slit his wrists.
 
Alwayslearningelec said:
I work at a small family owned business. Where the two owners are also the PM's. We get along well.

Is it out of line for me to ask if the jobs I estimated and won made money, broke even etc.?
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I don't have experience in such things, but I would think it would be SOP to keep an estimator informed on how things worked out on each and every job. Seems crazy not to.
 
I think any estimator is liable to know how much the actual job costs. Preferably, in detail such as labor cost, material cost and overhead if they are available. That's how they can see how accurate their estimate was.
 
The owners, PM's, and Estimators should have job completion reviews to evaluate the bid, project performance, and strong or weak spots. How can we get better if we don't look at how we're doing now? You need to know if your estimates are working out in order to have a level of confidence in your methods, and aid in knowing what is negotiable and what isn't.
 
augie47 said:
I've met very few ECs, even the ones that have been in business for 50 years, that ever made money on a job :)
I would not think it out of line to ask since you are involved but, if you were not doing well I think they would let you know.
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If I had a nickel every time I heard "I'm losing money on this one!!!!" I'd be retired a long time ago. I learned that 'losing money'=not making as much money as they wanted to
 
Tsull048 said:
If I had a nickel every time I heard "I'm losing money on this one!!!!" I'd be retired a long time ago. I learned that 'losing money'=not making as much money as they wanted to
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Yup, that's pretty much owner's speak for "we didn't make XX% so we lost money on that one". Hmmm, funny how they always lose money but they live in the big house and have a membership to the local country club. :unsure:
 
infinity said:
Yup, that's pretty much owner's speak for "we didn't make XX% so we lost money on that one". Hmmm, funny how they always lose money but they live in the big house and have a membership to the local country club. :unsure:
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They can loose on a project and still have enough to show up everyone. Large companies have stupid debt. It's all just pretend sometimes
 
I do think you should have a percentage off Calc from real numbers and a feedback from the PM on if you estimates well or any comments on adjustments. Having a happy crew makes your job higher margin vs unhappy Unmotivated. You should have feedback but you might be required to keep this private if owner doesn't want to spread he made a killing off the crew or also he might not want this number to turn into a bonus for you he might need the number tight to win enough bids. In the end you need feedback either way and the owner either needs to give you some directions to estimate heavy or light or keep on keeping on.
 
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