Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

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sd electrician

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Hey fellow contractors,
I have been an electrician for 18 years( 1.5 years as a Master) and I have decided that I would like to go into business for myself (My kids are now older). I recently purchased Mike Holt's "Electrical Estimating" book and video, my question is there anyone out there who has also purchased this reference material and is satisfied by Mike's teaching's of this subject. What I mean by this is because when I started watching his video it was made in 1997, In Mike's brochure he says that Estimating does not change with Code cycles
so I assumed that it might be a few years old but not almost 9. I can't help but wonder if things might be slightly different now in almost 2006 than they were in 1997, with that being said I've purchased several of Mike's products and they were superbly done, thus I decided to purchase this material so any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thankyou
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

I purchased the book,and dvd about 10 months ago and i have also thought that the course might be out dated. There is so much more out there for estimating i just think the dvd and the work book gives you the basics, and alittle more estimating. I've picked up alot. So yeah i'm satisfied with the material. However i do think the material is alittle expensive now that i see what you get I don't think it tells you how to deal with conflicts that arise with other contractors in the field such as who instails what when its not listed. thats the only teaching material i bought for estimating, but i am satisfied with it. I recomend it to others to. I'm not happy at all with his business management book/vidio, but what do you expect for 100.00. I hope this helps.
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

I do not have his book but I can say estimating has always been the same process. Every component should have a material value and unit of labor and it all totals at the end. What has changed drastically is software but the estimating goal is the same, even using software: to account for and place the correct material value and unit of labor on every component needed and arrive at a total.

If you use software you will have to adjust ALL your values and units uniquely to your company. The reason software has taken the lead as a medium to estimate is it allows the user to adjust and change quickly and accurately, whereas a hand spreadsheet take-off is much more cumbersome, slow, and prone to error.

We have so many different components in our trade; I highly recommend software estimating even if you are a new contractor and small. It will help your accounting in your business as well as job tracking. The learning curve is more than worth it.
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

Originally posted by khixxx:
I'm not happy at all with his business management book/vidio, but what do you expect for 100.00.
Click to expand...
Agreed. This was the first of Mike's products that I bought, and I have been very hesitant to buy anything else from him.

John
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

sd,
i purchased mike's estimating course and software program when it first came out about twenty years ago. since then i have been shown many new programs and software packages and they all have their good points and bad points. the big advantage mike's had was it was created by an electrician. assemblies were arranged in such a way to prevent you from missing things. mike's program kind of walked you through the plans. the other programs didn't have this.

one comment mike made in class that stuck with me is "most" good electricians do not automatically make good estimators. this is due to the fact that they have always been much more interested in cutting corners and getting the job done efficently, than thinking how long the job was going to take to complete.

any estimating program needs to be shaped and adjusted to meet the requirements of the contractor large or small--residential or commercial! i know contractors who have purchased four or five different programs and couldn't adjust to any of them. it takes time and sometimes a contractor isn't willing to sacrifice the necessary time. lets face it, an estimating program is just a method of counting items or assemblies and having the ability to adjust multiplication factors. and also, contractors loose money on a few jobs and right away "it's the esimating program"!!!

and the above comments about a program not informing the contractor who's responsible or what comes next!!!! let me know when that one comes out!!! i picture it to be a robut wearing a tool belt and it's head is a crt!!!
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

Dear khixxx,trying hard,Jes2727,charlie tuna

thanks to all who responded your advice will be taken, and yes it will be difficult at first to put on the business hat as opposed to the hard hat but I just wanted to be cautious as I proceeded with my venture. I am extremely glad that the brotherhood of electrical people out there who are willing to share with someone new the mistakes they may have made to help someone else not do the same. It would be very easy just to say "you know what I never had someone help me along the way while I was loosing money so why should I help out" but just in this forumn alone I have read hundred's of questions and people trying to help others get the right answers so we can all be profitable!
Thanks again, sd electrician
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

estimating is the contractor's deep dark secrets!
nobody talks about the way they estimate. neca has a course and training books --but only open to neca contractors. guess they expect a union contractor to fly by the seat of his pants until he is sucessful enough to join neca?? and some contractors only use certain parts of estmating programs! it's almost like "hay, this works for me" type stuff! and when i listen to these different methods -- they sound crazy -- but they have been in business many years and are making money!

the electrical industry has many, what i call "facits"! like "the printing industry", "office interiors", "high rise condo", "data cabling", "custom homes" or just plain old "residential"!!! after bidding enough of one of these "facits" a contractor kind of gets a gut feeling about costs. he finds short cuts in his estimates. another contractor doing this same "facit" with little expieriance would think "this guy's nuts!!". by simplifying his system, the expierianced contractor reduces the chances of error in his bid process. i once hired an estimator because i was too busy and he was good - but his methods were totally different than mine ---- oh those deep dark secrets!!!
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

I bought the class and video. After I watched the video I was disapointed. I then went through the book and learned alot more. After that I searched the internet and found a few helpful hints. I then had to decide which software program to buy. After I got my program things started to come together and I felt more at ease with estimating. Well 2 years have gone by and have bid just about averything with little or no worries. Hopfully you are bidding with a good GC who will give you good feed back and if your numbers are ridicules will have you justify your bid.
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

Hey chrsb,
thanks for the info. Any of the above members who responded or anyone else for that matter be able to help me with some computer operating requirements for a new business (Brand, hard drive size, memory, processor speed etc. etc.), I have a home computer now but I share with the family and I want one for my business.

I want to be able to buy some estimating software just to get started and be able to expand when I need to and afford to, any suggestions as to which company I might research to find what fits me best?

Thanks, sd electrician
 
Re: Mike Holt's Estimating book and video

Khixx, I bought Vision's program and am pretty happy with it. As someone else has said in previous topics it has its fair share of bugs. It is great until you go to edit the job breakout then funny things start to happen. I do like all the assemblies that come with it, I have heard that with some other programs you have to build them yourselves. I am actually curently building a web site devoted to estimating if you would like to see a beta version of it PM me and I will send you a link.

SD, I got a Dell 3000 with 1Gig of ram and it runs pretty smooth with my estimating program, I can surf the net and listen to music while I am doing my takeoff's with no problem. If you are looking for good deals go to Hereand do a search for Dell or anything else that you are looking for and they come up with some awsome deals. I got my Dell 3000 with a 19" flat panel for around $350 that also came with Microsoft Office. In this months Electrical Contractor magazine there is an artical on estimating programs and has some good pointers on how to decide on which ones to get, here is a link- ECM this months articals are not up yet, but should be soon. If you don't get this magazine yet sign up for it, it is free and has some very good articals.

[ September 26, 2005, 02:39 PM: Message edited by: chrsb ]
 
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