Construction Estimating
Good construction estimating is being thorough. Always check over your plans for things ommited by carelessness, or mistakes the designer may have included. Begin estimating in your mind-- step-by-step, as though your crews were about to do the work. It's good practice to write everything down as you follow through the sequence from the ground up. Imagine each construction task and the time it would take your crew to complete it. Make notes of any complications or areas likely to bog you down.
If you are remodeling or doing insurance repair work, construction is likely to start with removing or demolition. Are you going to be able to salvage any materials? Are you providing hauling or a dumpster?
If you are replacing you'll need to figure the amounts of material from the estimate. Calculate the lineal and square foot measurements. Many online pricing services can give you replacement material prices at no charge. Check out http://www.get-a-quote.net . Here you'll find prices for just about all materials you'll need on most construction or remodeling jobs. Of course, you can always call your local building material dealer and get a quote over the phone. But if you are like most of us, your construction estimating may be getting done after your building material dealer has gone home for the day.
Another site I've found with construction estimating software at a great price is http://www.craftsmansitelicense.com . It does cost about $55. But offers the best buy on construction software I've seen. The program is a little clunky, but the construction database is top notch and abundant. Just about any job your likely to tackle has been estimated there. I've even heard that they have plans for creating a back up disk with everything the download offers for only $10 -- to people who have already downloaded the program.
3 comments:
I've always found my best source for material costs is my supplier and manhours I can derive from my past records on my crew. Why would I need construction estimating costs out of a book? Unless maybe for a job I've never done before
There is also construction estimating software available for FREE at the "Try it/Buy it" site at
http://craftsman-book.com/downloads/index.php?page=trial
Just be sure to just click on the "download" button and you can download their construction estimating program and database for a 30-day free trial.
I just did a radio show on material take-off. I will podcast it on my website on Thursday 8-23. Go to
www.talkradiobuilder.com and click on the podcast tab. It would be fun to reciprocate from site to site. So few people realize the importance of the 'minds eye' in contemplating any building project. A construction trivia give away question was, What is the importance of having a specific take-off, lets say, for pressure treated, on a step foundation. And a contractor called in and said " Your estimating software may or may not pick up the vertical pressure treated sill you may need". And that is where the experience of foresight comes in. BINGO. Swanny
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