How to estimate construction jobs

Estimating construction jobs is the most important part of your work. Getting the right price, quickly, to the customer keeps you in profit, and keeps the work coming in. It’s a fine balancing act, especially at the moment, so you need to be sure of the price you are giving them.

Estimating a construction job is a bit of an art form, usually the estimator will have a price in his head almost instantly which in many cases turns out to be very close to the final price, even after its been worked out in full. One of the issues though is to get that price to your potential customers, they are demanding more detailed paperwork,  so to be in with a chance of winning the job you need to prepare the paperwork and make sure it looks professional.

• To start with, break the job down into work sections (i.e. demolition, carpentry etc.) or by area or room (i.e. Kitchen, Bedroom). Its usually best to do it in the order the job will be done, that way it makes it easier to think about the project.
• Work out what needs to be done in each of the sections and areas and add the actual construction COSTS against each line,

1. – How long will each task take?
2. – What materials will you need?
3. – Will you need any special equipment?

• Once each section is broken down and all the items are added you need to add in your profit margin, this gives the job the final price to present to the customer.
• Add all the information that you have prepared (don’t forget to add your margins!) to a professional looking document with your company info on and also your company logo if you have one.