Construction Estimating and Bidding: Training Manual to Acquire Fundamental Knowledge in Estimating Building Construction Costs

Book excerpt: The purpose of this manual is to enable students to gain fundamental knowledge of estimating the cost of building construction projects. The procedures used for estimating vary form company to company. On the other hand, the construction industry has become, over the years, more competitive which has made construction companies to do their best in order to offer the best possible service at the least price. To overcome this constraint, it is necessary to know precisely the cost of services. And it would be the role of an Estimator. Unfortunately, there are no specific rules, as it accounts, for obtaining a good estimate, even among individuals within a company. Because of contracting method currently employed (like fast track or PPP) construction companies need precision in their estimates; in addition, as estimators are increasingly consulted at conceptual design stage, we will talk about conceptual estimate in chapter one and then focus on detailed estimations and its process in upcoming chapters.We all know that a good estimator needs to have a good knowledge about construction techniques and factors that influence the realization of a project. We also know that an individual who possesses a high level of experience in his/her field but also could be a poor estimator in the absence of reliable method. So, in this manual we will focus more on estimations' method rather than techniques of construction.A detailed estimate ( Bid Estimate ) can be analyzed in terms of the SIX principal stages of the process:1.Quantity Takeof2.Recap Quantities3.Pricing the Recap4.Pricing Subcontractor's work5.Pricing General Expenses6.Summary and BidTo decode these six steps into an effective and accurate estimation method, the manual is divided into three modules. Each module is divided into chapters. The first module addresses the preparation of an estimate for construction and describes the entire submission process. The second module deals with the methods of measurement of the constructive systems then, in the third module, establish the prices of the elements, the expenses of the general conditions and finally, close the submission.