How to prepare a bid estimate to win a project

A bid process is required to award the most jobs in construction industry. In a bidding contest the lowest bidder will be awarded the contract. Estimating a construction bid involve some knowledge of the building process.

The bid estimate is specific to the project conditions illustrated in the plans and specifications. The bid estimate is required by contractors and subcontractors for bidding purposes or the owner to appraise bids.

In order to prepare an accurate construction bid, the most current drawings, project specifications and copies of any addenda or change bulletins that have been issued are required. The company who is calling for the bid should render all of these documents. In case the drawings are submitted from a plan room, the addenda and bidding requirements should be checked properly.

Review the drawing and floor plans. Then review the title and symbols pages for any general project requirements.

Review the project specifications for getting most sets of construction documents. Read the section related with your trade and read the prelim section featuring general project conditions.

Measure material quantity by executing a material takeoff. As for instance, an electrical contractor should take into consideration the receptacles, switches, junction boxes, light fixtures, and length of wires and conduits along with panels, transformers and any electrical connections for equipment or mechanical work. These estimates will sum up the total material price.

Work out the labor costs. Find out the time frame for completion of the job and multiply this number of hours with the average wage plus any labor burden to ascertain the total labor costs.

Put material and labor costs together and comprise any special fees like permits, wage scale, bonds, insurance premiums or other costs. Multiply the total dollar figure with an appropriate percentage to contain overhead and profit.

Finally prepare your bid form putting price, complete scope of work and the name of the project.
In case the project is different from typical designs, the contractor should evaluate the actual cost of construction by taking the actual construction procedures to be used and the related costs.

Posted by Rajib Dey
Business Development
Global Associates
A pioneer company in construction estimating
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Some new technologies for Perfect bidding and estimating

Perfect bidding and estimating plays a vital role for construction industry to measure the profitableness in the construction industry. In order to achieve this every construction firm should utilize right technology as it will develop and increase functionality across the construction job cycle and create more value to contractors.

C-BID Services (www.cbidservices.com, ) a leading provider of comprehensive bid solicitation is making partnership with PlanSwift, a takeoff and estimating solution by Tech Unlimited Inc. C-BID’s online planroom assist you to store, organize and distribute your plans online from one easy to use centralized location with a bid-document library where significant bid information (project documentation, up-to-date bid information, drawings, specifications, and addenda ) can be accumulated.

Online plan room also contains a digital filing tool that can be utilized by bid participants to invite, bid and respond. As the plan room utilizes a recognizable approach to folder structure and document organization, it can be easily incorporate into workflow.

By contributing The Plan-Room digital file tool to PlanSwift takeoff and estimating software, C-Bid and Tech Unlimited can greatly influence the general contractors for getting rid of manual takeoffs and lessen the margin for error by storing bid documents in the cloud.

Recently, new technology incorporations between JB Knowledge Technologies’ SmartBidNet, www.smartbidnet.com, College Station, Texas, and jobsite123.com, www.jobsite123.com, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will connect general contractors employing SmartBidNet with subcontractors on jobsite123.com. This will enhance bidding and estimating for both general contractors and subcontractors.

Besides, SmartBidNet and Cloud Takeoff from To Scale Software, www.toscaleplans.com, Cincinnati, Ohio, built up a new partnership to meliorate the data contribution and collaboration for GCs and subcontractors throughout the bidding and takeoff process.

These types of partnerships are creating new opportunities to bid projects efficiently in technology-advanced construction marketplace.

Posted by Rajib Dey
Business Development
Global Associates
A pioneer company in construction estimating
Join our estimating forum

INTERNATIONAL CONSTRUCTION COST ESTIMATING INDICES

The construction industry is one of the driving areas in the economy that provides a noteworthy contribution to GDP and a serious effect on the activity in other industries. The construction industries frequently experiencing their cost variations best stand for the inflationary/deflationary changes of a specific sector of Construction Industry.

Indicators of price movement of construction outputs are considered to be a precious tool in economic analysis.

Construction Cost Index signifies the average cost movement over time of a fixed basket of representative goods and services related to Construction Industry.

The contractors have to undertake preconstruction services and procurement strategies to manages the market risks associated with cost-related issues arising from the restrained demand and increasing material cost.

So accurate construction cost forecast along with building costs and price trends is very much required for construction industry and Federal and State governments.

There are several internationally recognized standard cost data indices available in the market which are published by some of the renowned construction companies. The Cost Indices listed are taken from the referenced construction publications and include most recent Construction Cost Index, Building Cost Index, Material Cost Index.

These cost indices are established by several factors considered on a nationwide basis, together with labor rates and productivity, material prices and the competitive condition of the marketplace. These indexes also reflect the modification of computations that resulted in insignificant changes to some of the construction cost indexes. Separate series of index numbers are accumulated to capture the price movements at international and Industry subsection level.

Given below the detailed list of some leading construction companies and their standard cost data indices :-

bls.gov - ect
bls.gov - cpi
Compass International
ENR - current costs
fmlink - Surveys Trends
Reed construction data
Turner Construction
usbr.gov - cost trends

Posted by Rajib Dey
Business Development
Global Associates
A pioneer company in construction estimating
Join our estimating forum

Sage include a new SQL Server database to it's Sage Timberline Estimating software

Sage North America, a part of The Sage Group plc and a leading provider of business management software and services, just released a new estimating solution to aid contractors to win more jobs and maximize Profit.

Sage developed a Microsoft's scalable, SQL Server database backend to its Sage Timberline Estimating product. Now-a-days Sage Timberline Estimating is considered as the most extensively-used estimating product in the construction market.

The latest SQL version will increase productivity and create & manage estimate quickly in an automated way. It will also execute enhanced data analysis and management and keep all estimates in one location. The estimator will be able to access, manage and back all the data easily.
Sage employs Microsoft's .NET framework to model businesses processes and construct a very visual, user-friendly interface with the same look and feel across modules.

Jon Witty, general manager of Sage Construction and Real Estate, pronounces the product "a welcome replacement for underpowered estimating solutions and generic spreadsheets."

Sage Timberline Estimating do away with unnecessary data entry and error-prone processes facilitating projects to run proficiently from preliminary estimate to project achievement.

Sage Timberline Estimating come up with some advancement like a Subcontractor Bid Grid, Variable, customizable pricing, industry specific databases, and custom reporting options.

With 'Subcontractor Bid Grid option the software can store, analyze, and select subcontractor bids and quotes by individual item or groups of items. The Users will get the ability to log each subcontractor's name, bid quantity, unit price, total bid amount, and additional notes in the pop-up grid. From there, users click on the bid to utilize and it's added to the estimate.

GET DEMO

Posted by Rajib Dey
Business Development
Global Associates
A pioneer company in construction estimating
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Types of Construction Estimates

Numerous estimating techniques prevail in the market and these can be categorized in the following ways :-

1. Conceptual estimates
2. Detailed estimates

Conceptual estimates
Basic parametric sizes are used for the type of building to reach an order of magnitude estimate. Quantitites do not play a large role. Historical Ratios are used to establish a cost per unit. Basic scopes for trades are established.

Detailed Estimate
A detailed estimate is the most accurate form of estimate. This type of estimate is set up to find out the quantities and costs of everything for a project. These types of estimates help contractor to complete a construction successfully. A detailed estimate is arranged in the following two ways :-

(a). Unit quantity method
(b). Total quantity method.

Unit Quantity Method
In this method, the work is segregated into as many operations or items as per requirements. A unit of measurement is settled on. The total quantity of work under each item is extracted in the suitable unit of measurement. Every item is evaluated and exercised with the total cost per unit quantity. After that the cost per unit quantity is multiplied by the number of units to determine the total cost for the item. As for instance, at the time of preparing the cost of a building work, the quantity of brickwork in the building is gauged by cubic meters. The total cost along with cost of materials. labor, plant, overheads and profit per cubic meter of brickwork is generated and after that the predictable cost of brickwork is calculated by multiplying this unit cost by the number of cubic meters of brickwork in the building.

The benefit of this method is that the unit costs on different jobs are instantly comparable and that the total estimate can be rectified effortlessly for variations in quantities.


Total Quantity Method
An item of work is separated with the following five subdivisions In the total quantity method:
(I) Materials
(II) Labor
(III) Plant
(IV) Overheads
(V) Profit.

The total quantities of each kind or class of material or labor are established and multiplied by their individual unit cost. The cost of plant, overhead expenses and profit are decided In the same way. The costs of all the five sub-heads are added to provide the estimated cost of the item of work.

There is also the detail of material waste factors, delivery/shipping, handling, storage, and taxes. Along with labor crew size and makeup, productivity, safety, wage rates, tools and equipment. Equipment also has type/size selection, fuel, delivery, mobilization/demobilization, operator, maintenance, replacement value, rent/buy, and licensing.

UniFormat, Master Format, WBS (work breakdown structure) are all integral parts of providing any of these types of estimates.

Posted by Rajib Dey
Business Development
Global Associates
A pioneer company in construction estimating
Join our estimating forum