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Build a Construction Estimate Step by Step
How do I build a priced estimate from an empty page, with every rate traced to its source?
Create the project, then a bid schedule (the estimate) with one section per trade. Add positions From Database, entering quantities in the item's own unit: at 100 sq ft per unit, 3,000 sq ft is 30. Type your own positions for sub quotes, add assemblies after converting units, and enter your crew's labor rate. The section subtotals add up to the direct cost, before any markups.
Build a priced construction estimate from an empty page. A Denver duplex, ten positions in five sections, and every rate traced back to where it came from.
In this video
- Create the project and the estimate (a bid schedule), and set up sections by trade.
- Add positions from the cost database, and enter quantities in the item's own unit: at 100 square feet per unit, 3,000 square feet is 30.
- Type a position of your own from a sub's quote, and add a whole assembly after converting its unit.
- Put in your own crew's labor rate and watch the position and the section update.
- Read the material, labor and equipment columns, the section subtotals and the direct cost.
You will produce
A priced direct-cost estimate for a duplex, with sections by trade, database positions, a sub's quote, an assembly and your own labour rate
Sources
Transcript
0:00 Set up
By the end of this lesson you will have a priced estimate for a Denver duplex. It has ten positions in five sections, and every rate can be traced to where it came from. We start with an empty page, and you see every step. Here is the plan. You create the project and the estimate, and set up sections by trade. Then you add positions from the database, with quantities in the right units. You type a position of your own, add a whole assembly, and put in your own labor rate. Finally, you read the split and the totals. An estimate is team work. The estimator builds it and owns every number. Subcontractors send quotes for their trades, the superintendent checks quantities and crew rates, and the project manager reviews the whole estimate before it goes out. Start with the project. Click New Project, choose Quick create, and give it a name: Maple Street Duplex. Under optional details, set the region to United States and the standard to MasterFormat. The currency starts on euros, so switch it to U.S. dollars. Add the site address while you are here, then click Create, and the project page opens. In the platform, an estimate is called a bid schedule. On the project page, click Create Bid Schedule. Give it a name, Base Bid Estimate, and one line of scope. Click Create, and the editor opens, ready for your first section. First comes the structure. Click Add Section once per trade, and name each one after the divisions in your standard: Concrete, Wood Framing, Thermal and Roofing, Finishes, and Plumbing and Electrical. Sections are how the client reads your price, so name them the way you would on a bid form.
1:43 From the database
Now for the work itself. From Database opens the same cost base inside the estimate. It opens on another region, so choose United States first. Then pick the section it goes into, Wood Framing, and search for frame walls. Tick the item, type the quantity, and add it to the estimate. Watch the unit. This wall is priced per 100 square feet, so 3,000 square feet of wall is 30. If you type 3,000, the price comes out a hundred times too high. The unit column tells you what every number means, so check it on each line you add. Some items ask which material you want. The drywall partition has 24 plasterboard options, and the middle price is a sensible start. The rate on the position covers the whole item, with labor, frame and board, so it comes out higher than the board price in this window. Click Apply, and it lands in Finishes. Do the same for the rest of the house. Metal roofing goes into Thermal and Roofing. Paint and laminate flooring go into Finishes. And Plumbing and Electrical gets the toilets, the sockets and the cable. Each one takes the same four steps: search, tick, type the quantity, and add.
2:51 Your own
The base will not have everything, and for concrete you often have a quote from your sub anyway. In that case, type the position yourself. Click Add Position in Concrete. The new row starts in square meters, so change the unit to cubic yards. Describe it as strip footings, 42 cubic yards, at your sub's rate. It sits next to the database positions and counts exactly the same. Some work is easier to price as a recipe. Click From Assembly, search for Denver, and pick the reinforced concrete wall. Check its unit before you type. This one is per cubic meter, not per cubic yard, so convert first. Enter 14 cubic meters and click Apply. The whole recipe lands as one position at the end of the estimate. Remember the labor line from lesson one. Open the drywall position and find the labor resource, the worker hours. Type what your own crew costs per hour, and the position and the section update straight away. Do this for every trade where you know your costs. It is the quickest way to make a translated base your own.
3:53 Read it
Turn on the material, labor and equipment columns, and every position shows what it is made of. Read them. The sockets and the cable are almost all labor, because this is installation only and the material is priced separately. A drywall line that is all equipment, or concrete with no labor, deserves a second look. Each section header carries its subtotal, and the grand total sits at the top. There are no markups yet, so this is your direct cost: what the work costs you, before overhead and profit. That is a real estimate, with sections by trade, positions from the database, one of your own, an assembly, and your own labor rate. In the next lesson, we turn this direct cost into a price with overhead, profit and contingency, check it, and send it to the client. OpenConstructionERP is free and open source. Download it, and build your first estimate today.
