Business Development & Estimating (34)
about 137,184 hrs/yr
- Lead/opportunity intake (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Leads arrive through email, owner calls, plan rooms, and bid portals.
- CRM qualification (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Each new opportunity is scored against the firm's pursuit criteria: project type, size, location, owner payment history, delivery method, and bonding need.
- Bid invitation intake (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Invitations to bid arrive through bid portals, email, and the bid tools in Procore or Autodesk Construction Cloud.
- Bid/no-bid decision (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Preconstruction weighs each invitation against estimator workload, win history with that owner, expected margin, bonding room, and schedule fit, then records bid or no-bid with the reason in the CRM.
- Plan/spec download (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) After a bid is accepted, an estimator downloads the full drawing set, specifications, and addenda from the bid portal or plan room, files them in the bid folder, and confirms the sheet index is complete.
- Addenda monitoring (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Between invitation and bid day, estimating checks bid portals and email for new addenda, logs each by number and issue date, and updates the drawings, specs, and bid forms each addendum changes.
- Bid document distribution (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimating shares plans, specs, and addenda with invited subcontractors and suppliers through the bid platform or file links, tracking who received which documents and who has viewed, declined, or committed to bid.
- Quantity takeoff (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimators measure areas, lengths, counts, and volumes from the drawings in Bluebeam or takeoff software, grouped by scope and cost code, then carry the quantity totals into the estimate workbook.
- Subcontractor bid solicitation (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimators invite subcontractors trade by trade for each bid package, sending scope descriptions, bid forms, and due dates, then track intent to bid and follow up until every scope has enough coverage.
- Vendor quote solicitation (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimating requests material and equipment quotes from suppliers with quantities, spec sections, and delivery requirements, then logs pricing, lead times, validity dates, and exclusions for every quote received.
- Bid leveling (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) On bid day, estimators line up subcontractor proposals by scope, normalizing inclusions, exclusions, alternates, and allowances so each number compares like for like, then pick the carried price for every trade.
- Labor productivity estimating (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimators price self-performed work by applying crew productivity rates in units per labor hour to takeoff quantities and wage rates, adjusted for site conditions, working height, and schedule compression.
- Equipment cost estimating (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimators price equipment for every activity: owned units at internal hourly rates, rentals at vendor rates, plus fuel, mobilization, and operator time, all driven by the planned schedule duration.
- Material cost estimating (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Material lines are priced from supplier quotes and the cost database, with waste factors, freight, sales or use tax, and escalation where delivery falls months after bid day.
- General conditions estimate (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimators build the time-based cost of running the job: supervision, trailers, temporary utilities, cleanup, small tools, permits, and insurance, calculated from project duration and the staffing plan.
- Indirect cost estimate (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Indirect costs such as bonds, builder's risk, general liability, warranty reserve, and fee are calculated on top of direct cost, using rates from the surety, the insurance program, and company policy.
- Escalation/contingency calculation (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) For long projects, estimators add escalation on labor and materials from bid date to expected purchase dates, plus a contingency sized to design completeness and risk, documented for estimate review.
- Estimate approval (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Executives approve the final bid amount and fee after reviewing total cost, markup, risk items, and bonding impact, and the approved number is locked in the estimate and the CRM.
- Bid bond request (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) When a bid requires security, estimating sends the surety or broker a bid bond request with owner, project, bid date, and penal amount or percentage, then tracks the signed bond back before bid day.
- Proposal preparation (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimators assemble the bid form, inclusions and exclusions, qualifications, alternates, unit prices, schedule, and required owner forms into the proposal, matching every item the invitation demands.
- Proposal submission (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) On bid day, the final proposal goes in through the owner's bid portal, by email, or by hand before the deadline, and the submission confirmation is saved with the bid record.
- Bid-day addendum check (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) In the last hours before a bid is due, estimating confirms no late addenda were issued and that the bid form acknowledges every addendum by number, since a missed acknowledgment can make a bid nonresponsive.
- Post-bid clarification (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) After bids open, owners often ask for scope clarifications, alternate pricing, or value engineering options.
- Bid result capture (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) When results are published, estimating records award status, winning bidder, competitor prices, and the firm's rank in the CRM, building the history that drives future pursuit and pricing decisions.
- Estimate-to-budget handoff (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) When a job is won, estimating turns the estimate over to operations: cost codes, quantities, labor hours, subcontract values, and assumptions, which become the project budget and the PM's working baseline.
- Historical cost benchmarking (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Estimators compare new estimates with actual costs from completed jobs of similar type and size, per square foot or per unit, pulling closed-job cost reports from the ERP.
- Estimate template maintenance (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Preconstruction keeps estimate templates current, including cost code structure, standard assemblies, markups, labor rates, and checklists, so every estimator starts each bid from the same approved baseline.
- Cost database update (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Unit costs in the estimating database are refreshed from recent quotes, awarded subcontracts, and actual job costs, so new bids price at current material and labor levels.
- Prequalification package preparation (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Owners and general contractors require prequalification forms with safety records, experience modification rate, financial statements, bonding letters, licenses, insurance, and project references before a firm may bid.
- Subcontractor prequalification (Daily, about 4,500 hrs/yr) Subcontractors submit prequalification questionnaires with financials, experience modification rate, safety program, licenses, bonding capacity, and backlog.
- Scope takeoff review (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) A senior estimator checks the takeoff against the drawings and spec sections for missed areas, wrong units, and scope that belongs to another trade, before any quantity is priced.
- Scope gap review (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Before pricing closes, preconstruction confirms every specification section and drawing scope is carried by exactly one subcontractor, supplier, or self-perform line, with no gaps and no double coverage.
- Estimate review (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) A senior estimator or preconstruction director reviews the complete estimate: quantities, unit costs, subcontract coverage, general conditions, markups, and assumptions, and signs off before the proposal is built.
- Owner qualification review (Daily / Weekly, about 546 hrs/yr) Before pursuing work, the firm checks the owner's ability to pay: financing status, payment history, lien exposure, public or private status, and past disputes, and records the result in the CRM.