Estimate Accuracy at Each Design Stage, Explained Simply
What Stages 1 to 5 really mean, which one your drawings fit, and how to plan a budget around a range rather than one number.
Read the short version →
Estimating Insights
The Prime Estimation Blog
Useful tips on takeoffs, pricing and tendering, written by estimators who do this work every day.
There is no filler here and no standard “10 tips” lists. Each article deals with one thing that costs builders money in tenders, covering how to measure it, how to price it and how to write it up so it still makes sense afterwards.
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TakeoffsCost DataAccuracyGovernment TendersTenderingOutsourcing
Formwork: Contact Area vs. Wall Area in m²
Why counting formwork as wall area in square metres is one of the commonest reasons upright concrete is priced too low.
See also: concrete estimating →Pricing Government Tenders in Australia: What Is Different
How to read the tender conditions, include state levies and award rates, and price security-of-payment terms without counting anything twice.
Also see: local pricing factors →Writing an Assumptions Page That Holds Together
This page changes a bare number into a document that holds up in a scope review, and it carries the clarifications that every tender should have.
See also: what we deliver →Your Own Estimator or Outsourcing: The True Cost
Salary is just the beginning. Software, cost data, checking and busy-season capacity all need to be part of the comparison.
Also see: the comparison table →What to Send an Estimator: A Checklist for Your Tender Set
The drawings, specifications, addenda and tender form that help you get a quicker quote and a tighter estimate.
Related: what to send →
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Worth Reading While You Wait
How close is an estimate?
The five estimate stages, how accurate each one is, and which drawings you need for each stage.
What decides an estimating fee
Number of drawings, trade sections, quality of documents and delivery time, and how to keep each of them low.
ASMM / ANZSMM trade sections reference
The ASMM / ANZSMM trade sections that most trade work belongs to, and what is usually measured in each one.