How Tech is Transforming Estimation Process
Date Posted: March 26, 2019
Posted In: Ideas,
From Procore Jobsite: For construction projects of any size, accurate estimates are essential to protect profits, control risks and mitigate against blown deadlines. The estimation process is something of a tightrope. Too high an estimate could cost the company bids. Too low, and the profit margin disappears. It’s a process that has evolved with technology, and today, companies can deliver more accurate estimates faster than ever, which means more competitive bidding, fewer cost overruns and improved collaboration.
“We have cut the costs involved in generating an estimate by 50 percent and increased efficiency of the estimating process by at least 75 percent,” Chris Rowe, president of Echo Pacific Construction told ConstructionWorkZone.
When it comes to determining project costs, calculators and pencils ruled the day until spreadsheet software came along. It was an improvement over the strictly analog methods of the past, but it was still a static document subject to being outdated or incorrect. It was still reliant on blueprints or other 2D drawings, requiring workers to huddle around a paper or hastily scanned image on a single computer screen.
Today’s estimates can be instantly shared among all stakeholders using cloud-based project software. They’re made available to view on any screen, anywhere, even on their mobile devices. A single digital copy of a blueprint is of limited use across a large team, but bringing the entire estimating process under a unified platform makes it a living collaborative document.
With many project drawings and plans having made the move to digital, estimators can highlight errors or changes, and make notations immediately visible to the entire team. This allows for better internal review and reduces the chance for errors. It also lets a single estimator do the work it used to take a team to complete, with greater accuracy.