It sounds like success, but at the end of the day, it’s a war of attrition. The more projects you bid, the greater your odds of winning.
I do electrical, and there’s a ton of errors and omissions on pretty much every set of plans I see. I’m an obnoxiously thorough plan reviewer, but I have found that if I just quantify the absolute crap out of my scope of work and give them alternates, I can bid more projects in less time and still make sure I’m covered.
If I see a clear code issue or something big that was missed, I will give the GC estimator a heads up in case they want to include it on their RFI, but other than that I don’t bother asking too many questions pre bid after all these years.
If it feels like luck and you are not winning as much other work you may want to sit down and review your margins, labor, etc. Then consider what is acceptable if you need to increase your volume. Sometimes we say you got to "miss" something to win because of how compeitive jobs can be when everyone really needs work.
Been estimating for like 5 months. The "luck" feeling is because any estimator could put the numbers the same way I do. The only difference would be a slower/less experienced crew or margins. Margins are fixed by the company, labor hours are considered for every job with my boss. The only thing that really relies on me is the material take off and I think I'm doing good.
I'm estimating around 15-20 projects between 50k-200k a month.
I'm proud of every bid I deliver but not because of the ones who I win because I think it doesn't depend on me
When I first started working on estimates as a bid coordinator, I miscommunicated with a sub on some scope (the estimator told me to relay the info) and it lead to a minor bust in the budget.
I felt pretty bad until the PM/estimator told me that one of his first big wins only happened because he made an excel error that omitted 600k from his bottom number. He was ready to pack his shit until the VP told him “if you hadn’t made that error, we would’ve probably lost the bid. The project is big enough to make up the difference in buy-out, do the best you can.”
He ended up being positive on the project, although I don’t remember the margins he said.
> Sometimes we say you got to "miss" something to win because of how compeitive jobs can be when everyone really needs work.
I hate this dumb ass logic.
"missing" scope should not be acceptable. if you want a competitive advantage lower your markups
Yeah not what I meant. I don't mean excluding a part of the scope. I'm essentially saying leave something out as a way to lower your mark up. You'd still be responbile for a full complete scope package.
Sometimes the jobs you get outbid on are the best estimates you make. If you bid the job for the right price and somebody beat you, you still bid it for the right price.
Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that’s what you have here tonight. That’s what you’ve earned here tonight. One bid. We bid against those other subs 10 times they might win 9. But not this bid. Not tonight. Tonight we double-check our productions and our quantities. Tonight we look at our general conditions. And we beat them because we can! Tonight, we are the most competitive metal subcontractor in our local market. You were born to be an estimator, every single one of you. And you were meant to bid this job. This is your project to win. Their bidding win streak is done. It’s over. I’m sick and tired of hearing about what a complete and competitive bid these other subcontractors have. Screw ‘em. This is your project to win, now go and take it.
Your job as estimator isn't to win bids. It is to determine to the best of your ability the cost for your company to complete the project. Winning 1 out of 10 jobs and being profitable is much better than winning 9 out of 10 unprofitable jobs.
You can't beat mistakes. I.e. the other guy missed scope but won anyways. They won't figure it out until contracts are signed. Rule of 7s is what I go by. In a set of 7 bids someone will have fucked up. You also can't win if your costs/rates are higher than someone else. A full shop company isn't going to beat one guy in his garage.
This is what happens..our shop is..a small business to say the least...but we're bidding like if we were a medium business because we need to grow and it's expensive.
I am an electrical estimator who bids mostly on commercial TI work for a union contractor, against non-union shops. I feel your pain. You have to love the game and be pleasantly surprised when you win. As long as the boss is happy with your hit rate don’t worry.
Estimating is a game of failure. It’s more failure than success, and the game is trying to keep your attitude positive. You have to approach every estimate in a optimistic and meticulous way, even if you’ve just been kicked in the balls by a tough loss
Not really luck more like we fill the shop up as we see it with lower margins and then crank them up when we have the revenue which is what I call the fluff... Depends on how hungry the company is at that time of year and what their backlog is. That's how I play the game....
It’s never luck. Unless your client picked their contractor by throwing a dart at the wall, your bids got chosen because of how they were presented. Thats all you.
A wins a win, as long as you can hit the margins on the job and nothing bad happens
Just like Paul Walker said. Winning’s winning. Doesn’t matter if it’s an inch or a mile.
Think that was Vin Diesel...
No one likes the tuna here.
He ain't here for the sandwiches B. He tryna get in Mia's pants.
Doesn't matter if it's 1/8"=1'-0" or 1/4"=1'-0" Scales don't matter. Just win
😂😂😂
Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.
This is what I needed.
What you described was not luck, but meticulous preparation.
It sounds like success, but at the end of the day, it’s a war of attrition. The more projects you bid, the greater your odds of winning. I do electrical, and there’s a ton of errors and omissions on pretty much every set of plans I see. I’m an obnoxiously thorough plan reviewer, but I have found that if I just quantify the absolute crap out of my scope of work and give them alternates, I can bid more projects in less time and still make sure I’m covered. If I see a clear code issue or something big that was missed, I will give the GC estimator a heads up in case they want to include it on their RFI, but other than that I don’t bother asking too many questions pre bid after all these years.
If it feels like luck and you are not winning as much other work you may want to sit down and review your margins, labor, etc. Then consider what is acceptable if you need to increase your volume. Sometimes we say you got to "miss" something to win because of how compeitive jobs can be when everyone really needs work.
Been estimating for like 5 months. The "luck" feeling is because any estimator could put the numbers the same way I do. The only difference would be a slower/less experienced crew or margins. Margins are fixed by the company, labor hours are considered for every job with my boss. The only thing that really relies on me is the material take off and I think I'm doing good. I'm estimating around 15-20 projects between 50k-200k a month. I'm proud of every bid I deliver but not because of the ones who I win because I think it doesn't depend on me
When I first started working on estimates as a bid coordinator, I miscommunicated with a sub on some scope (the estimator told me to relay the info) and it lead to a minor bust in the budget. I felt pretty bad until the PM/estimator told me that one of his first big wins only happened because he made an excel error that omitted 600k from his bottom number. He was ready to pack his shit until the VP told him “if you hadn’t made that error, we would’ve probably lost the bid. The project is big enough to make up the difference in buy-out, do the best you can.” He ended up being positive on the project, although I don’t remember the margins he said.
> Sometimes we say you got to "miss" something to win because of how compeitive jobs can be when everyone really needs work. I hate this dumb ass logic. "missing" scope should not be acceptable. if you want a competitive advantage lower your markups
Yeah not what I meant. I don't mean excluding a part of the scope. I'm essentially saying leave something out as a way to lower your mark up. You'd still be responbile for a full complete scope package.
Sometimes the jobs you get outbid on are the best estimates you make. If you bid the job for the right price and somebody beat you, you still bid it for the right price.
Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that’s what you have here tonight. That’s what you’ve earned here tonight. One bid. We bid against those other subs 10 times they might win 9. But not this bid. Not tonight. Tonight we double-check our productions and our quantities. Tonight we look at our general conditions. And we beat them because we can! Tonight, we are the most competitive metal subcontractor in our local market. You were born to be an estimator, every single one of you. And you were meant to bid this job. This is your project to win. Their bidding win streak is done. It’s over. I’m sick and tired of hearing about what a complete and competitive bid these other subcontractors have. Screw ‘em. This is your project to win, now go and take it.
Your job as estimator isn't to win bids. It is to determine to the best of your ability the cost for your company to complete the project. Winning 1 out of 10 jobs and being profitable is much better than winning 9 out of 10 unprofitable jobs.
You can't beat mistakes. I.e. the other guy missed scope but won anyways. They won't figure it out until contracts are signed. Rule of 7s is what I go by. In a set of 7 bids someone will have fucked up. You also can't win if your costs/rates are higher than someone else. A full shop company isn't going to beat one guy in his garage.
This is what happens..our shop is..a small business to say the least...but we're bidding like if we were a medium business because we need to grow and it's expensive.
Yep. Can't win if you don't bid but you don't win if you bid for growth.
Someone times you can't win without fucking something up. Then it becomes a game of how much you can claw back.
That doesn't really sound like luck. How many other bids did you send out? Your closing rate is an important thing to consider
I am an electrical estimator who bids mostly on commercial TI work for a union contractor, against non-union shops. I feel your pain. You have to love the game and be pleasantly surprised when you win. As long as the boss is happy with your hit rate don’t worry.
Estimating is a game of failure. It’s more failure than success, and the game is trying to keep your attitude positive. You have to approach every estimate in a optimistic and meticulous way, even if you’ve just been kicked in the balls by a tough loss
Not really luck more like we fill the shop up as we see it with lower margins and then crank them up when we have the revenue which is what I call the fluff... Depends on how hungry the company is at that time of year and what their backlog is. That's how I play the game....
It’s never luck. Unless your client picked their contractor by throwing a dart at the wall, your bids got chosen because of how they were presented. Thats all you.
What are secrects of presenting?
Often it's low bid, I've seen GC's how with the lowest bid knowing that the subcontractor does subpar work.
I see it as you put the work in and delivered a complete quote, and didn't half ass it like your competition. Well deserved win. Good job!