This is delivered before the contract, not after it. If the budget does not work, you find that out during preconstruction — not at framing, when the only options left are bad ones.
It is also the part of the job that has no photographs. What it produces is a number you can hold against anyone else’s, with the scope written out beside it.
- Quantity takeoffs
- Cost estimating and budget development
- Value engineering
- Project scheduling
- Cost control and reporting
- Constructability review of the drawings
- Architectural or engineering design
- A number for a scope nobody has looked at — every quote is prepared against the real scope, and that is why there are no prices on this site
Walk it first
We visit the site before pricing it. Drawings show the design; the walk shows the building, and on a renovation those are two different things.
Take off the quantities
Measured from the drawings, not scaled off a guess. The takeoff is what makes the estimate checkable.
Price against a written scope
The estimate arrives with the scope it covers spelled out — inclusions, exclusions and assumptions — so you can compare it against another number line by line.
Say it early when it does not work
If the budget and the scope do not meet, the useful moment to say so is now. Value engineering is a conversation about what to trade, not a discount.
How defined the scope is
A full drawing set prices in days. A sketch and a conversation takes longer, and should.
Subcontractor pricing
Specialty trades need their own time to price, and rushing them buys you a number that moves later.
Your bid date
Tell us the date. If we cannot hit it we say so the same day instead of going quiet.
- The drawing set, or whatever exists of it
- Your bid date and your decision date, which are usually not the same
- Any budget you already have in mind — it shortens the conversation, it does not raise the number
- Who else is bidding, if you can say
Why don’t you publish prices?
Because a price for a scope nobody has looked at is a guess, and you find out it was wrong halfway through the job. Every quote is prepared against the real scope — drawings, site conditions and the schedule — and it comes with that scope written out, so you can hold it against anyone else’s number.
How long does an estimate take?
One business day for a response, and a full estimate as soon as the scope is defined. If we cannot hit your bid date we tell you the same day instead of going quiet.
How do I invite you to bid?
Send the drawings and the bid date through the contact form, or start from the For GCs page. Photos from a phone are enough to start.
