Producing electrical estimations is complex. You need to be confident in the accuracy of your estimates and to do them right, they can be time-consuming
Electrical contractors face various challenges, including rising prices and material shortages. Having accurate estimates are essential to protect you against under- or overbidding, and even from losing out entirely on a job, which could put your profits at risk.
It’s important to consider how you can work faster, more efficiently and with greater accuracy when you spend hours or days ensuring the accuracy of electrical cost estimations. Every bit of saved time is crucial, especially given the amount of work that you are expected to complete. It could be the difference between winning or losing a project.
Two ways electrical estimations take more effort than necessary
Here are two ways that your estimations could take more effort and time than necessary:
1. Inefficient collaboration between electrical estimators
Multiple estimators often work together to create a single estimate for a project. While this may help complete the job faster and better, it could also cause more issues than solutions.
Depending on the construction cost estimating software that you’re using, you may end up spending too much time working on an estimate, with the potential for your work to clash.
This is highly likely if you aren’t able to work in a single shared version of an estimate, at the same time.
If you are not able to collaborate effectively:
- You have to wait for another person to finish their work before you start your own
- You end up creating multiple versions of an estimate, confusing as to which is the latest version
- It’s possible that different sections of an estimate are being handled by different estimators, leaving you to do the difficult and potentially error-prone task of combining all the data into one final bid
- You may not have access to the work being done in other locations or offices.
A lack of collaboration can hinder the production of electrical estimations
Does any of this sound familiar to you? A lack of collaboration can be a hindrance to producing an estimate. Collaboration is more efficient and effective when estimators work together on a shared platform.
You should seek construction takeoff software that offers multi-user or branch support. This allows multiple users to collaborate on a single estimate or project without worrying about overlapping work. This will allow seamless collaboration across departments.
2. Unreliable pricing information in your electrical estimates
To complete your electrical bids quickly and accurately, it is essential to have access to up-to-date pricing information.
Once this is in place, you can promptly price materials, rental, equipment, salary and other items. It is important to get the pricing right from the start, as this will influence everything in the entire project, from sourcing to your profile margins.
You may not be confident in the pricing and material data you have.
- Does it take hours to find the latest pricing?
- Are you spending too much time on second-guessing yourself can be detrimental to your productivity?
- Are you worried about using out-of-date items and having to revise your estimate further down the line?
When you are unsure about the reliability of your price, it is common to ‘pad up’ the figures in order to stay safe.
However, this can lead to the loss of the project if the client chooses a cheaper option. If your prices are outdated or too low, then you may have to pay for costs that were incorrectly priced, and this could affect your profits.
This can all be prevented by using mechanical and electrical cost estimating and pricing software that support streaming updates, reducing this huge source of uncertainty and stress.
Fully integrated pricing technology, like LUCKINS, gives you up-to-date product and pricing information from your favourite suppliers, meaning you can feel confident in your accurate estimates and electrical take-offs.
To learn about the third costly problem, visit the Trimble website.
If these problems sound familiar to you and your business, read Trimble’s ‘Top 8 Tips for Successful MEP Estimating & Takeoff’ eBook.Â
