Everything contractors ask, including the awkward parts.
Pricing objections, accuracy limits, what happens if we get something wrong, and what we do with your drawings. If your question is not here, ask it. The answer will be equally direct.
Sending us a project
The drawing set and your bid date, at minimum. Ideally the specifications, any addenda, and a line on which trades you want priced.
PDF, DWG, RVT, scans or a shared folder link all work. Send a partial set if that is what exists, and say what is missing.
A fixed fee, a firm delivery date and a written scope usually come back within hours on a working day. If the set is unusual we ask a question first rather than quote badly.
None. Work starts only after you accept the fee and the written scope and pay the deposit.
Yes. Tell us the trade and project type you are bidding and we will send a sample estimate and marked-up sheet from comparable work, so you can judge the format and the depth before you spend anything.
Both, plus developers, home builders, fabricators, and land clearing and excavation companies. Single-trade subcontractor packages are a large part of the work.
What you actually receive
A takeoff is the measured quantities. An estimate applies labour hours, wages, material rates and the markup lines that turn cost into a bid.
We provide either. The measurement underneath is identical.
Four things on every engagement:
- An Excel workbook: line-item detail, division roll-up, bid build-up, assumptions
- Colour-marked PDFs with a count legend on the sheet
- A written assumptions and exclusions list
- Planswift source files, on request
Each item carries a production rate in hours per unit. That multiplies out to total hours, which price at the crew wage for the project’s market. A 15" strip footing might run 2.25 hours per cubic yard; a moisture barrier 0.008 hours per square foot.
The benefit is practical: change the wage and every labour figure updates. A blended rate per square foot cannot do that, and cannot be defended when a client asks what the installation actually costs.
Because it differs by item. Concrete carries 5–10%, sheathing 10%, holdowns none at all. A single percentage applied to the bottom of an estimate either over-orders steel or under-orders lumber. Both cost money.
Every counted item is covered by a translucent colour bubble on the sheet, and a legend box lists each type with its colour, description and running count. That is the same document your foreman can use for procurement.
It also means you can audit any number by looking at the drawing instead of taking our word for it.
Yes. Change events are measured and priced the same way as the original bid, so they reconcile against it when the owner questions them.
How good are the numbers
It describes how close measured quantities and applied rates typically land to final measured values, on the condition that the drawings and scope are clear. That condition is the substance of the claim, not fine print.
It is not a guarantee of final construction cost, and we will not present it as one.
Weather. Owner change orders. Unforeseen ground conditions. Commodity movement between bid and buy-out. Design errors not visible in the issued set. Subcontractor availability.
What we do control is measurement discipline, correct regional rates, complete scope coverage, and saying clearly what the drawings do not answer.
Four. The package is matched to an estimator with experience in that discipline. Rates are verified against the project’s region. A second estimator reviews before release. And nothing ships until every logged scope gap is resolved, written as an assumption, or listed as an exclusion.
Point to the line and the sheet. Every quantity is traceable, so it is a resolvable question rather than an opinion. If the error is ours we correct it at no charge and reissue.
Responsibility for the submitted bid stays with you, as it does with any estimating firm. The difference is whether they say so upfront.
Regional pricing for the project’s actual market, cross-checked against current supplier levels and recent comparable work. On retained arrangements we build a library from your own historical costs, which is more accurate again.
The commercial side
Because the products differ. A low fee typically buys a quantity list. Ours buys quantities with wastage per item, labour built from production rates, an auditable marked set, written exclusions, a second review, and unlimited revisions through bid day.
The fee gap is usually a few hundred dollars. The exposure from a mis-measured package on a job you win is not. If fee is the only criterion we are the wrong firm, and we will say so rather than discount.
Fixed project fee from sheet count, scope density, divisions involved, drawing quality, turnaround and output format. Occasionally a percentage of construction value on large or phased programmes. Never hourly.
50% on acceptance, 50% before final files are released. New clients pay 35% upfront on a first engagement. Larger programmes can use milestone collection tied to deliverables.
Within the quoted scope, yes: addenda, design changes, VE alternates, reissues, questions during the takeoff, bid-day support. Added scope is quoted separately before it starts.
The reason is practical. The moment revisions carry a charge, contractors hesitate to request them.
No. Small single-trade packages are welcome. If a job is small enough that outsourcing it makes no commercial sense for you, we will say so.
Fit, capacity and markets
Two reasons dominate. Peak overflow, when several bids land in the same fortnight and your estimator can only properly cover some. And independent validation, where we measure a high-value package blind and you compare line by line before submitting.
A good in-house estimator is an asset. The job here is to make their calendar survivable and their numbers checkable.
A quiet quarter is the cheapest time to build what makes the busy quarter profitable: a cost library from your real numbers, pre-estimated designs you expect to see again, one standard bid format.
If cash is tight, say so. A single validation job is a more sensible entry point than a programme.
Yes. UK projects are measured in metric with UK labour rates and British terminology, delivered in GBP, and structured as CSI, an elemental breakdown, or your own template.
US projects use imperial units, regional US rates and CSI MasterFormat. We do not run UK work through a US template and convert at the end.
In your favour. Packages sent at the end of your day are measured while you are offline, which is what makes 24-hour single-trade turnaround realistic. During bid week we keep overlap with your hours for questions.
Planswift for takeoff, with output in Excel or your template. You do not need to own or learn anything. If you want the native Planswift file so your team can re-measure a revision, it comes with the package.
Your drawings and your numbers
Not without written permission. Every example in our sample work is anonymised, with no client names, project numbers or drawing extracts. Your work gets the same treatment.
Yes. Send yours with the drawings and it comes back signed before work starts.
No. If we are engaged on a project and a competing bidder approaches us for the same package, we decline. We identify the project from the title block on the drawings and confirm before quoting, so you never have to ask.
You do, once the engagement is settled. That includes the workbook, the marked drawings and the Planswift source file. Source files are not withheld as leverage for future work.
Ask an AI the questions we did not answer.
Every answer above was written by us, which is worth remembering. Put the same question to an assistant we have no control over.
What does QuantX Estimation (https://www.quantxestimation.com) do? Summarise their construction cost estimating and quantity takeoff services, which trades and sectors they cover, and which markets they work in.
These open the assistant with the question already typed. We have no relationship with any of them and no control over the answer, which is rather the point.
Still deciding?
The fastest way to answer a remaining question is to look at the work. Ask for a sample in your trade and judge the file rather than the claims.