Estimating built around how your trade actually gets measured.
A slab is not measured like a pipe run, and a land-clearing job is not measured like an apartment fit-out. Every package is assigned to an estimator who has priced that discipline before, then structured so you can read, edit and defend it line by line.
Choose your world.
Each sector below lists the packages we produce, what a typical scope covers, and the mistakes we look for specifically because they are the ones that cost money later.
Residential estimating
Two houses of identical square footage can differ by thirty per cent once the finish schedule is priced properly. So finishes get measured room by room and level by level, not smoothed into a rate per square foot.
On remodels, demolition, temporary protection and making-good are separate lines. Those three are the most common omissions in a cheap estimate and the most common change orders afterwards.
Packages we produce
What we look for specifically
Averaged finishes, missing demolition, waste factors applied inconsistently between trades, and tight urban sites priced as if access were free.
Homes, villas & apartments
- Excavation, footings, grade beams and slab
- Framing by member: posts, headers, beams, joists, sheathing
- Roofing, cladding, insulation and weatherproofing
- Window and door schedule with openings counted
- Plumbing, electrical and HVAC rough and trim
- Drywall, paint, tile and floor finishes by room
- Millwork, cabinetry and appliance allowances
- Site works, driveways, decking and landscaping
Commercial estimating
Commercial bids turn on three things: general conditions, the structural package, and where MEP responsibility actually starts and stops. Those get the most review time.
On pre-engineered buildings the manufacturer’s supplied package is separated from field-installed scope, because that boundary is where double-counting and gaps both live. On tenant improvement work, pricing starts from the landlord’s real base-build condition rather than an assumed bare shell.
Packages we produce
What we look for specifically
General conditions under-run on long programmes, PEMB scope counted twice, and design-intent MEP priced as though it were coordinated.
Offices, retail & warehouses
- General conditions and preliminaries
- Sitework, foundations and slab systems
- Structural steel, joists, deck and connections
- Masonry, tilt-up and precast
- Envelope: cladding, glazing, roofing, waterproofing
- Partitions, ceilings and interior finishes
- MEP distribution and terminal devices
- Fire protection, life safety and low voltage
Industrial & process estimating
A 6" stainless line and a 6" carbon steel line are different money, so piping is never aggregated by diameter. Each line is measured against its specification and service, with valves, fittings and supports counted individually.
For fabricators, steel is taken off by member and connection type. That separation is what lets a shop change its rate without anyone rebuilding the estimate.
Packages we produce
What we look for specifically
Piping aggregated across specs, connection labour buried inside a tonnage rate, and shutdown or live-plant productivity losses left out.
Process, structural & plant MEP
- Piping by line size, spec, service and material
- Valves, fittings, supports and specialty items counted
- Structural steel by member; connections separate
- Platforms, ladders, grating and handrail
- Equipment pads, anchor bolts and setting hours
- Power distribution, MCCs, tray and terminations
- Instrumentation, controls and conduit runs
- Insulation, coatings and fireproofing
Civil & sitework estimating
Earthwork carries the largest single-line risk on most projects, because a volume error compounds through haul, disposal and import.
Cut and fill volumes are calculated with swell and shrinkage by material type. Haul is its own line against a stated disposal distance. If the geotech suggests unsuitable material, it goes on the exclusions list rather than quietly into a unit rate.
Packages we produce
What we look for specifically
Swell and shrink ignored, haul distance assumed, unsuitable material absorbed into the excavation rate, and dewatering missed on high-water-table sites.
Land clearing to final grade
- Clearing and grubbing by acreage and density
- Topsoil strip, stockpile and respread volumes
- Cut and fill with swell and shrink by material
- Haul, import and disposal as separate lines
- Trenching, bedding, backfill and compaction
- Storm, sanitary and water runs with structures
- Subgrade prep, base course and aggregate
- Asphalt tonnage, flatwork and curb LF
Structured by division, so it drops into how you already work.
Estimates are organised on CSI MasterFormat so they reconcile against your accounting, your subcontractor packages and your schedule of values without translation. UK clients can have the same content in an elemental breakdown instead.
General & sitework
Structure & envelope
Interiors & specialties
Mechanical & plumbing
Electrical & technology
Conveying & marine
Divisions with no scope on your project are omitted rather than zero-filled. An estimate padded with empty lines makes it harder, not easier, to see what has actually been priced.
Work that surrounds the estimate: before, during and after the bid.
Most contractors start with a single takeoff. What keeps them is everything around it: early budgets that stop bad projects, validation that protects a submission, and change order pricing that stands up after award.
Early stageBudget estimates
Order-of-magnitude pricing from schematic drawings, sketches or a written scope, for feasibility and go/no-go decisions before design is complete.
- Square-foot and elemental models
- Design-development updates
- Accuracy expectation stated by stage
Bid stageBid support & validation
An independent takeoff run against your own numbers before submission, plus sub-bid levelling so you compare equivalent scopes rather than three different assumptions.
- Blind second opinion on high-value packages
- Sub-bid levelling with scope commentary
- Bid-day support until submission
Post-awardChange order pricing
Change events measured and priced with the same discipline as the original bid, so what you present to the owner reconciles against the contract estimate.
- Variation takeoffs
- Comparison against the original basis
- Supporting documentation
OngoingCost library development
Your historical costs, supplier pricing and crew productivity built into a structured library, so future estimates start from your real numbers.
- Assemblies built to your details
- Wages and supplier rates maintained
- Most valuable during slow periods
Design stageValue engineering support
Priced alternates for the decisions clients actually ask about: specification changes, system substitutions, phasing options.
- Side-by-side alternate pricing
- Cost impact of spec changes
- Delivered in the same workbook
CapacityOverflow estimating
Reserved capacity for the weeks when your bid calendar collapses in on itself. Your team keeps the work they know best.
- Retained monthly arrangements
- Priority turnaround on booked capacity
- One consistent format across packages
A second opinion is cheapest before you submit it.
On a high-value package, we measure it blind, without seeing your numbers, and then you compare line by line. Where we agree, you gain confidence. Where we differ, you have found something worth an hour of attention before the bid goes out rather than after.
We also level subcontractor bids so you are comparing genuinely equivalent scopes. Three quotes that look ten per cent apart are frequently three different scopes pretending to be one, and that is where the exposure hides.
Blind re-measure
We do not see your numbers until ours are finished. That is the only way a comparison means anything.
Line-by-line variance
A written reconciliation of where the two estimates diverge and, where we can tell, why.
Sub-bid levelling
Quotes normalised to a common scope with inclusions and exclusions made explicit.
Bid-day support
Questions answered and revisions turned around while the clock runs down to submission.
Tell us the trade. We will tell you the fee and the date.
Send the drawings and the divisions you want priced. You will have a fixed fee, a firm delivery date and a written scope statement before anyone starts measuring.