Outsourced & overflow estimating services
Reserved estimator capacity for the weeks when your bid calendar collapses in on itself.
What overflow estimating covers
Most contractors do not need to replace their estimator. They need a way to survive the fortnight when four bids land at once and one person can properly cover two of them.
A retained arrangement books capacity in advance, so when the surge arrives the work starts immediately rather than joining a queue. Your in-house team keeps the projects they know best and we absorb the overflow, in a format that matches what they produce.
Turnaround
Priority turnaround on booked capacity
Who it is for
Contractors bidding continuously, and preconstruction teams with uneven workload.
Overflow estimating
- Reserved estimator hours each month
- Priority turnaround on booked capacity
- A consistent workbook format across every package
- Cost library maintained alongside the work
- Bid validation and second-opinion reviews included
- Direct line to the estimator during bid week
The deliverable.
Consistent whatever the engagement, so it drops into how you already work.
Estimates and takeoffs in your standard format
Monthly capacity and utilisation summary
Common overflow estimating mistakes
These are the errors that turn up most often when work of this kind is checked. None of them are exotic, and all of them are cheaper to find before the number goes out than after.
For a longer list with examples, read nine takeoff mistakes that only show up on bid day.
- Looking for outside capacity after bid week has started, when it can no longer be booked
- Outsourced packages in a different format from in-house ones, so nothing can be compared or combined
- Sending out routine work in your core trade, where your own estimator is faster and better informed
Common questions on overflow estimating
No. The point is augmentation. A good in-house estimator is an asset, and the job here is to make their calendar survivable and their numbers checkable.
It is discussed openly rather than quietly billed. Arrangements are structured around the bid calendar you actually have, not one that suits us.
Work that usually sits alongside this
Most engagements combine more than one of these.
By trade, by sector, and further reading
Trades this applies to
- Electrical estimating & takeoff servicesDivision 26
- Plumbing estimating & takeoff servicesDivision 22
- HVAC & mechanical estimating servicesDivision 23
Estimating by sector
- Residential construction estimatingHomes, villas & apartments
- Commercial construction estimatingOffices, retail & warehouses
- Industrial & process estimatingProcess, structural & plant MEP
- Civil & sitework estimatingLand clearing to final grade
Further reading
- What a bid actually costsRunning a bid room
- What to send for an estimateRunning a bid room
Tell us what you need priced.
A fixed fee, a firm delivery date and a written scope statement, usually back the same working day.
Fixed project fees · Written scope before work starts · Unlimited revisions within scope