What matters most when you need an estimate?
How quickly you can get it done?
How cheaply someone else can do it for you?
How quickly you can get it off your desk?
Or, if you do your own estimating, how little it appears to cost you?
That last one is particularly easy to overlook.
You do it in the evenings. At weekends. After you’ve been on site all day. It’s your own time, so perhaps it doesn’t really count.
Except, of course, it does.
And so does the quality of the estimate.
The problem is that quality is difficult to judge when everything appears to have gone well. You submit the quote. The customer accepts it. The job starts.
It’s only later that you discover something significant has been missed.
Perhaps an element of the build wasn’t included. Maybe quantities were wrong. Labour was underestimated. A specification wasn’t fully understood. An allowance was too optimistic. Or something buried in the drawings simply didn’t make it into the estimate.
By then, the price of a cheap estimate can look very different.
There’s always a reason why an estimate is cheap
Take a two-storey wrap-around extension. If an estimator is prepared to estimate that project for say, £200, it is worth asking how. They may be using someone relatively inexperienced who simply cannot command a higher rate. Or they may have an experienced estimator who has to work extremely quickly to make the numbers stack up. That doesn’t automatically mean the estimate will be wrong. It may be perfectly fine.
But you’re increasing the reliance on speed, assumptions and cursory checks.
And that’s the gamble.
A construction estimate isn’t simply a long list of figures. Someone has to understand the drawings, interpret the specification, identify what is and isn’t shown, make sensible assumptions and spot where more information is needed.
Good estimating takes as long as it takes
At HBXL Estimating Service, we know we aren’t necessarily going to be the cheapest estimating option you can find. That isn’t what we’re trying to be.
We aim to offer excellent value for money by employing highly capable estimators and giving them the time required to get an estimate to the standard we are prepared to send to a customer.
There may be conversations with the builder along the way. There may be questions about drawings, specifications, finishes or the intended scope of work.
We would rather do that now than have you discover a major omission when you are halfway through the job.
Because the difference between a £200 estimate and a more considered estimate can become fairly irrelevant if the cheaper one leaves £5,000, £10,000 or considerably more out of the price.
What are you really paying for?
When you pay for a professional estimating service, you aren’t simply buying someone’s time entering quantities into software.
- You are paying for judgement
- For experience
- For someone to notice things
- For someone to ask questions.
At the end of the day, you want someone to look at the project as a construction job rather than simply a set of drawings that need pricing. You’re paying for greater confidence in the number you put in front of your customer.
No estimate can remove every risk from a building project. Prices change. Customers change their minds. Unexpected site conditions happen. But there is a big difference between unavoidable risk and a mistake that could have been prevented by taking more care at the estimating stage.
So by all means compare estimating services on price. Compare turnaround times too. But perhaps ask one more question:
What is the estimate actually going to cost me if it turns out not to be good enough?
Paying a little more before the job starts can save thousands once it is underway.
The gamble, ultimately, is yours.
Send us your plans
Pricing an extension, loft conversion or residential new build?
Send your drawings and project information to HBXL Estimating Service. We’ll review what you’ve provided, ask the right questions and give you a quote for preparing your Estimate Pack.
Expert input at the estimating stage can make all the difference to the success of your building company.