Bid Estimate vs Quote vs Proposal: What Each Document Is For
Four documents carry a construction price, and each does a different job. See who writes and reads each one, where each fails, and one job priced through all four.
Cost Estimating Guides
Cost estimating guides that show how a pre-bid number is built and how to defend it. Follow the steps from scope and quantities to labor, material, equipment and subcontract prices, then to general conditions, overhead, profit, allowances and contingency. Learn how an estimate sheet grows out of takeoff quantities, why markup and margin are different arithmetic, and how an estimate, a quote and a proposal differ. The guides use units, hours, index numbers and percentages instead of local prices, so the method holds in any market and any year. They also say how close an estimate can land at each stage of design. Written for owner-estimators, small general contractors and project managers who must explain a number to an owner, a lender or a partner.
Every package includes
- Editable Excel or CSV with quantity, unit, unit cost and extended total
- Color-coded PDF markups of the sheets each quantity came off
- Written assumptions, inclusions and exclusions with pricing sources
Latest in Cost Estimating Guides
Construction Estimate Template Built From Takeoff Quantities
Copy the columns, a two-line worked example, a markup-to-margin table and a quote view into a blank workbook. Every price line starts from a quantity.
How to Estimate Construction Costs: A Pre-Bid Number in 7 Steps
A pre-bid number is a stack of measured quantities, unit costs with named sources, general conditions, risk, overhead and profit. Seven steps with the arithmetic shown.
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