Construction Estimating Company for Bids and Post-Award Work
Use the desk as an extension of your estimating team, before the bid and after the award. Two core services, cost estimation and takeoff, and five specialist desks, each run to its own rulebook, cover the work. This page says which one fits the job in front of you, what each hands back and how they combine. Each is quoted as a fixed price in writing first.
What most packages return
- Files you own: Excel or CSV, ESX, or native schedule and detailing files
- Color-coded markups of the sheets each figure came off
- A written assumptions, inclusions and exclusions record
- A second check before anything is released
Which service fits which situation
Find the sentence that sounds like your week. Each answer links to its page.
I have drawings and a bid date, and I need a price.
Order cost estimating. An estimator measures the scope, prices labor, material, equipment and burden, and returns a bid-ready workbook. Overhead and profit sit on rows that carry the percentages you type in, and every assumption and pricing source is written down.
Read about cost estimatingI price my own work and only need the quantities.
Order a quantity takeoff. Counts, lengths, areas and volumes come back with the sheet and markup behind every figure, and no pricing attached. It suits estimators who already hold their own rates.
Read about quantity takeoffI won the job and need one list my suppliers can quote.
Order a material takeoff. The set becomes one buy list by material and size, in the units suppliers sell, with waste in its own column, so three vendors quote the same sheet line for line.
Read about material takeoffI am not sure whether I need measuring or a priced estimate.
Start with the takeoff overview, which sets out the two ways to order measurement. If the price is also yours to find, say so at upload and the measured file carries forward into an estimate.
Compare the two takeoffsI build or remodel homes.
Residential estimating covers custom homes, spec builds and remodels, coded in NAHB cost codes or CSI, with an allowance schedule so a buyer's upgrade reads as a change against the base house.
Read about residential estimatingI bid commercial work: retail, office or tenant improvements.
Commercial estimating comes back on the owner's bid form in its line order, with add and deduct alternates priced as separate build-ups and unit price rows at the units the schedule publishes.
Read about commercial estimatingI move dirt or build plants: heavy civil, earthwork, process work.
Industrial and heavy civil estimating keeps bank, loose and compacted yards separate and returns the result in your bid item numbers, with plant and process scopes priced in one pass.
Read about industrial estimatingI bid public work from an agency's bid schedule.
Public works estimating rebuilds the agency's bid schedule in its own pay item numbers, with a verified quantity beside the plan quantity. It works for the contractor, not for the agency.
Read about public works estimatingMy job is insurance, wage-rate, steel, scheduling or bid-desk work.
Those scopes follow somebody else's rulebook, so each has its own desk: Xactimate for restoration claims, prevailing wage, steel detailing, CPM scheduling and bid management. They are set out below.
Jump to the specialist desksTwo core services, one measurement pass behind both
The estimating and takeoff pages hang off these two. Both cover CSI Divisions 01-49 (all trades), run the same checks and are quoted the same way.
Four construction sectors and two takeoff routes, each with its own page
Estimating is split by kind of project, because the rules change with it, and insurance restoration is a fifth sector on its own desk below. Takeoff is split by where the job sits: still bidding, or already won.
Residential
Custom homes, spec builds, remodels and wood-framed multifamily, with allowances shown.
Residential estimatingCommercial
Retail, office and tenant work in the owner's bid form order, with alternates and unit prices.
Commercial estimatingIndustrial and heavy civil
Earthwork, utilities, paving, steel tonnage and process piping, with the three kinds of yard kept apart.
Industrial and heavy civil estimatingPublic works
The agency's bid schedule in its own pay items, with a verified quantity beside the plan quantity.
Public works estimatingQuantity takeoff
Measured quantities by trade, each tied to a sheet and a markup, with no pricing attached.
Quantity takeoffMaterial takeoff
One buy list by material and size, in supplier purchase units, with waste in its own column.
Material takeoffAll thirteen services side by side
What you send and what comes back. There is no price column: every job is quoted as a fixed figure first.
| Cost estimating | Drawings, specs, bid date | A priced workbook with marked-up sheets |
|---|---|---|
| Residential | Plan set, selections | An estimate with an allowance schedule |
| Commercial | Drawings, the owner's bid form | An estimate in bid form order |
| Industrial and heavy civil | Civil and structural sets | An estimate in your bid item numbers |
| Public works | Plans, manual, addenda | The agency's bid schedule, rebuilt |
| Takeoff overview | Drawings, the trades you want | Quantities by trade or a buy list |
| Quantity takeoff | Drawings, the divisions | Counts, lengths, areas and volumes |
| Material takeoff | Drawings of the awarded job | A buy list in purchase units |
| Xactimate® insurance estimates | Loss documents, measurements | An ESX and PDF on a named price list |
| Prevailing wage estimating | Plans, wage determination | A labor line by classification |
| Structural steel detailing | Structural and architectural sets | Erection and shop drawings, bill of material |
| Project scheduling | Contract, schedule spec | A native CPM file with a narrative |
| Bid management | Bid documents, your bid list | A bid log, leveling sheets, forms pack |
Send one set and let an estimator pick the desk
Name the trades and the bid date. The quote names the service, the scope and the delivery date.
Five specialist desks, each with its own rulebook
Some work is not built up by CSI division. A carrier prices from its own list, a wage determination sets the labor, the AISC standards govern steel detailing, the contract's scheduling specification sets what a schedule must contain, and the bid desk runs to your bid calendar.
Scopes with their own rulebooks
Order one alone or beside an estimate.
Xactimate® insurance estimates
RESTORATIONMitigation invoices, rebuild estimates and supplements, on the price list you name, with its version and date printed on the file.
See Xactimate insurance estimatesRead by two
A second estimator reads every file.
Prevailing wage estimation
WAGE DETERMINATIONEvery crew position mapped to a classification, base and fringe kept apart, and the determination cited in writing.
See prevailing wage estimationFringe priced twice
As plan contributions and as cash in lieu.
Structural steel detailing
DIVISION 05Production detailing in Tekla Structures and SDS2: erection drawings, shop drawings, anchor rod plans and the advance bill of material.
See structural steel detailingCoordinated, not sealed
Connections go to the engineer of record.
Project scheduling
CPMThe CPM schedule your contract asks for: baseline, monthly updates, look-aheads and fragnets when the job slips.
See project schedulingNative files
P6, Microsoft Project or Asta, plus a PDF Gantt.
Bid management
BID DESKThe desk work around your estimate: packages broken out, invitations chased, addenda logged, quotes leveled and the forms pack assembled.
See bid managementYour name on the bid
You keep the pricing and the signature.
How the services combine from bid to post-award
A job can use more than one service, and each step builds on the last. Measuring and pricing ordered together run in one 24-96h window.
Measure
Price
Run the bid
After the award
The same two checks behind every package
The short version. The how it works page has the full one.
Ask which service fits before you upload anything
Not sure whether a job needs a takeoff, an estimate or a specialist desk? An estimator will say which, in a few lines.
One fixed quote, before any work starts
The short version. The pricing page explains what moves a quote.
Send the drawings, the trades and the closing date. An estimator reads the set and sends back one fixed figure with a delivery date on it.
Nothing is billed until you approve that quote in writing, and revisions on unchanged scope are included.
You can buy one bid at a time, on a monthly retainer, or with a named dedicated estimator.
Check the work first, then decide on the desk
Two places to look before you send a set.
See a delivered package
Anonymized packages by trade, with the workbook live and the color-coded sheets behind it.
Browse the samplesRead what clients allowed us to publish
One named client story, two anonymized reviews and a reference call with a real client.
Read the reviews and referencesPut several services on one retainer
Teams bidding three or more jobs a month can run the queue on a monthly retainer. The pricing page also covers a named dedicated estimator.
What this desk does not do
A clear edge is worth more than a long list of promises.
Questions people ask before they pick a service
Short answers on choosing, ordering and the limits of what this desk does.
Choosing a service
Ordering and delivery
Quality and proof
Limits and fit
Send the drawings,
and the right desk takes it from there
Name the trades, the services you are weighing and the date the bid closes. An estimator replies with one fixed quote in writing that says which service fits.