Estimating....What Do You Do?

ConcreteNed

I go alot with what I know, but times and prices are always changing.

What do you do to keep up with competition and to be up to date with your prices?..

Do you use Programs, books, word of mouth, or shoot from hip maybe..

rino1494

Basically word of mouth. Also, we keep good records of all expenses to make sure that we are creating profit.

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bmartin

I'm a landscape contractor and most of our work is commercial therefore 9 out of 10 times low bidder wins. I always get bid results and keep track of the winning bids percentage over my cost so I know how much I can figure for profit without leaving a bunch on the table. Around here this fluctuates according to season and location so I am constantly revising my margin.

denick

We use a program, Heavy Bid by HCSS for estimating. It is a program used by many of the top heavy highway contractors in the USA. We use the less expensive lite version. It allows us to break down our estimates to the smallest tasks. There are many benefits to the program but the 2 biggest benefits are that you can then go back and compare the estimated and actual cost and your saved estimates can be copied and used to estimate similar jobs. I looked at programs for 5 years before I bought ours.

I would be interested in what you mean by "what I know" as a way of estimating. Do you break estimates down into tasks? Do you cubic yard estimate? Do you keep track of the job as you go and compare that cost to the estimate?

Nick

jstorrezzz

well hello there , im glad to learn there someone out there to help when in difficult price situations . i have been in business for 3 yrs and right now im going thru bid wars with compettion companies that offer work at dirt cheap prices . and everyone calls themselves a home improvement company and know nothin about the work at hand .someone please explain how i can regain strength

Bushido

Good quality material and product, nothing to the extreme unless customer picks it out and pays the difference over quote.
High quality work with good work ethics, eg, show up every day, on time, and work the full day.
Be friendly and courtious. Take the time to answer customer questions fully, without over selling or going into too much detail. Fine line here for sure. lol. I have seen soooo many contractors oversell and lose the job.
Advertise heavily in the area you wish to work. Be sure to list people/jobs they can contact/see in thier neighborhood. MAKE SURE your referrals know you are going to be using them as such! Don't use your biggest jobs as referral, unless you are pitching a similar sized job. I sometimes give a small discount to the customer for their co-operation.
I try to sell the job myself, I don't like using a sales person unless he is a tradesperson first and foremost. A tradesman can explain AND sell, salesman can only sell, or worse yet, undersell!!!
Register with any local business associations, such as better business etc.
Make sure that the customer realizes you ARE insured and bonded.
Make it policy that your people are clean and presentable
There is so much more that you could do, but I am getting tired of typing lol.
Hope there is something helpful there.