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GI Joe & My Dad
Let’s face it – we all want a successful project! But how do you make sure that your project comes out ahead? And what does this have to do with GI Joe and my dad? I was a huge fan of the GI Joe...
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Accurate Costs for Construction Managers
I was recently looking at a project for a client and noticed a nice little qualification in the Instruction to Bidders document. It stated that the subcontractor and supplier awards will not (with...
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Over Budget on Mega-Projects
An article caught my attention the other day and I thought I would share it with you. It explained why mega-projects are typically over budget. They explained the reason as the “planning fallacy” and...
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Benefit of Independent Estimate
According to a recent article, several cities in South Africa learned how bid rigging can significantly increase the cost of construction. Fifteen companies were fined a total of $147 million for...
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The Unit Cost
I was recently reading an article about the IRS audit on conferences and naturally pulled up my calculator to start calculating the unit cost of the conference. If you don’t watch or read any national...
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Redundancy
Many years ago, when I was a helper out in the field, I was tasked with cleaning the condensing units for a racetrack and casino. From what I had heard, these units hadn’t been cleaned in a number of...
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Professional Estimators
Many owners, architects, and engineers balk at the idea of hiring and paying for a professional estimator for their project. After all, wouldn’t it help to control costs to go with a cheaper option?...
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Questions
Through our blog I get a lot of questions about general construction terms. And no I don’t mean humorous terms like Mark and I covered in construction terms part 1 and part 2. So I thought I would...
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Independent Estimators
If you are an owner or developer, why should you use an independent cost estimator? An independent estimator can be truly objective. An independent cost estimator does not have any vested interest in...
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Change Orders
Changes on a project can cause numerous issues, from lowering productivity, to difficulties recouping the additional costs from the owner. Problems can also arise when submitting the change order. The...
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Good or Bad Project
It’s amazing how a project can turn out compared to the estimate cost at bid time. I have seen projects over the years that turned out the exact opposite of what was anticipated for better or for...
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How much?
A common question that I get is “How much will your services cost?” This is a very complex question. First, I must know what kind of a project they are talking about. Are they looking at a strip mall...
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You Get What You Pay For
My father painted houses and did other handyman jobs for people to help subsidize his income as I was growing up. Around my college years, I started helping him on these projects. He never wanted to...
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The Cost of Doing Business
Should subs/suppliers provide the same price to all general contractors on bid day? This question has come up many times. The short answer is no. Every time you submit your price to a contractor you...
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The “I have no clue what it costs” feeling
The “I have no clue what it costs” feeling is a bad feeling to have when doing an estimate. This happened to a fellow estimating friend of mine. He was doing some preliminary estimating on a project...
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Who You Are Working With
Ask any contractor and they can tell you which subcontractors or generals that they like to work with. You may get a longer answer though than what you were expecting. Usually some horror story they...
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Nuclear Power
I am in favor of nuclear power. The lifespan, power generation, and emissions are far better than coal or natural gas. Reliability and the consistency of the power are better than solar or wind. I...
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Nothing I Do Is Scientific, My Job Is All About Magic
I love being in the estimating profession. I have a magical job as my career. After all someone that can predict costs in advance of them must be a magician! Some of my professional counterparts in...
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