Metro Atlanta · Savannah and the coast · Augusta · Macon · North Georgia
Construction estimating services in Georgia
Takeoffs and priced estimates for Georgia general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, measured from your drawings and priced to the ZIP code the job is built in.
- Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon
- Priced by ZIP code
- 24 to 48 hours
In short
Estimating in Georgia at a glance
MassBid Estimation prepares quantity takeoffs and cost estimates for construction projects across Georgia. Every trade on the drawings is measured, priced to the project's ZIP code and checked twice, and the package is typically delivered in 24 to 48 hours. Georgia is one of our busiest states: recent work includes an office tower renovation in Atlanta, hotels, a grocery store, bank branches, childcare centers and dozens of storefront packages from the coast to the mountains.
- Markets
- Metro Atlanta, Savannah and the coast, Augusta, Macon and Middle Georgia, Athens and North Georgia
- Recent Georgia work
- Office tower renovation, hotels, grocery store, bank branches, childcare centers, restaurants, a coffee shop site
- Georgia cost drivers
- Red clay and rock on Piedmont sites, coastal wind and flood design, a tight metro Atlanta labor market
- Licensing
- A state contractor license is required for most work over $2,500
- Turnaround
- 24 to 48 hours on most projects
- Checked by
- A separate QA team, twice on every job
- Team
- 20+ in-house estimators, typically 7 to 10 years in the trade
- Quote
- Free, usually back in about 20 minutes
Metro Atlanta · Bid day
Georgia builds fast, and most of it is one trade at a time.
Metro Atlanta keeps adding retail pads, hotels, childcare centers, warehouses and data centers, while Savannah grows around its port. A subcontractor here can be asked to price three or four buildings in a week.
Most of our Georgia work is exactly that: one trade, measured opening by opening or yard by yard, turned around in a day or two. Four things decide whether a Georgia estimate holds.
Four things a Georgia estimate has to get right
01 · The openings
Storefront counted by frame, not by wall
A bank branch and a grocery store can have the same wall area and ten times the difference in glazing cost. On our Georgia jobs, glazing ran from $1.39 to $46.38 per square foot of building.
What changes
Every frame is taken off by mark with its own glass sizes, doors and hardware.
02 · The ground
Red clay and Piedmont rock
North of the fall line, sites are cut into clay with granite close to the surface. A flat-site earthwork rate does not cover rock excavation or the retaining walls a sloped pad needs.
What changes
Earthwork is calculated from the grading plan, and rock is flagged where the soils report shows it.
03 · The coast
Wind and flood design from Savannah south
Coastal counties bring rated openings, heavier connectors and raised floors that an inland takeoff would miss.
What changes
Rated assemblies are taken off as drawn and listed on their own lines.
04 · The labor
Atlanta rates across the state
Labor inside the Perimeter costs more than in Middle or South Georgia. One statewide rate is wrong in both places.
What changes
Labor and material are priced to the project's ZIP code.
Georgia markets
Four Georgia markets, priced separately
Each prices on its own labor and supplier base.
Metro Atlanta
Offices, hotels, apartments, retail, data centers and distribution across Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, DeKalb and the counties around them.
Savannah and the coast
Port-driven warehouses, hotels and housing from Savannah to Brunswick and St. Marys, under coastal wind and flood design.
Augusta, Macon and Columbus
Healthcare, military, retail and manufacturing in the fall-line cities.
Athens and North Georgia
University work, retail and housing from Athens to Gainesville, Dalton and the mountain counties.
Real Georgia figures
What recent Georgia projects cost, by trade
Trade costs from estimates we delivered on Georgia projects. Most of it is glazing, because Georgia storefront contractors send us work every week.
The spread shows why a square-foot allowance fails for glazing: a senior center expansion with a glass front came to $46.38 per square foot of building, and a 100,200 square foot grocery store to $1.39.
Figures are trade cost before overhead, profit, contingency and tax, from the delivered estimates. Per-square-foot figures are per square foot of building, or of site for site work. They are specific to those projects and are not a price guide.
Real jobs, not a price list. Each figure comes from one project, priced for its own ZIP code and that client's wages, overhead and profit. Prices change by region and over time. Yours will be priced for your location.
| Georgia project and trade | Cost | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Office tower renovation and expansion, Atlanta: demolition, concrete, structural steel, drywall and glazing | $33,448,303 | $107.82 |
| Hotel, Atlanta, 60,500 sq ft: glazing | $536,080 | $8.86 |
| Self-storage building, Atlanta, 112,500 sq ft: glazing | $332,199 | $2.95 |
| Hotel, northeast Georgia, 49,800 sq ft: glazing | $283,601 | $5.69 |
| Coffee shop site, Augusta, 34,200 sq ft of site: earthwork, exterior improvements and utilities | $259,816 | $7.61 |
| Childcare center, metro Atlanta, 10,750 sq ft: glazing | $171,786 | $15.98 |
| Multi-tenant retail shell, northeast Georgia, 12,000 sq ft: glazing | $158,186 | $13.15 |
| Bank branch, metro Atlanta, 3,540 sq ft: glazing | $145,502 | $41.15 |
| Grocery store, southeast Georgia, 100,200 sq ft: glazing | $139,724 | $1.39 |
| Senior center expansion, metro Atlanta, 2,460 sq ft: glazing | $114,041 | $46.38 |
Full sample
Read a full sample, page by page
We do not have a sample for exactly this scope online yet. This is the closest one. Storefront and glazing, from a finished job: a equipment rental building, 10,500 sq ft in North Carolina. Open it full screen, scroll through all 4 pages and zoom in on any line.
This is one real job, shown as an example. It was built to that client's own specification: their wage rates, labor style, type of pricing, and overhead and profit. Prices also change by region and over time, so yours will be priced for your location.
Want a current sample in your own trade or specialty, or have a question? Use the contact form, email [email protected] or call (832) 356-4237.
Trades and cities
Services with Georgia work to show
Glazing and storefront
Hotels, banks, restaurants and retail, frame by frame.
Glazing estimatingEarthwork and site work
The Augusta coffee shop site: earthwork, exterior improvements and utilities.
Earthwork estimatingPainting
An apartment community on the coast, priced by building type.
Painting estimatingWhole-building estimates
Every trade for general contractors, as on the Atlanta renovation.
GC estimating
Georgia cities we price
- Atlanta
- Savannah
- Augusta
- Macon
- Columbus
- Athens
- Marietta
- Alpharetta
- Roswell
- Sandy Springs
- Lawrenceville
- Gainesville
- Cumming
- Covington
- McDonough
- Statesboro
- Warner Robins
- Valdosta
- Rome
- Dalton
Pricing data
How a Georgia project is priced
Quantities are priced from our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. The estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that part of Georgia.
Material prices change from region to region and from month to month, so a price book or a national average is out of date before the bid goes in.
Priced by ZIP code
Current local material prices for the place the job is built, not a national average.
Updated by vendors
Local vendors update their prices in the database as they change.
Labor as you bid it
Union, open shop, or Davis-Bacon and prevailing wage rates with fringes.
How it works
From Georgia drawings to a finished estimate
Send the drawings
Plans, specifications and addenda, with the project address or ZIP code, the bid date and any bid form or template you have to fill in.
Free quote
We review the set and reply with a quote and a delivery date, usually within about 20 minutes.
Takeoff, pricing and two QA reviews
Quantities are measured on the drawings and priced to the project's ZIP code. A separate QA team checks the quantities against the plans, then the priced estimate.
Delivery and revisions
The package typically arrives within 24 to 48 hours. Addenda and revisions are free, with no limit and no time limit, and are handled on priority.
The work is done in-house by more than 20 estimators, typically with 7 to 10 years of industry experience.
What it costs
Estimating prices for Georgia projects
- Single project
- From $199. Simple scopes typically run $100 to $250.
- Larger buildings
- Typically $200 to $500. Large or multi-building projects are quoted individually.
- Monthly plan
- From $1,499 for 10 to 15 projects, for contractors who bid every week.
Georgia contractors who do not keep a full-time estimator use us for outsourced estimating: send the drawings when a bid comes up and pay per project.
Every job is quoted individually from the drawings, and the quote is free. See all pricing
After delivery
An editable Excel estimate workbook and unlimited free revisions
- Formulas built in
An Excel workbook you can change yourself
The estimate arrives as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change a quantity, a rate or a markup and every total follows. Move overhead and profit from 25% to 30% and the whole bid recalculates on the spot.
- No waiting
Adjust your bid at the last minute
If something changes just before the deadline, you do not have to send the estimate back and wait. Open the workbook, change the number and submit. The control stays with you.
- Priority turnaround
Unlimited free revisions
Addenda, scope changes and pricing updates are all free, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and typically come back within an hour to a few hours.
Questions
Georgia construction estimating FAQ
Yes. We estimate projects in Atlanta, Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Columbus, Athens and the rest of the state, each priced to the project's ZIP code. Georgia is one of the states we work in most.
It depends on the building and the trade. On Georgia projects we estimated, glazing ran from $1.39 per square foot of building on a 100,200 square foot grocery store to $46.38 on a small senior center expansion. An office tower renovation in Atlanta came to $107.82 per square foot for demolition, concrete, steel, drywall and glazing.
On a 60,500 square foot Atlanta hotel, glazing trade cost was $536,080, or $8.86 per square foot of building. On a 3,540 square foot bank branch it was $145,502, or $41.15 per square foot, because a bank has far more glass for its size.
Yes. On a drive-through coffee shop site in Augusta, earthwork, exterior improvements and utilities came to $259,816 in trade cost, or $7.61 per square foot of site. Quantities are calculated from the grading and utility plans.
Yes. Georgia requires a state residential or general contractor license for most work over $2,500, and electrical, plumbing and HVAC trades are licensed separately. It does not change the estimate, but it shapes who bids which scope.
Yes. Labor and material are priced to the ZIP code, so a project inside the Perimeter and one in South Georgia carry different rates.
Both. General contractors get every trade on the drawings; subcontractors get their own trade isolated and returned in the general contractor's format. Suppliers get quantities only.
Yes. This page shows a full sample from a finished job (storefront and glazing, for a equipment rental building, 10,500 sq ft in North Carolina), which you can open full screen and read page by page. It is the closest sample we have online for this scope. It was built to that client's own specification, so the wage rates, pricing and overhead and profit are theirs. Ask us for a current sample in your own trade.
From our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States. An estimator enters the project's ZIP code and gets current material prices for that part of Georgia, and vendors update their prices as they change. Labor is priced as union or open shop, or at Davis-Bacon rates with fringes on government work.
Yes. The estimate is delivered as an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in. Change any quantity, rate or markup and the whole estimate recalculates. If overhead and profit was set at 25% and you want 30%, change that one cell and every total updates, so you can adjust your number minutes before the bid is due without sending it back to us.
As many as you need. Every revision is free, including addenda, scope changes and pricing updates, however many times you come back, and there is no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and are typically returned within an hour to a few hours, depending on the size of the change.
Most packages are delivered in 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size, scope and complexity of the job. The quote is free, usually comes back in about 20 minutes, and states the exact delivery time.
A single project starts at $199, and simple scopes typically run $100 to $250. Larger buildings typically run $200 to $500. Every estimate is built to the client's own specification, and revisions are free.
Other service areas and services
Bidding a Georgia project? Send the drawings.
Free quote in about 20 minutes. Takeoffs and estimates typically in 24 to 48 hours, priced to the project's Georgia ZIP code and built to your format, with free revisions with no limit.