How we estimate
From your drawings to a checked estimate, step by step
What happens to a drawing set after you send it: who measures it, how it is priced, how it is checked and what comes back.
In short
Every estimate is measured from the drawings by an estimator who works in that trade, priced for the project's ZIP code from our own vendor pricing database, and checked twice by a separate QA team before it is delivered, typically in 24 to 48 hours, as an editable Excel workbook with marked-up plans.
The process
Seven steps, from quote to revision
Quote
We look at the drawing set, count the sheets and trades, and reply with a price and a delivery date, usually within about 20 minutes during working hours. The quote is free, priced per project, and nothing starts until you approve it.
Result: A price and a delivery date
Scope review
Before anything is measured, the drawings, specifications and addenda are read for the trades you asked for. We confirm whether labor is union, open shop or prevailing wage, your overhead and profit, any bid form or template, and the bid date. If something is unclear, we ask rather than guess.
Result: A confirmed scope for each trade
Takeoff, trade by trade
Each trade is measured by an in-house estimator who works in that trade, typically with seven to ten years of experience. Every item is measured from the drawings in its own unit: cubic yards of concrete, pounds of rebar, square feet of drywall, linear feet of pipe, each fixture and device counted by type. The plans are marked up as they are measured, so every quantity can be traced back to the sheet it came from.
Result: Quantities by trade, with marked-up plans
Pricing for the project's ZIP code
The estimator enters the project's ZIP code in our own pricing database, built with local vendors across the United States, and gets current material prices for that market. Vendors update their prices as they change. Labor is priced at union, open shop or Davis-Bacon rates with fringes, as the job calls for. Your own supplier or subcontractor prices replace ours on any line you send them for.
Result: A priced estimate by CSI division
Two QA reviews by a separate team
The people who check the work are not the people who did it. The first review checks the quantities against the drawings. The second checks the priced estimate: rates, extensions, totals and scope gaps.
Result: A checked estimate
Delivery
Typically in 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size, scope and complexity of the job, as stated in the quote. You get an editable Excel workbook with the formulas built in, the marked-up plans, and the estimate in your template or the owner's bid form if you sent one.
Result: Workbook, marked-up plans and your bid form
Revisions and addenda
Every revision is free, addenda included, however many times you come back and with no time limit. Revisions are handled on priority and typically returned within an hour to a few hours, depending on the change.
Result: An updated estimate, as often as you need it
How we work
Six rules every estimate follows
- Measured, not assumed
- Rebar is taken off bar by bar, formwork by contact area and fixtures by count. Ratios from other buildings, such as pounds of rebar per cubic yard, are used only to check a takeoff, never to price one.
- Priced where it is built
- Material and labor prices change from region to region and over time, so every project is priced to its own ZIP code, not from a national average or last year's price book.
- Nothing buried
- Sales tax, overhead, profit, insurance and contingency are each their own line, set to your percentages, so you can change any of them and watch the bid recalculate.
- Assumptions in writing
- Where the drawings leave something open, the estimate states what was assumed. Items supplied by others, such as landlord or owner-furnished equipment, are listed as exclusions.
- What is drawn
- We price what the drawings and specifications call for, including local requirements they show. We do not design, engineer or certify anything.
- Your format
- Every estimate is built to your specification: your trades, your template, your bid form, your wage rates and your markups.
See it in finished work on the samples page, read about the company, or learn how to read a construction estimate.
Questions
About the process
In seven steps: a free quote, a scope review, a takeoff by an estimator who works in the trade, pricing for the project's ZIP code from our own vendor pricing database, two QA reviews by a separate team, delivery as an editable Excel workbook with marked-up plans, and free revisions.
An in-house estimator who works in that trade, typically with seven to ten years of experience. The team is more than 20 estimators, and nothing is passed to outside freelancers.
Twice, by a QA team that is separate from the estimators. The first review checks the quantities against the drawings and the second checks the priced estimate: rates, extensions, totals and scope gaps. If a quantity is found to be wrong after delivery, we correct it at no charge.
We ask. Where something is still open, the estimate states what was assumed, so you can see it and change it. Items supplied by others are listed as exclusions.
Yes. The plans are marked up as they are measured, so every quantity shows where on which sheet it was taken off.
The quote usually comes back in about 20 minutes during working hours. The estimate is typically delivered in 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size, scope and complexity of the job, and revisions in an hour to a few hours.
Or call or text (832) 356-4237.