Orange · Lake · Osceola · Seminole counties
Construction estimating services in Orlando
Takeoffs and priced estimates for Central Florida general contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, with HVAC and plumbing measured duct by duct and pipe by pipe.
- Orlando, Kissimmee, Clermont, Sanford
- HVAC and plumbing a specialty
- 24 to 48 hours
In short
Estimating in Orlando at a glance
MassBid Estimation prepares quantity takeoffs and cost estimates for construction projects across Orlando and Central Florida. 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. Recent Orlando-area work includes the mechanical and plumbing estimates for two fire stations, a medical office fit-out and a high-rise clinic expansion, and a public sidewalk project.
- Area covered
- Orange, Lake, Osceola, Seminole and Polk counties
- Recent Orlando-area work
- Two fire stations, a medical office fit-out, a clinic expansion, a public sidewalk
- Orlando cost drivers
- Heavy cooling loads, public-safety and healthcare standards, sandy soil and a high water table
- Strongest trades here
- HVAC and plumbing, with four finished jobs to show
- 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
Orange County · Bid day
Mechanical and plumbing on an Orlando fire station: $38 a square foot. On a clinic floor in a tower: $12.
Central Florida is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, and its public buildings are growing with it: fire stations, clinics, schools and medical offices in every new suburb west and south of the city.
Those buildings are small and heavily serviced, which is exactly where a mechanical estimate by the square foot fails. Four things decide whether an Orlando estimate holds.
Four things an Orlando estimate has to get right
01 · The duct
Ductwork priced by weight
A fire station has apparatus bays, bunk rooms, a kitchen and decontamination rooms, each with its own air. The duct list runs to dozens of sizes.
What changes
Every run is traced by size, with fittings, dampers and air devices counted.
02 · The building
Fit-out priced like a ground-up
A clinic on an upper floor reuses the building's central plant. A freestanding medical office buys its own rooftop units. The same clinic costs several times as much in the second case.
What changes
Equipment is taken off from the schedules, so what is new and what is existing is clear.
03 · The humidity
Outside air and dehumidification
Florida design conditions mean dedicated outside-air units, more insulation and condensate piping from every unit.
What changes
Outside-air equipment, insulation and condensate are each listed.
04 · The ground
Sand, water and sinkholes
Central Florida soil is sand over limestone with a high water table. Underground plumbing and utilities often need dewatering, and some sites need ground improvement.
What changes
Underground work is measured separately, with dewatering noted where the soils report raises it.
Central Florida submarkets
Central Florida, priced county by county
Growth is moving west into Lake County and south into Osceola and Polk.
Orlando and Orange County
Downtown, the medical district, the attractions area and Ocoee: healthcare, hospitality, public safety and high-rise fit-outs.
Lake County
Clermont, Minneola and Groveland: fire stations, medical offices, schools and sidewalks following new housing over the hills west of the city.
Osceola and Polk counties
Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Davenport and Lakeland: hospitality, hospitals, distribution and very fast residential growth.
Seminole and Volusia counties
Sanford, Lake Mary, Oviedo and Daytona Beach: offices, schools, airport and coastal work.
Real Orlando-area work
Sample takeoffs from Central Florida projects
Pages from finished jobs in Orange and Lake counties. Client names, addresses and title blocks are removed; the quantities are as delivered. Click any page to enlarge.
Medical office fit-out
Ductwork takeoff for a Central Florida medical office
Protects you fromSheet metal from a guessed weight.
Fire station
HVAC takeoff for an Orange County fire station
Protects you fromApparatus bay exhaust missed.
Public sidewalk
Sidewalk takeoff for a Lake County public works project
Protects you fromDriveway repairs nobody counted.
Every estimate is built to the client's own specification, so yours may be laid out differently. To see a past project in your own trade, ask for an example. Examples are finished work for other projects, not an estimate of yours; for pricing on your own job, send your Orlando drawings for a free quote.
Real Orlando-area figures
What mechanical and plumbing cost on four Orlando-area buildings
Plumbing and HVAC trade costs from estimates we delivered in Orange and Lake counties. Each figure includes that building's mechanical general requirements.
Three freestanding buildings fell between $38.61 and $44.45 per square foot. The clinic on an upper floor of a tower, served by the building's central systems, was $11.74.
Figures are trade cost before overhead, profit and contingency, from the delivered estimates. Per-square-foot figures are per square foot of building or tenant area. 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.
| Orlando-area building | Plumbing and HVAC | Per sq ft |
|---|---|---|
| Fire station, Orange County, 9,250 sq ft | $357,116 | $38.61 |
| Medical office fit-out, Lake County, 6,730 sq ft | $288,524 | $42.86 |
| Fire station addition, Lake County, 5,855 sq ft | $260,254 | $44.45 |
| Clinic expansion, upper floor, Orlando, 10,140 sq ft | $119,033 | $11.74 |
Full sample
Read a full sample, page by page
Plumbing and HVAC, from a finished job: a fire station, 9,250 sq ft in Florida. 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 places
What Orlando contractors send us most
HVAC
Duct by size, equipment from the schedules, air devices counted.
HVAC estimatingPlumbing
Pipe by diameter, fittings and every fixture.
Plumbing estimatingMEP together
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing in one package.
MEP estimatingSidewalks and site concrete
Walks, ramps, curb and gutter for public works.
Exterior improvements
Central Florida places we price
- Orlando
- Kissimmee
- Clermont
- Winter Park
- Sanford
- Lake Buena Vista
- Ocoee
- Winter Garden
- Minneola
- Apopka
- Altamonte Springs
- Oviedo
- Lake Mary
- St. Cloud
- Davenport
- Lakeland
Pricing data
How a Orlando 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 Orlando.
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 Orlando 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 Orlando 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.
Every job is quoted individually from the drawings, and the quote is free. See all pricing
After delivery
An editable Excel workbook and 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
Free revisions, with no limit
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
Orlando construction estimating FAQ
Yes. We price projects in Orlando, Kissimmee, Clermont, Sanford, Lakeland and the rest of Orange, Lake, Osceola, Seminole and Polk counties, each to its own ZIP code.
On four Orlando-area buildings we estimated, plumbing and HVAC together were $38.61 per square foot on a fire station, $42.86 on a medical office fit-out, $44.45 on a fire station addition and $11.74 on a clinic expansion on an upper floor of a tower. All are trade cost before overhead and profit.
Because it connects to the building's existing central plant and risers. The freestanding buildings each needed their own equipment, underground plumbing and full duct systems.
On a 9,250 square foot fire station in Orange County, plumbing was $163,127 and HVAC $151,275. On a 5,855 square foot addition in Lake County, plumbing was $97,107 and HVAC $105,007.
Yes. Recent work includes a medical office fit-out and a clinic expansion. Medical gas, exhaust and filtration requirements are taken off where the drawings show them.
Yes. Most of our Orlando work is for mechanical and plumbing subcontractors, returned in their own format with labor hours on every line.
Yes. Every trade is covered. Mechanical and plumbing are the trades with the most finished Orlando jobs we can show, along with a public sidewalk project.
Yes. This page shows a full sample from a finished job (plumbing and HVAC, for a fire station, 9,250 sq ft in Florida), which you can open full screen and read page by page. 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 Orlando, 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. The quote is free and usually comes back in about 20 minutes.
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.
Other cities and services
Bidding an Orlando project? Send the drawings.
Free quote in about 20 minutes. Takeoffs and estimates typically in 24 to 48 hours, priced to the project's Central Florida ZIP code and built to your format, with free revisions with no limit.