Estimating Building Construction

Course Description

Attendees of this five-day course will be fully prepared to work as estimators for contractors bidding institutional or commercial building projects. Upon completing this course, students will be able to accurately take-off and summarize work quantities from architectural drawings. Students will learn to apply the correct costs for both labor and materials, and will leave this course having prepared an accurate estimate for a complete commercial project. Students attending this course attain a level of proficiency that might otherwise take six months or more to achieve with only on-the-job training.In just five days, attendees of this course will learn how to produce accurate detail estimates of commercial buildings. Mechanical, electrical, sitework and other specialty trades will be estimated using comparative appraisal estimating techniques. Students attending this course will develop the underlying skills needed to create and organize accurate estimates. Math and takeoff skills necessary for estimating the general construction trades are covered in detail in this course. Different types of drawings needed to visualize the building and its components are also covered in detail.

Location details are provided upon registration.

• Developing a complete detail estimate
• Developing the project schedule
• Including support and supervision costs
• Reviewing subcontractor bids
• Analyzing scope and prices of sitework bids
• Completing a detailed concrete construction estimate
• Cost breakdown for forming, reinforcing,
• placing and finishing concrete
• Estimating pre-cast concrete components
• Determining optimal methods of concrete forming and placing
• Completing a detailed masonry estimate
• Estimating block, brick, stone and glass block
• Completing a detailed steel and metal estimate
• Implementing industry accepted productivity adjustments
• Completing a detailed carpentry estimate
• Preparing a trim carpentry estimate for a commercial building
• Adjusting materials from installed to purchased quantities
• Completing a detailed roofing takeoff
• Estimating both pitched and flat roofs
• Completing a detailed doors and window takeoff
• Completing a detailed finishes takeoff
• Utilizing the room finish schedule as a checklist
• Using the memory sheet method to reduce estimating time required
• Estimating mechanical, electrical and specialty construction using general contractor methods that rely on subcontractor performance
• Scope verification and price analysis per division and/or trade
• Commercial construction project “real world” bids are utilized
• A complete project estimate is prepared
• Comparing total project cost to recent project costs
• Adding mark-ups for overhead and profit
• Completing a bid document
• Reviewing erection equipment and costs
• Accomplishing tonnage conversions as required

Upon completion of the course students will be able to perform complete detail estimates of the general construction trades for commercial buildings, and put into practice a structured and tested system for determining project costs. They will be able to determine how project complexity affects labor pricing, select the correct costs for all aspects of the entire project, and utilize various approaches to negotiate favorable subcontracts and material prices. Students will have the confidence in their ability to function as fully qualified building construction estimators with valuable skills and sound techniques.

This course is available as a video home study. This format is ideal for busy construction professionals who are unable to attend a live course. It is also beneficial as an in house training tool for human resource departments. The video home study format includes everything that is presented in the live version of the course. video home study courses are shipped via UPS to the shipping address that you select upon checkout.

The video home study course includes: 

• Instructor video presentation on USB flash drive
• Course workbook
• Practice blueprints
• Reference book
• Architectural scale
• Calculator