Unqualified estimators do exist in the industry. I do not have a firm count on them but in my experience there are quite a number of them. They are not just with owners or architects, but also with construction managers, contractors, subcontractors and suppliers. How can you tell you are dealing with someone that is not qualified?
My first pass is to ask if they are members of any professional associations. If they answer, “Yes or I used to be a member.” I find out which ones. This is not a definitive test because the membership in these groups constitutes less than two percent of the potential members available.
My next qualifier focuses on the years or timeline of estimating experience. A person that has less than two years in estimating is on the cusp of becoming an estimator. If they have three to five years experience they have the potential. If more than five to ten years they are estimators. If the estimating experience was several years ago it may be an indicator that the person is no longer interested in estimating but has some reason for returning to the profession.
The type of experience is critical to truly being an estimator and this is where it gets interesting. No one estimator (including myself) can handle every estimate that comes along. Estimators are typically discipline specific. Estimators, even though discipline specific, they can prepare reliable feasibility estimates, pre-construction estimates, bid estimates and cost studies such as value engineering. General trades estimators must know enough about all trades, including specialty, mechanical and electrical disciplines to prepare complete estimates. The specialty, mechanical and electrical estimators must know about the general trades for the same reasons.
Then there are the part-time estimators. They may be employed in another position within the company as the “regular” job but becomes an estimator when an estimate is needed. This can be seen when architects, engineers and construction superintendents are preparing the estimate.
There are people professing to be estimators that only prepare feasibility estimates. They only deal with parametric cost information and cannot prepare a detailed estimate. There are estimators that prepare detailed estimates yet cannot prepare feasibility estimates with minimal information. There are estimators that can only prepare estimates for one discipline in the trades (i.e. only concrete or drywall or plumbing or electrical power systems). These people may be great at what they do but their estimating qualifications are extremely limited. Are they unqualified? Yes, if they try to practice outside their area of proficiency.
There are far more criteria for determining the qualified or unqualified estimators in the industry. These are just some highlights.
Oh, By The Way… I refer these to being my apple tests. Estimators are like apples – they are either green ripe or rotten.
Filed under: Construction Tagged: architect, construction experience, construction manager, contractor, Don Short, electrical, feasibility estimate, mechanical, Owner, pre-construction, subcontractor, suppliers, value engineering
