Comparing Construction Estimates: 9 Things

The mantra: Apples to Apples!!

When you’re comparing construction estimates - for projects of any size - there are many things to consider. The single most important thing is to get to an “apples to apples” comparison of bids, so that what you’re comparing is…well…comparable!

As soon as everyone gets an estimate of any kind, they scroll to the bottom, straight for that number, skipping all the explanation, exceptions, etc, and they have a reaction to that number. “WHOA that’s too much money compared to the other guys!!” they might think, while totally missing that the other guys ignored or misunderstood the drawings and missed some very important costs.

So, how do you compare bids?

Comparing estimates is fun!

As I’m always saying, estimating is just as much art as science…and it takes a long time to develop intuition around when something is a fair/accurate price. That said, here are a few things I’ve learned over the years [starting in my years as an estimator/project manager at a GC] and reading 1000s of bids over the last 20 years.