Discover the importance of project estimation in the construction industry, and understand why it is integral to determining a general contractor's capabilities. Learn about the types of projects that require an estimate and gain insight into the process of creating one for a project expansion and addition.
Key Insights
- Project estimation is crucial in the construction industry as it helps general contractors assess their capability from a labor and budget perspective. It essentially determines whether or not a project can be feasibly undertaken.
- Several types of projects require an estimate, including bidding a project as a contractor or subcontractor, determining the cost of building a new structure or expansion, and meeting financial requirements for lending institutions.
- The process of creating an estimate is universally applicable across different projects. In the given context, the application of this process is demonstrated through an expansion and addition to an existing residential unit.
Note: These materials offer prospective students a preview of how our classes are structured. Students enrolled in this course will receive access to the full set of materials, including video lectures, project-based assignments, and instructor feedback.
We talked earlier about how we estimate every day without even thinking about it, but why do we need to estimate for construction projects? Why will we be spending so much time reviewing the ins and outs of an estimating project? In the construction industry, it's important that general contractors know what they're capable of doing, not only from a labor standpoint, but also when they look at the fees and the budgets. You wouldn't want to try to fill your pool if you knew that you would have your water shut off at 15 gallons, or you wouldn't want to drive cross-country if you knew that you could only afford $20 worth of gas. In the same vein, general contractors will require estimates to be performed so that they can verify when a project can be taken on.
So with that in mind, what kind of projects will require an estimate to be created? There are many of them, including bidding a project as a general contractor or a subcontractor, determining the overall cost of building a new structure, including expansions and additions.
Remodeling, construction repairs, and financial requirements for lending institutions are also common reasons for creating estimates. Very often you can't get financing for a project unless you provide an estimate. We can't cover all of these, but they generally follow the same process.
Learn Construction Estimating
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- Create your own portfolio
- Free student software
- Learn at your convenience
- Authorized Autodesk training center
In this class, we'll be building an expansion and addition to an existing residential unit.
