Cost Estimate Planning, or not?

Cost Estimate Planning. Do you have a plan?

Cost estimate planning is an activity that I always take it very seriously. I know some of the projects we work on are small(er) and do not justify implementing a full cost estimate development plan. For those projects, I implement the steps which I consider the most critical. One of those is the cost estimate development schedule. I never skip this one!

Not long ago, I wrote an article about planning your cost estimate. The article is just words, and if you are more of a visual person, you might skip over it and not read it. So, I decided to present the information in a decision-making flow format, presented below.

I also run a survey with only one question: “What is the Cost Estimator’s Biggest Challenge?”. Mine was and still is time. Not enough of it. I was curious to find out what other cost estimators consider to be their biggest challenge. And, not surprisingly, not all of us consider that time to be the biggest issue we face. What is your biggest challenge in the development of a cost estimate? Please use the comments section at the end of this article and share your thoughts with us.

Going back to planning the cost estimate development. From my many years working as a cost estimator, I learned these important tips:

• Never rush into developing the cost estimate without a plan.
• As a cost estimator, I am part of the cost estimate review team.
• There are aspects of the cost estimate that should always be discussed and agreed upon by the review team before starting the cost estimate development: construction methodologies, price sourcing strategy, cost estimate development resource allocation, and tender closing strategy, to name a few.

Below is my view of cost estimating major activities which should always be part of the cost estimate development plan:

Cost Estimate Development Work Flow

Thank you for reading. Please leave your comments in the comments section below.