[thrive_headline_focus title=”Cost Estimate Planning. Do you have a plan?” orientation=”left”]

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, might skip over it and not read it. So, I decided to present the information in a decision-making flow format, and a slide show, both of them presented below.

I am also running a survey, included at the end of this article, with only one question: “Cost Estimator’s Biggest Challenge”. Mine was, and still is time. Not enough of it. I am curious to find out what other cost estimators consider being their biggest challenge. And, not surprising, not all of us consider that time is the biggest issue we face. Take the survey to find out. It is only one question and it is anonymous. Once you answer the question you will be able to see all previous answers. The survey is live and it will stay open, so bookmark this page and come back to it later to see more responses.

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 a team, the cost estimate review team.
• There are aspects of the cost estimate that should always be discussed and agreed upon by the review team, ahead of starting the cost estimate development: construction methodologies, price sourcing strategy, cost estimate development resource allocation, 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:

[thrive_custom_font id=’1′]Cost Estimate Development Flow[/thrive_custom_font]

[thrive_custom_font id=’1′]Cost Estimate Development Plan – Slide Show[/thrive_custom_font]