Estimating

Estimate:
(1) : to arrive at an often accurate but usually only approximate statement of the cost of (a job to be done)
(2) : to arrive at a sometimes only tentative price for which one is willing to undertake (a job to be done)

Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, s.v. “estimate,” accessed October 20, 2018, http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com

funny

From material take-off through risk analysis, I am trained, experienced, and successful with estimates for fixed price bids, evolving projects, and control budgets.

For over five years, I prepared nearly sixty fixed-price bids and proposals for underground construction work (including cut-and-cover). The potential clients ranged from Consolidated Coal (Consol) to the Army Corp of Engineers with locations ranging from Alaska to Texas, New York City to Los Angeles. The volume of work ranged from less than a million dollars to over 150 million dollars. Best bids prepared: $8,000 left on the table on a three-million dollar bid in Anchorage and left $80,000 on the table for a nine-million-dollar job in Rochester, New York.

Have reviewed estimates as part of the owner’s team for:

  1. The Goro Nickel Project (a forty-percent blow-out at over two-billion dollars)
  2. Batu Hijau’s expansion and pit dewatering (delayed due to permit)
  3. Underground mine development in Africa (in execution now)
  4. Process plant expansion in Africa (in execution now)

Developed initial feasibility estimate through control budget for Amoma Project. The project returned $6 million of the budget at completion.

So …

  1. How many pounds of rebar can a man tie in an hour? ~90 (yea it’s a man)
  2. What’s a typical powder factor for underground excavation? ~4 lb/yd
  3. What’s the reused factor on formwork? ~2.5
  4. What's the lap on rebar? 30 bar diameters
  5. What item did you miss on the last indirect estimate? Likely, bail bonds and abortions!