Resources / Guide · 7 minute read

How plans become a priced estimate

A priced estimate is built in steps. Each quantity comes from a drawing. Each price comes from a price list, a quote or a person. Each line of the bid is the quantity times the price. This guide goes through the steps from the plan set to the proposal, and works out one line from a sample job.

1. Start with a plan set you can trust

A quantity is only right if the sheet it was measured on is right. Before anyone measures, check three things on each sheet:

• The sheet is current. Note which set it comes from: permit set, bid set or an addendum. Measuring on an old sheet is a common way for a bid to go wrong.
• The scale is checked. Measure one printed dimension, such as a 150'-0" grid line, and check that it matches the stated scale. If a sheet was shrunk or enlarged when it was printed, every length on it will be wrong.
• The sheet is named and numbered. For example, A-101 is a first floor plan. Every quantity you take should name its sheet.

2. Measure areas, lengths and counts

Almost every quantity in a building estimate is one of three kinds:

• Area, in square feet: slabs, flooring, roofing, wall board.
• Length, in linear feet: walls, storefront, curbs, piping.
• Count, in each: doors, fixtures, columns.

Take openings out of areas. A slab on grade with an elevator pit and a stair pit is the outline less the two pits. A wall with a door is the wall less the door. Count doors from the door numbers on the plan, then check the count against the door schedule.

In the sample job, the slab on grade on sheet A-101 is 150'-0" by 90'-0", which is 13,500 square feet. The elevator pit and the stair pit together are 112 square feet. The slab is 13,500 less 112: 13,388 square feet.

3. Have a person confirm each quantity

Before a quantity is priced, someone other than the software should look at it and say yes. The confirmation should record who confirmed it and when. This one step catches the errors that cost the most: a missed opening, the wrong sheet, a scale that was never checked.

4. Price each line from a named source

Each line of an estimate gets its price from one of three places:

• A unit price from your price list or an assembly: concrete slab, placed and finished, per square foot.
• A sub's or supplier's quote: excavation, shoring and engineered fill for a lump sum.
• An amount a person enters: the building permit and its fees.

Write the source on the line. When the owner asks where a number came from, the answer should take seconds.

An assembly is a saved set of cost lines that all use one measured quantity. A slab assembly might price the concrete, the vapor barrier, the reinforcing and the finishing from the same 13,388 square feet. Change the quantity once, and every line in the assembly changes with it.

In the sample job, the slab line is 13,388 square feet at $9.85 a square foot: 13,388 × 9.85 = $131,871.80.

5. Add alternates

An alternate is a priced option beside the base bid: an upgraded storefront, a different roof, a deduct for owner-supplied fixtures. Price each alternate from the same kinds of sources as the base bid. Show it in its own section, so the owner can accept or reject it without changing the base bid.

6. Send the bid summary and the proposal

The bid summary lists every line, its quantity, its price and its source, with the alternates below. The proposal is the letter the owner signs. Both should come from the same lines. A proposal re-typed from a spreadsheet is a second chance for an error.

7. When an addendum arrives

An addendum replaces sheets. Every line measured on a replaced sheet needs a second look. Link the new sheet to the one it replaces and list every line measured on the old one. Re-measure those lines, confirm them again, and the prices follow.

How BuilderSite does it

In BuilderSite, these steps share one set of numbers. A quantity is measured on the sheet and confirmed by a person. The estimate line uses it, and the bid summary and the proposal use the line. Each line names its source: the sheet and the area measured, the quote, or the person. See Plans and takeoff and Estimates and bids.

More guides: Retainage and pay applications, explained · How to handle a change order