OUT OF MY CHEST. I've been going on this sub for a few weeks checking how y'all handle project misses, and I feel mine's so astronomically wrong. It's not just "there's a second floor?!?!" miss -- it's more so "what the fuck are these sheets I don't think I've seen this" on a multi-level, multi-million dollar project highly detailed project.

Submitted this massive bid a year ago, got awarded this year and we're already doing the project now. Have had some second-guessing at the time of award, but boss was happy, and at the time I was confident I got through it properly. As we're going through it I'm quickly realizing how many I've missed/not accounted for in this scope. Just stressing over this for weeks. I've not had the strength to face the music and see where I went wrong and how much the impact is. Every time I open the plans I start to feel sick and I end up doing something else entirely.

I just recently graduated with a degree in marketing and can’t find a job for the life of me. 250+ applications while still working 40 hours a week. It’s getting exhausting and I’m starting realize I need a different route.

Thankfully for me, my dad is huge in construction. Has 30 years of experience. Works on some huge projects. The one he’s on now is $40mil. I’ve been talking to him about my interest in what he does, and he said he could get me a job as a junior estimator. I wouldn’t be working in the same office as him because he travels a lot, but I’d be working for his company.

I spent a few hours looking over one of his big projects with him and it’s a lot to take in. The takeoff, the scope, all the working components. Hell, even some of the excel functions didn’t make sense to me. The general premise of it did, but that’s about it.

Am I cut out for this still? Or am I just gonna be an embarrassment tackling a position like this with no experience.

I’d like to add I’m not some typical marketing student. I grew up on a farm. I’ve worked a few blue collar jobs in the summers. I’m no stranger to work.

I am finish flooring, Div 9. Back in February I did some budgeting for a school renovation. Well it came out to bid and they changed almost everything:

-Bathrooms from sealed concrete to ceramic.

-Added about 15 rooms.

-Added a small gym.

-Changed the pattern work. From straight lines, to curves you would see tripping on acid.

-Went from 6 different colors, to now 26 (attic stock really hit that one hard).

How do I politely tell them they are stupid and made this mess?

EDIT: I am just venting. I find it very stupid that they added so much more and are shocked.

I’ve been in commercial construction for about 10 years, mostly estimating/precon, and I’m considering making the jump into construction consulting.

The role I’m looking at would be working with contractors on estimating, precon, procurement, operations, WIP/financials, process improvement, training, etc.

That side of the business interests me. I like estimating, but I’m probably more interested in building better systems/processes than just turning out bids forever.

My main concern is that I’d be new to consulting, so I may have to take a slight step back in title/pay at first to get into it.
Has anyone here made a similar move?

Mainly curious about:
Better or worse than estimating?
Work/life balance?
Travel?
Billable hour pressure?
Long-term pay/career growth?
Did it open up more opportunities?
Would you do it again?

Trying to decide if this is a good next step or if I’m better off staying on the Senior Estimator/Chief Estimator/Precon Manager path.

Appreciate any firsthand experience.

Need to update the old desk calculator. Anybody have one they like using?

Currently work for a smaller Civil Contractor as an estimator/PM doing earthwork, drainage, paving, utilities and site demo. Used to do a lot more commercial work but have pretty much gone full civil.

What is the opportunity for career growth in each one? I kind of miss the estimating the commercial jobs and running them but civil is a lot easier to estimate and run in my opinion.

What’s yalls thoughts?

I'm hoping to get some honest feedback from experienced estimators, particularly people working for specialty subcontractors.

I came into my family's commercial flooring business about 5 years ago with essentially zero construction experience. I don't have a college degree or previous experience in construction. Everything I've learned about reading plans/specs, doing takeoffs, estimating labor and materials, pricing jobs, writing proposals, etc. has been self-taught.

We're a small commercial flooring/specialty concrete contractor in Utah. Our work includes polished/burnished concrete, sealed concrete, epoxy coatings, self-leveling, concrete repair, and similar specialty flooring.

Over the last 5 years I've probably helped win around 30–40 projects totaling roughly $2-3 million. I honestly don't know if that's a terrible number, a decent number given the size of our company, or somewhere in between because I don't have anyone experienced to compare myself against.

The company is currently struggling, and as the sole estimator, I've started questioning how much of that is actually on me. I'm not looking for reassurance — I'd genuinely like some honest criticism from people who have been doing this longer than I have.

One area I'm particularly curious about is relationship building.

I've realized that I probably haven't been as good as I should be about consistently following up with GCs/PMs when I submit a bid and don't hear anything. I tend to focus heavily on the estimating/takeoff side and then move on to the next project.

How much of an estimator's job should be relationship building and staying in front of GCs/PMs?

Is that primarily the estimator's responsibility, or is that normally handled by a business development person, owner, project manager, or salesperson?

For those of you working for smaller subcontractors where there may not be a dedicated salesperson, how much time do you spend maintaining relationships with GCs and PMs versus actually estimating?

I'm also curious about something that has been bothering me.

Even when I do win a project, the relationship with the GC/PM can sometimes be damaged by things that happen after the bid — crews showing up late, creating unnecessary messes, poor communication in the field, etc.

As the estimator, I may have spent weeks developing the relationship, getting invited to bid, putting together the proposal, following up, negotiating, etc., and then something happens on the jobsite that I had no control over.

How do experienced estimators deal with that?

Do you consider yourself responsible for maintaining the GC relationship throughout the entire project even though you're not running the job? Do you stay involved with the PM/GC after the project is awarded? Or is that normally considered strictly the PM's responsibility?

And ultimately, how do you evaluate yourself as an estimator?

What numbers or metrics do you track to determine whether you're actually doing a good job? Bid-to-win ratio? Gross margin? Number of repeat customers? Revenue per bid? Something else?

I'd really appreciate hearing from experienced estimators, especially commercial specialty subcontractors. If you were in my position, what would you focus on improving over the next 1–2 years?

I'm completely self-taught, so I'm sure there are things I don't even know that I don't know.

Especially in Ontario non-union projects does being cor certified help with bids for a non MEP trade?

Anyone know of any good calculators/conversion tools that converts cm into inches with the fractions already being rounded up within 4ths of an inch or 8ths of an inch. For instance, if I convert from this calculator off google search I found of 240.40 cm into inches I get 94 - 41/64" When I rather have it say, 94 - 5/8" It would also be a bonus if it also shows feet 7'10-5/8" as well. However, I mainly need everything in inches.

For context I'm comparing cabinet shop drawings with countertops and it needs to be match the cabinet shop drawings.