
Simon Herod, International Team Lead, EstimateOne, highlights the estimator as a key player in the construction journey and what this means for supply chains, sustainability and labour shortages.
Valuing estimating teams: Streamlining processes for success in construction
The construction industry often underestimates the value of estimating teams. They play an essential role in securing tenders, ensuring competitive pricing, and building a strong contractor reputation. What’s more, these teams often lack adequate support, still relying on manual methods and outdated technology.
Considering the increasingly volatile market, now’s the time we start recognising your estimating team not only as a key part of your organisation – but as your competitive advantage.
Financial stabilisers
We all know winning tenders is essential to staying in business, but not at any cost. With razor thin margins and tight budgets, there is little room for error or overspend. This means the way a company handles tenders is so important, as it can significantly impact its reputation and bottom line. Consistent failures to win tenders or a track record of exceeding budgets and missing deadlines hurts your business’ reputation and puts you in financial risk
This is where the role of estimators becomes crucial. They, more than anyone else, are responsible for delivering competitive and accurate tender submissions that balance profitability and affordability, ensuring the financial health of the business.
They also play a fundamental role as supply chain gatekeepers, being the primary point of contact during project initiation and setting the tone for the entire tendering process, maintaining positive relationships with subcontractors, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
Understanding this, is the first step towards providing them with better support, to realise their maximum potential within the company.
A need for all the gear
To ensure successful outcomes, estimating teams must be equipped with the best possible tools. Unfortunately, the profession remains burdened by outdated processes and inefficient practices. Many are still required to perform tedious tasks such as manually splitting trade packages and managing contracts. This not only increases the likelihood of mistakes, but also consumes valuable time and resources.
Furthermore, the technology solutions provided to estimators often lack the necessary nuance and focus, leaving them trying to achieve the impossible from generic construction management tools not specifically designed to meet their needs. This leads to many estimators working with buggy and ill-suited software, further hindering their efficiency and productivity.
Fortunately, there are a range of specifically-developed tools starting to emerge on the market, of which EstimateOne is an example.
All for one and one for all
But it’s about going further than providing a mere clerical tool to collate, read and manage relevant documentation.
Supporting estimating teams also means giving them access to a reliable network of subcontractors. It makes so much commercial sense too as, when estimators have connections with a diverse pool of subcontractors, main contractors can expand their quote coverage, resulting in better and more competitive pricing. Additionally, this opens up opportunities for contractors to diversify their offerings in new markets or sectors.
This function directly fosters and nurtures collaboration between estimating teams and the supply chain during the tendering process, creating a mutually-beneficial environment. For instance, subcontractors who contribute to successful tenders can be rewarded, fostering positive relationships that lead to increased efficiency, accuracy, and overall success.
Appreciating and empowering estimating teams has wide-ranging benefits, which will lead to higher-quality construction and, subsequently, a better built environment. Not only that, adopting this approach will futureproof the business, improving financial stability, boosting industry reputation, and enhancing collaboration within the supply chain.
Ultimately recognising the crucial role of estimating teams and investing in their success are essential steps towards a thriving construction industry.
