# Outsourcing Estimating



## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

A close friend that had his own small business used the guy that did all his CAD work to estimate and while he won a few smaller jobs he was often way off on the larger ones. Just a thought on the subject and a hint at maybe an estimating program rather than a person.


----------



## Flyingsod (Jul 11, 2013)

That seems like a horrible idea. You're really considering letting someone else tell you how much to charge for your work?


----------



## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

Flyingsod said:


> That seems like a horrible idea. You're really considering letting someone else tell you how much to charge for your work?


Lots of company's outsource their estimating or at least some of it. The only thing the estimators are doing is the takeoff. You put your own labor rates, labor burden, overhead and profit margins on the job. Most of these guys are very good at what they do. They are usually ex estimators from other company's that started freelancing or are semi-retired.


----------



## Tanker (Jun 16, 2016)

What kind of jobs are you looking to have estimated?


----------



## JRaef (Mar 23, 2009)

McGraw-Hill / Dodge Reports offers that for projects that are in their system, which are generally public bid projects.


----------

