A professional construction cost estimator in an important team member of any Owner, Contractor, or AE organization’s involvement in a facility renovation, repair, sustainability, or new construction project. A cost estimator’s role is to review the many factors, variables, and information sources associated with a construction project and to present an accurate total cost (the latter may include subtotals by Uniformat and/or MasterFormat categories, materials, labor/crews, productivity factors/coefficients, equipment, overhead/profit, etc.). Cost estimating and efficient project delivery management software plays an important role for Owners, Contractors, and AEs engaged in numerous projects vs. the exclusive use of Excel spreadsheets and/or manual processes. Excel spreadsheets are error prone and don’t offer the productivity advantages of integrated software solutions: multi-year, localized and easily accessed and maintained construction cost databases, visual estimating and QTO tools, multi-user collaboration with audit trails, ability to incorporate means and methods, specifications and field notes/variables, and more!
