I love it when I get to have discussions with other experienced estimators. We know the value of our profession to the industry. No other profession has as much responsibility for making or breaking a project. While the Dept. of Labor shows that there are about 200,000 estimators in the U.S., when I work with some firms everyone is an estimator. I wonder how they were missed on the occupation survey.
Recently a regional owner contemplated a project. It had passed the initial budget proposed by the internal staff, working without the benefit of an estimator participating in the process. It did a lot of things correctly, soliciting budget quotes for the major equipment, talking with developers of similar projects and working up a 23-line item estimate for a project with a budget of $7 million. Not bad for a concept or feasibility when you do not want to spend the time on a definitive budget. The directors tentatively approved the project for continued development and requested a definitive budget.