Why You Should Use A Material Take-Off Service?

Do you keep all your work in-house or do you outsource and hire material estimators? This is the question, that often builders, developers, construction specialists ask themselves. It is becoming more and more common that contractors, interested in minimizing risks and expenses and maximizing profit and efficiency, hire highly specialized estimators for their material take-offs.

Pre-construction planning is a major step in any given construction project. Usually, bigger contractors have the privilege of having their own in-house construction estimator, but in mid-size or smaller contractors, this step is usually underrated due to the lack of human resources.

So let's jump right into the most important benefits of having access to a professional estimating service for the project you are planning to bid on.

Competitive Pricing

You might wonder why you are not closing as many jobs as you want although you are always giving your quotes for any given bidding opportunities. Well, the construction industry probably is one of the most competitive industries out there and numbers you provide to your clients matter the most.

You might price a masonry project for a senior house based on the similar project you had before, but the actual sqft of the cultured stone for this project could be less than the previous job (means you are overpricing). The other extreme of underpricing is also not desirable as you bear considerable  financial losses. Doing a detailed take-off for every single project means knowing exactly how many square footage of tile, counts of the drywall sheet, the cubic meter of concrete pourings etc. you need. These actual numbers allow you to provide a competitive pricing to your clients while maintaining a feasible budget.

Bid More

If you’re a responsible contractor, who responsibly takes the time and estimates projects himself, will benefit from Vancouver Estimates, by saving their precious time and energy. If you outsource the estimation task you will be able to discover more work, get more jobs and earn more money. An easy method to price your jobs means you can simply bid more and bid on bigger projects. Time is money and an estimating service will help you gain time and allow you to focus on building relationships and not get bogged down with the day to day worries of getting that bid done on time.

Vancouver Estimates will provide you with the fast turnarounds and you will be more flexible and mobile bidding on more jobs while not wasting your time on the estimation process.

Say goodbye to HR Hassle Hiring Full-Time Estimators

 

Having a full-time estimator is expensive. Outsourcing estimation means the absence of overhead costs such as benefits, computer and a workspace.  Just imagine, no weekly salary to pay in those slow periods, no employee benefits, no sick pay, no vacation pay, no retirement pay… Can you see the savings adding up already?  Outsourcing not only saves your hours of training of a full-time staff member, but billable hours mean that you are only paying for the hours needed to complete the project. Additionally, looking to the logistics, employees have a wide array of rights under laws.  Therefore, this opens a variety of legal claims employees can potentially bring against you for violating those rights.

It is especially true, when you don’t get many orders regularly, but you still need quality take-offs from time to time. If your project requires a part-time engagement, than outsourcing is an obvious choice.

It is not cost-effective to keep an estimator on staff. Using Vancouver Estimates for your material take-offs will cost you less than hiring a full-time estimator and bearing all related responsibilities.

Check out our price page.

Meeting the Deadlines

Using an outsource construction estimating service can also be a great tool to supplement your estimating department during the heavy bidding cycles.

We all know construction companies must bid many projects just to land just a few and with the onset of the fall and winter seasons almost upon us, there’s no time to waste in setting up your work backlog. Sometimes you’re just so overwhelmed and unable to catch up with everything on your plate, that you cannot find enough time and energy for an estimation. When you are experiencing such overload, it is better to outsource some tasks. Vancouver Estimates with its fast service will help you to submit your bids on time.

Getting High-End Material Take-Offs

By outsourcing your material take-off needs, you are guaranteed a professional approach: no contracting firms last long if they provide low quality services. Estimating companies are highly specialized and experienced teams of estimators, each member of which is specialized in one particular construction work material estimation. For example, estimating companies have specialists solely on concrete material take-offs, specialists on masonry estimation, specialists on insulation estimation, specialists on framing estimation and so on. Material estimating companies do not make mistakes and learn on your dime, instead they provide you with the best job possible.

This high specialization element, which is enhanced by experience gained by the daily engagement with a simple task, makes the estimating companies’ services more accurate, fast and professional than your full-time estimator’s, who is engaged in different projects or may be even not experienced at all. In addition, estimating companies can afford investing in the latest technology and software and regularly monitor the industry developments. It may demand a lot of time and resources for you to achieve the expertise level of those companies.

The material estimation outsourcing companies also have another important distinctive feature. They are outsiders. It is important to get an outside look to your floor plans from time to time in order to reflect on the quality of your service and only fresh and unbiased outsiders can provide you with one.

Accurate material take-offs are important for your business from many points of view, including your reputation wise, that is why it is of utmost importance to rely on professionals on this service and avoid expenses caused by mistaken take-offs.

Whether you’re a residential contractor or a commercial contractor it’s worth considering  using an outsource material estimating service.

Vancouver Estimates was established with the goal to provide detailed material take-off service to trades and contractors in the most convenient way that is possible. You will just need to email the floor plans to info@vancouverestimates.com and we will provide you with the detailed take-off for all of your projects.