How To Estimate Residential Construction Projects Easily and Quickly
Residential construction is inherently complex and can be unpredictable, making creating accurate estimates one of the most difficult tasks in the industry. In the current economy with substantial increases in construction material costs such as steel pipe/tube and lumber/plywood, coupled with supply chain issues, it’s more important than ever to learn how to estimate construction costs precisely. Just as a house can’t exist without a solid foundation, a precise estimate forms the foundation on which profitable projects are built. The ability to develop a spot-on estimate will help determine whether you win bids, finish projects on time and under budget — or lose jobs and face cost overruns and delays.
What Is Estimating in Residential Construction?
An April 2021, Small Business Construction Survey conducted by Software Advice showed 48% of 538 surveyed construction professionals purchased new estimating software in the past year. Of those, 42% stated that improved cost estimation accuracy was a top positive impact of adopting the new software.1 The right residential construction estimating software uses current factual data throughout the construction cycle rather than solely relying on historical data, which improves accuracy and saves time and money.
Estimating Projects Easily and Quickly
Construction estimates can miss the mark due to incorrect pricing data, faulty schedules and manual errors. If you’re facing these issues or others and are worried your quotes are incorrect, it’s time to consider investing in construction estimating software. The global Construction Estimating Software market size is projected to reach USD 1101.3 million by 2027, from USD 834.1 million in 2020, for these reasons and others. If you’re still struggling with manual estimating methods and wondering how to better estimate residential construction costs, look for software with these key features.
Simplified Scoping Process
A scope of work is essential for setting client expectations, keeping projects on track, preventing misunderstandings and protecting your profit margin. Not having one can result in overestimating or underestimating costs, missing deadlines and an overall chaotic project. Software that simplifies this process can improve your bottom line..
Template Driven Estimating
Estimating and budgeting templates enable tracking cost estimates against budget utilization. Template-driven functionality prevents starting from scratch each time you need to complete a job scope. Templates will also prevent wrong calculations from taking a bite out of your profit margins.
Automated Customer Questionnaires
Automatically generated client questionnaires will allow your Homebuyers to see a full array of home options and pick the ones they love. This feature also lets you keep them informed during the bidding process and get their input to select the options that fit their budget, thereby helping to increase their satisfaction.
Checklists and Documentation
Every home building project has a huge number of parts and assumptions, so it’s easy to overlook a few. A checklist will streamline your workflow, help you keep track of all your materials and prevent forgetting anything in your estimate. Software that includes full documentation for every specification and assumption is the most accurate way to identify assumptions, document them and easily revisit and change them.
Professional Client Presentations
While some small Home Builders still write estimates by hand, this isn’t beneficial to anyone. Professional-looking estimates can make a huge difference in landing jobs and generating additional business. Software that creates several different polished and professional-looking versions of the same estimate will allow you to customize presentations that match the unique needs of each prospective Homebuyer.
Estimate Construction Projects Easily and Quickly With Hyphen BuilderGM
If you build 100 homes or less per year, BuilderGM can greatly increase your on-site and back-office project management efficiency. Eliminating human errors associated with manual estimating will save you time and money. With BuilderGM, you can produce professional-looking and complete estimates based on actual costs for your prospective clients in just a couple of hours. Template-driven estimating, a simple job scoping process and checklist approach provide residential Builders with a highly efficient and accurate process. BuilderGM enables creating polished presentations and full documentation for every specification and assumption. Once your project starts, it’s easy to access up-to-date budgets, schedules and forecasting. The back-office software automatically checks every detail so no stone is unturned, thereby allowing you to have more time to focus on what you do best — building new homes.
Learn more about how BuilderGM can improve your efficiency by scheduling a demo.
1Source: https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/benefits-of-construction-estimate-software/
