These last two weeks after the holiday have been pretty exciting! We are starting to pick up some more projects, so it is interesting to see the estimating process from the start. When I arrived here in May, almost every project had been in the estimating department for at least a couple of weeks.
I have been busy with more take-off and reading specifications. I never realized how many little things are included in projects. It’s a little scary because if we forget one of these “little things”, it could add up to a lot of money that we might lose on the project. I also never knew how many estimators were involved on a single project. For some reason, I thought that one person did the whole thing, but for almost every project that we have been working on as a department, there are typically 7-8 (and maybe more) people involved with different divisions. It seems as though each estimator has a “specialty” that they estimate for most projects. For instance, someone who typically estimates concrete would have a responsibility on any project that includes any type of concrete.
One aspect of estimating that I find very interesting is the Joint Venture (JV) agreement. This partnership also extends to the workforce in the event that we are awarded the project. On the estimating side, joint ventures give us the ability to partner with other companies who may have expertise in areas that we, Alberici, do not. If we are eager to win a job but don’t have much experience, it is beneficial for us to partner up with someone who does to seem more appealing to the owner. Oftentimes in these JV projects, each member of the partnership prepares their own estimate internally. Once each company’s internal estimate is complete, we compare our quantities and prices so that our bid is as accurate as possible in regards to price and covering all of the work required. I think this aspect is awesome because you have a “partner” at a different company who is working on the same divisions and portions of the project that you are, so it’s nice to have someone to double-check the work.
Outside of work, I have been busy going to all of my favorite places in St. Louis this summer. Last week, a few of the interns and I went to “Escape the Room St. Louis”. We had so much fun! If you haven’t heard of Escape the Room, it has become very popular in the last few months. Typically, you are locked in a room with a group of people and must solve a series of clues in order for the door to unlock. Here’s the catch though: you only get 60 minutes! No worries, we managed to solve all of the clues and were released from the room in exactly 57 minutes!
I’m so excited for more intern events that we have planned for next week and I’m excited to see what these last two weeks bring for me! Stay tuned for one more update from me!