榴莲视屏

No one wants to do the estimation task. It鈥檚 not hard. It takes time. Probably, 鈥渢ime鈥� is what bothers you. If there were anything that could help you and accelerate the process, it would be awesome! Project managers keep asking about this. What to do? How to estimate the full work quicker? It鈥檚 challenging all right. The process made them build templates that aren’t working. Managers are just hoping it would be quicker and more effective the next time they estimate the work. There is something I always say:

鈥淕ood preparation makes the work easier鈥�

And it鈥檚 really like that. Let鈥檚 say you are invited for an interview with your next client. What would you do next? Prepare for the interview. Looking for a way to close him. Why don鈥檛 we do the same thing here? I know it鈥檚 not the same thing. Keep your mind on the goal. Either you close your client (finish the estimation), or you struggle to do that for few more weeks. Do the following valuable steps before you estimate work. This will become a habit. You鈥檒l see the improvements in no time. Shall we begin?

1. You need to get a clear picture of the work that you need to estimate

Many problems arise because of this. Usually, the estimator doesn鈥檛 know how much of work he needs to do. That huge pile of work features even the work you don鈥檛 understand. Spending time on that is unnecessary. Someone who knows those things should do that.

2. Don鈥檛 hesitate to include people in the process

Your role as a project manager is not to deal with everything by yourself. The same thing goes with the estimating, as well. Project managers often hesitate to ask for help. That鈥檚 wrong. You don鈥檛 know how to estimate everything on your own and that鈥檚 OK. By getting others involved in this process, the estimation will be done faster and more accurate. Seems legit, right?

3. Look for estimating constraints

This is important. If there are any of these estimating constraints, you need to know them up front. You don鈥檛 want to end up doing the estimation of something that has been changed or budget-sensitive. Knowing all these constraints from up front will help you and the estimators make the proper expectations for the cost, quality balance and duration.

4. Utilize with multiple techniques

If possible, you need to develop several estimating techniques. Don鈥檛 be afraid to use technology. There are reliable applications that could help you. Having more techniques for the estimation never harmed anybody. It鈥檚 better for the estimation. If your multiple techniques are close every time you estimate, you will gain more confidence in your numbers. If they are far apart, you need to review everything using similar assumptions. Search for numbers you might have entered wrong. If that鈥檚 the case, try utilizing several more techniques. See if one particular technique can be validated and some other removed.

5. Document the Assumptions

All of them! Documenting the assumption really helps with your estimation. There is no way you鈥檒l remember all the details of a project. With that being said, it鈥檚 really important for you to document all of your assumptions you are making along with the estimate. If you master these steps, your estimates will get more accurate.

Do you have any other rituals or steps you take before estimating work? Whether you’re used to your own methods, or you have no methods at all, you should take a look at this free downloadable ebook, The Circle of Productivity. Prepare to be enlightened and educated on how to optimise and improve productivity in the construction workplace. Discover more stuff to read like聽how to聽reduce the high costs聽and have an effective cost estimating strategy in your construction business.