Once we have downloaded your enquiry/tender documentation and carried out our initial review of the project, and have advised you on our cost proposals or fixed pricing, our general processes for carrying out and producing your project estimate are as follows:
It is assumed unless there is a specific need to do so or we are requested to do so, that the estimate/tender can be completed without the need for a site visit and survey.
However, should a site survey be requested or required, this can easily be arranged and carried out, subject to an agreement on costs. Further, meetings at our clients’ offices or at our office base can be arranged as required.
This provides a first stage audit trail for the tender, from which further document issues can be logged and the audit trail updated.
This makes sectioning, taking off and pricing the various tender elements easier, and assists in keeping the relevant sectional information together so they can be easily reviewed should there be a need to do so.
The procurement schedule assists the contractor/client should they become successful in securing the project, in their post-tender processes, greatly cutting down lead engineering times.
Our take off processes involve colour coding all elements taken off from the drawings, plots or schedules, and logging these on our take off sheet templates, which can then be cross-referenced against each other for ease of reference and review.
Once a drawing, plot or schedule is completed, it is date marked and scanned at full size and colour and placed in the scanned documents folder for sending out with the final estimate files.
From our procurement schedule and once we have measured the project for quantities, we will then send out tendering/quotation enquiries to those suppliers, manufacturers and nominated specialists, and to those that our client recommends, or wish us to approach.
Once this is done, the procurement schedule will be updated with the date the enquiries have been sent out, any responses or notifications received. Once the quotations are received, again the procurement schedule is updated to reflect that position. This provides a firm procurement audit trail for the project.
The estimate/tender is then prepared to be built and the tender sections built from the project tender summary.
Where no tender summary is available, we have estimate templates built that can be used for almost any project.
With the client’s/contractors materials discounts logged into our system, their labour and material rates and markups agreed and inputted, we then start the process of inputting the take-offs and measures into our estimating system.
With the take offs and supplier’s quotations inputted, the draft estimate files consisting of a tender summary report, a tender summary sub-sectional report, a full estimate take off report, a quantified schedule of rates report, and estimating notes will be issued to the client for their review and comment back
Other reports can be produced likes a tender profit report, labour and materials costs breakdowns and markup summaries should they be needed.
In some instances, some of our longer standing client’s ask us to produce a draft offer letter and tender costs or the completion of a Contract Sum Analysis (CSA), to complete their tender project.
Upon completion of the final draft estimate and offer letter/CSA if required, the completed estimate files are packaged up and sent to the client for their records. Including the “Documents Received Matrix”, “Procurement Schedule” and the take-off sheets files and full sized colour scans of all marked up drawings and hand written take off sheets for your records.
Often once a tender is completed, there is a need for post tender reviews and adjustments, especially where the project has come in over budget.
Please see our services on value engineering, which we find these days are needed more and more due to project cost pressures.
Also, post tender site meetings can be arranged where a contractor has been successful in securing the project, and the main contractor or client wishes to have a run through of the estimate/tender. This can be arranged and attended as required.
This provides a first stage audit trail for the tender, from which further document issues can be logged and the audit trail updated.
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