Construction Estimators Online Vs. Your In-house Estimator

 

So, you’re in a perplexing situation of whether to outsource your estimation needs or hire in-house construction estimators. It is without a doubt that construction cost estimating has traditionally been a major pain point for most construction companies. Well, as a contracting firm, you need cost-effective, accurate, and quick takeoff and construction estimation services and you never want to miss a deadline.

The construction industry is highly competitive and for your survival, you need to bid on more work which requires many hours of estimating. Besides, it is an important task and you need accurate estimates in the shortest possible time. An inaccurate estimate can be the sole reason for losing a bid or the reason you face cost overrun that drastically reduces profit margins or results in a loss. You just can’t ignore its importance and can’t be done carelessly because your repute as a contractor can be at stack otherwise.

At this stage, you can either go by outsourcing all your estimation needs to an online estimator or you can go by hiring your in-house estimator team. Let’s now explore the appropriate approach keeping in view the limitations a general contractor has.

 

Hiring an In-house Estimator

 

While you’re hiring an in-house estimator you have to pay higher salaries and it involves continuous payments even when there’s no need for estimates. Setting up an in-house estimating department can be too expensive, especially while you’re running a small construction firm. You can’t just hold on to such high overhead costs especially given today’s fast-paced market conditions.

So, with in-house estimators, you’re expected to pay them for the talent even when you lose projects. A worse situation is when the project ends up being significantly more expensive than your estimate and you have no other choice but to eat the loss with the hope of high-profit margins in the next project.     

Similarly, you have to dedicate your precious time to hiring and training estimators which are a great liability, and the training process can be lengthy. In terms of efficiency, you can expect that a person can only do 2-3 estimates on average per week. In the same terms, you need to pay benefits, holiday, and sick days that can add additional cost to hiring in-house.

 

Benefits of working with estimators online like Rocket Takeoffs

 

In contrast to hiring an in-house estimator, outsourcing can bring in a plethora of benefits. You only pay for the actual job to be estimated and there’s no need to pay overtime or more overheads.

Save money

As you probably already know, the cost to hire one estimator is high, not to mention all the other costs associated with hiring which include benefits, healthcare, paid leave, etc. When you begin working with construction estimating companies like us, you save a lot of money. We have affordable rates because we look to earn your repeated and volume business. We would like to consider ourselves as an extended part of your team but without the headaches or costs of the hiring process.

Increase efficiency

Furthermore, one estimator can only do so much. As an experienced estimating company with a large team, we can do more takeoffs.  We have the latest takeoff software that minimizes the chances of error and gives us the ability to estimate accurately and in much less time. We have all heard it before, it is a numbers game. The more you bid, the more you win. So, you get more takeoffs and estimating done per week with us. This further allows you to bid on more projects and increase your chances to land on large jobs.

Save time

As a business owner, your mind is stuffed with so many other things and thus managing your time is difficult. Maybe you manage on a job site all day. Or you may wear many hats in your company. Many of our current clients simply do not have the extra time to sit down and do takeoffs after a long hard day of work. You cannot always dedicate your valuable time for a laborious activity as estimating, hence, hiring estimating services lets you utilize your time for business development and growth.

 

Accurate & Fast Estimates with Experienced Services

 

 At Rocket Takeoffs, we are a group of former GC, project managers, estimators, and engineers and we have been helping our clients grow their business. With such an experienced, dedicated team on your side and the latest software; we are your one-stop-shop for all your takeoff and estimating needs.

We make it easy, with a proven streamline process. All of our takeoff results go through rigorous quality control checks to ensure high quality and accuracy. All you have to do is complete this quote request form, upload your plans, and we will take it from there. If you want to take your construction business to the next level of success, hire a takeoff company like Rocket Takeoffs.  We’d love to chat about your business needs and how we can help you grow, give us a call at 404-900-9811 or complete our online quote form.