Good Learning Material for Sprinkler Estimating?

6/28/2022

I'm new to the estimating space, and I was wondering if there is any good material or training outlets to learn best practices in quoting projects.

I'm on the fire sprinkler side, so I'd be interested in learning as much as I can about labor, labor hours, material quotes, etc.

Thanks in advance!

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6 Comments

Khama

6/28/2022 08:08:04 am

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Dan Wilder

6/28/2022 08:11:34 am

Follow your field. Find out their scope, manpower needs, material needs, what it took to get drawings to the install point....Then watch how they put it in, lift needs, testing & inspections, punch lists...

Understand impact issues as well (working floor heights, other trades).

Material quotes are easy, call your suppliers for pricing on common items (pipe, fittings, hangers, sprinklers, valves). Fabrication quotes are a little different but most fab shops can give you rough numbers based on quantity of pipe, number of welds, number of cuts/threads/grooves.

AFSA & NFSA used to have guides to help the process if you are a member to either.

RS Means has some very good explanations and paths for estimating process (the actual numbers are inflated but very thorough) but it does give you some things to think about (lay down distance, height of work, crew size vs hours worked vs efficiency....)

Alex

6/28/2022 11:48:50 am

I am far from the estimating space but can only imagine how challenging material quotes are at the moment. You estimate a project, send the bid, and get awarded a month or two later. When you order the pipe, the price can go up a significate value.

Later in my career I would love to learn more in this space!

Alex

Darren

6/28/2022 10:09:28 am

I moved into the estimating department about 5 years ago, after spending 15 years in design & project management. The skills that you learn in those rolls serve well when trying to understand a project and in doing an estimate layout and takeoff.

I use webinars and read about the business side of construction to try and learn and keep up on the economic outlook. There are many online construction publications and organizations that offer these. There are online classes that you can take (Construct-Ed) that have courses in business and estimating. Search around and find what fits for you.

One thing I did when I started, that has been invaluable for me, was develop a spreadsheet to track all of my bids. This includes the, square footage, number of stories, number of heads.... the list goes on. Then you can set up formulas to calculate the $ per head, field hours per head, $ per square foot etc. It also includes columns for the job results so I can see how all of those fields actually came out at the end of the project. I use this everyday and it allows me to provide budgets based on history and a double check on an estimate as compared to similar jobs. But it is also a learning tool and, over time, you start to get a sense of where things should be and, more importantly, when something seems out of whack. I would highly suggest taking the time to create some sort of bid history reference.

Best of luck!

Patrick

6/28/2022 12:17:30 pm

There's an old but good reference by AFSA titled "Estimating, Bidding, Selling, and Contracting for Fire Sprinkler Systems".
We had a copy of this handbook and I think you can learn a lot of things in general and specialized areas. It's a bit expensive though.

I hope this is of help.

Shawn

2/16/2024 06:16:37 pm

Hey Patrick,

I was looking for a place to buy this book but cannot find it anywhere. I even looked on the AFSA website. Do you know where I could buy this by chance?

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Good Learning Material for Sprinkler Estimating?

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