Mitigate Common Estimation Mistakes with a Construction Cost Estimator

Regardless of the effort taken to stay within a construction budget, it is not unusual for owners and the Architect and Engineering team to learn toward the end of a project that actual costs have exceeded the budget, sometimes significantly enough as to register a loss. There is a common misconception among contractors that when a project comes out losing money, it is because mistakes were made after the project had started, or because of uncontrollable circumstances that negatively affected the project’s profitability. In many cases, however, the loss can actually be attributed to cost estimation errors caused by incomplete contractual drawings. To avoid losing profit, owners and Architects should seek help from a skilled construction cost estimator, who can ensure common estimating pitfalls like those detailed below do not happen.
http://www.vermeulens.com/green-at-no-cost/mitigate-common-estimation-mistakes-with-a-construction-cost-estimator

Professional Construction Cost Estimator’s Role in Project Management

A construction project is costly and while many of the costs are justifiable, there are different aspects where more than one option may be present. Project managers, design teams, construction contractors, and any other parties involved want to avoid that as much as possible. How does construction cost estimation play into these factors? First, what is a cost estimate? Consulting the Business Dictionary, it is the approximation of the plausible cost of a project, program, or product which is computed basing on available information. There are four types of cost estimates: planning, budget, firm, and not-to-exceed. Planning is for information purposes only, budget uses preliminary cost data and ground rules, firm is for determining whether it’s sound to enter in a binding contract, and not-to-exceed is the minimum or maximum amount required for a given task.
http://www.vermeulens.com/green-at-no-cost/professional-construction-cost-estimator-s-role-in-project-management