A strong estimator that is trained to accurately estimate a house and understands material management at the field level can be a home-run hire for any homebuilder. Unfortunately, in-house estimating functions were largely eliminated during the downturn. Most builders outsourced their estimating needs, allowed the trades or suppliers to do their own estimates, or transitioned from direct-buy to turnkey. Choosing to recreate an estimating function and finding space for it in your budget may seem unrealistic. But would $83,000 in direct savings change your mind?

In the latest installment of Continuum Advisory Group’s Survivor or Victim series, published on Hanley Wood’s BuilderOnline.com, Clark Ellis and I weigh in on scale and accuracy, exploring the value of the estimator. Read the full post here, Big Builder: That Next Hire. 

THAT NEXT HIRE | BUILDER MAGAZINE 
It’s time to bring back the estimator: Continuum’s Clark Ellis and Brandon Hart weigh in on scale and accuracy.
WWW.BUILDERONLINE.COM 

Series History

INTRODUCTION: If you missed the series introduction on how to excel in a resource constrained environment, you can read a copy of it here. We hope it will help to challenge your thinking as you prepare to finish strong in Q4 2014, and prepare for a successful 2015.

WHEN–NOT IF–LABOR SHORTAGES REIGNITE, WILL YOU BE READY?: While trade capacity concerns take a breather, smart builders take advantage.

TURNING THE TABLES: GET CAPITAL SOURCES TO COMPETE TO WORK WITH YOU | BUILDER MAGAZINE : Survivors Proactively Structure the Capital Sourcing Process to Fit their Requirements While Victims React to What is Offered