Stop 2 of 8 · Weekly
The bid
Takeoff to Excel estimate, priced from your own book, with the assumptions page the client actually reads.
The hour between the takeoff and the number
Luis's estimate is his Excel file, his line order, his markup, his general conditions. None of that changes. What changes is the hour of retyping, the line he forgot, and the third rebuild after the architect answers an RFI.
Order matters more than speed here. Quantities first, from the sheets. Prices second, from his own book. The client summary last. Ask for all three in one go and you get a number nobody can trace back to a sheet.
Quantities first
[upload the plan set] Build a takeoff table by trade: line item, quantity, unit, and the sheet the quantity is printed on. Do not price anything. Where the sheets do not give you a quantity, write the line with its unit and leave the quantity blank, then list those separately as the ones I have to measure on site or ask about.
Where each number comes from
| Number in the bid | Its only source |
|---|---|
| Quantities | Dimension strings and schedules on the sheets |
| Unit costs | Luis's book: last job's actuals, sub rates, supplier quotes |
| Fees and taxes | The city fee page and the tax rate, checked that week |
Claude does the arithmetic, the format and the checking. It does not produce a rate. A bid built on rates nobody can source looks finished and loses twice: once when it is too low to build, once when it is too high to win.
[upload the takeoff table and my unit cost sheet] Price every line using only the rates in my unit cost sheet, matching by line item. If a line has no rate there, leave the price blank and keep the quantity and unit. Then build an Excel file in my template's line order: subtotals by trade, then general conditions, then contingency, then markup on its own line. At the end, list every line you could not price and every rate you had to interpret rather than match.
The page that goes with the number
From this estimate, write the page that goes to the client with the number. Section one, allowances: what each covers and the amount. Section two, assumptions: everything the price depends on, including access, working hours, existing conditions we have not opened up, and what we assumed on any line the plans do not answer. Section three, exclusions: what the price does not include. Plain sentences, no legal tone, one page.
Turn the estimate into a one page summary as a Word document. Cost by phase in the order the work happens, the allowance total on its own line, the contingency explained in one sentence a homeowner would repeat correctly, and the three decisions that move the number most. Do not show my markup or my unit costs.