As the workforce rushes to keep pace with new infrastructure investments, Ineight shares three best practices for navigating complex builds.
To meet urgent demand for new infrastructure, construction spending continues to rise and labour markets are struggling to keep pace.
The organisations that will see the most success moving forward are those willing to prioritise project certainty from start to finish. But at the same time, the growing complexity in today’s construction market means that estimators are often building proposals for less predictable, first-of-its-kind projects, then defending those proposals to an ever-growing list of stakeholders.
The best strategy for managing the inevitable queries of “Where’d you get that number?” and “Does this include that?” is to anticipate such challenges and prepare the estimate accordingly. Easier said than done, perhaps, but estimators who apply the practices discussed here provide the necessary support and inspire confidence from pitch to handoff.
1 – Overdeliver on details
Complex projects, including first-of-its-kind pursuits, include a unique level of risk and uncertainty that require hyper-detailed estimates that go beyond the usual standards on costs, allowances, and escalations. By including variables like alternative constructibility scenarios, estimating teams inspire confidence despite the complexity and assure owners that they have accounted for every likely scenario.
To deliver such detailed estimates, teams need to give themselves flexibility when it comes to estimating structures. Showcasing the logic behind every aspect of the project cultivates confidence.
2 – Start from success
While first-of-its-kind builds represent a new effort, they’re rarely so unique that teams cannot draw from elements of past projects. By looking back at successful elements from previous projects, and identifying elements that can be applied in new circumstances, estimators can get a head start on even groundbreaking estimates. Not only does reusing successful approaches expedite delivery, using past successes also provides a degree of benchmarked data to ground theoretical builds in practical experiences. By using relevant benchmarks from past estimates and projects, teams can effectively:
- Validate an estimate
- Identify potential variances
- Analyse trends
- Compare products
- Constantly improve their efforts
3 – Work from consistent, accurate data
To integrate detail and past benchmarks, teams need reliable, easily accessible project data. By building a library of estimating data over time—and continually feeding actuals data back into the system – organisations create an invaluable data asset that supports immediate estimating success. When creating a data library, it is critical that the information is formatted consistently and is easily accessible across the organisation. This accessibility allows estimators to avoid digging through email chains and spreadsheets and instead empowers them to access information at a moment’s notice.
Estimating solutions like InEight Estimate feed every estimate and as-built actual into a knowledge library in a consistent format so that teams can identify their most efficient building practices, understand why they were successful, and adapt them to first-of-its-kind builds.
While teams can’t always anticipate the challenges that come with complex builds, solid estimating practices unlock the time and confidence necessary to deliver successful outcomes on complex projects. With the right tools, estimators can dive further into the details, apply data about past success, and keep better records so that when the time comes, even first-of-its-kind feels more run-of-the-mill.
For more on improving your outcomes with innovative estimates, visit InEight.com.
