How does The Build Chain assist Construction Estimators?
Description:
Estimators calculate how much construction projects will cost, taking into account labour, material and equipment requirement. They support Quantity Surveyors to negotiate with suppliers and gain quotes from subcontractors and use this information to compile detailed cost proposals for a client.
Problems Faced:
Researching the cost of items such as materials, transport, labour and equipment and preparing estimates all under time pressure and constraints.
Monitoring the stages of a project to make sure that risks are mitigated, and costs are kept in line with forecasts
Establishing opportunities/scope to maximise value.
Working closely with key members of the project team and liaising with clients and suppliers to gain competitive rates.
Having a standardised approach to estimation that ensures consistency and accuracy of estimates to mitigate exposure to risk.
How we Solve those Problems/Our Solution:
Our simple enquiry system makes manual market reviews a thing of the past as prices can be benchmarked with each enquiry. With access to large amounts of supplier pricing information estimators can save hours of admin time and compare all quotes in one place quickly and easily. This gives estimators the flexibility to efficiently and effectively respond to volatile market conditions where pricing and availability is unpredictable.
Each enquiry on our dashboard can be tagged to a specific project which allows estimators to easily monitor the procurement stage as well as the costs of procurement as the venture develops. With all enquiries stored and archived estimators can use past costings and pricing strategies to help formulate future forecasts and future proof against potential risks.
With the wide supply chain access provided through the dashboard estimators can achieve the best value possible. Estimators can also track supplier performance over time and benchmark their usual suppliers prices against the rest of the market to highlight where value can be gained.
All correspondence and information can be attributed to a specific user, so the estimator knows exactly who from the team to communicate with/ work with for each project. Our live chat feature provides a direct line of communication with the supplier for the estimator to be specific and detailed in their requirements. Through benchmarking market prices estimators can negotiate with suppliers from a well-informed position to gain competitive rates mitigating against price and availability uncertainty.
Our simple enquiry form, which details site location, time required, product(s) and any additional information provides a standardised and consistent procedure for procurement. With all information stored in one central location on the dashboard this means no more missed emails, phone calls or lost paperwork, improving accuracy and reliability of estimates; reducing errors within estimates reduces the risks in which contractors are exposed to.
