Construction is one of the most complex industries to work in. Projects involve so many different factors that the life of a contractor can be complicated.
You need to be able to plan building projects in a way that prioritizes safety, as well as looks beautiful, and functions well. Not only do you need to plan it, then you need to build it, too.
But one of the most complicated aspects of construction is generating a construction project estimate. Before digging a single hole or nailing a piece of wood, you need to know exactly how much a project will cost.
Without an accurate construction estimate, you won’t be able to sell jobs to clients. No one will hire you if they don’t know how much the final project will cost them.
If you’d like to make your business more efficient by offering more accurate project quotes, then keep reading to learn how to estimate your construction project cost today.
Out With the Old
If you’ve been in business for a while, there’s a good chance you’ve estimated construction projects the old way. That is, you pull out a piece of paper and a pencil, and you start writing down a list of materials you think you are going to need.
Or, if you are a little more tech-savvy, you create a new spreadsheet on the computer. You then add different line items of materials and prices, and it actually does the math for you.
Sorry, but both of these methods need to be left in the past, never used again. In 2021 and beyond, you need to be using modern tools that will dramatically speed up the estimating process and provide you with more accurate quotes.
Conclusion: there are many new tools developed for contractors by contractors that can make the estimating process a breeze.
The Benefit of Accurate Quotes
Not only do the old methods take too much time to generate project quotes, but they are simply inaccurate. You’re always going to forget to add in certain materials, tools, or something else.
And you may easily make a typo on your spreadsheet, making it all too easy to create inaccurate quotes. With an inaccurate quote in hand, you are going to give your client one number.
But at the end of the project, when you ask them to pay the balance, it will be a completely different number. This is how you go out of business.
When this happens, clients are going to be extremely unhappy. They will let the word out that you aren’t to be trusted, as your quote and the final price of the project are so different that it feels like they were tricked.
If you’d instead like to have happy customers and enjoy positive word-of-mouth marketing, then you need to provide accurate quotes right from the beginning. This happens with construction quote software.
Using a Construction Project Estimator
So if you’d like to serve your clients the right way, sell more jobs faster, and keep your project costs within the initial budget, you need to use cost estimating software specifically designed with contractors in mind.
The best contractor estimating software will make it super easy to generate hyper-accurate quotes in half the time. Finally, you’ll be able to tell your prospective clients one thing and actually complete the project for the same cost.
And if things change mid-project, and your client wants to alter the design or materials chosen, you can make changes and upgrades to the project within the software, see the cost difference, and let the customer decide if they want to make the change.
Modern contractor software makes the quoting process, which was once very stressful, now become very easy.
How to Use Contractor Software
So how does it work? It’s like a spreadsheet on steroids.
First, you break down your project into a unit by unit cost. So if you are adding new flooring, you would add the cost of new hardwood flooring per square foot. Then, you add the dimensions of the rooms you will be completing.
If you are using a subcontractor for this specific task, you can also add that cost. And there are plenty of other things you can add to each line item as well, making it easy to get accurate quotes.
And the best part is that the best cost estimating software will get smarter after each use. So if you have common types of projects that you complete for all your clients, you can save the information from previous quotes to speed up the process for future ones.
So your job is getting more and more efficient over time. What used to take hours and hours will be reduced to just a few minutes to quote an entire project.
Other Software Features
Depending on the estimating software you choose, there are several other features you might be able to use. One of the most important is receiving and managing payments.
With the detailed, accurate quotes that you generate, you’ll be able to send them directly to your clients virtually, with the option to pay online right away.
No more dealing with checks, cash, or sketchy payment processing software. Your clients will have an easy, secure way to pay you so that you can get started on the project right away.
On top of that, you may be able to manage conversations with your clients all from one dashboard. So instead of trying to navigate an email inbox or scroll through dozens of text messages, you can keep your client, subcontractor, and vendor communication all in one place.
Create Your Construction Project Estimate Today
Using the right software, you can get generate a construction project estimate in just a few minutes. And the best part? Most software companies offer a free trial.
So you can actually generate a fast, accurate quote right now, totally free of charge. There’s no reason to stay stuck in the past. Find some contractor software and take your business into the future. Your clients, and your bottom line, will thank you.
Looking for more tips like this? Check out the rest of our blog today to keep reading.
Read Also: Top 5 Factors to Consider When Hiring IT Service Providers
