BCT 314 - Construction Estimating

Course Description

Any successful building construction project relies on accurate and consistent cost estimates. This course provides students with the skills and background to perform construction estimating, bidding, and cost management. Lectures will cover quantity take-off from construction documents and estimate costs for material, labor, equipment, overhead, and profit. Students are required to prepare and submit a formal bid which details an estimate for a building construction project. Furthermore, students will also be introduced to leading construction estimating software utilized in the construction industry.

This course is restricted to BCT majors only.

Learning Goals

• Describe the process of preparing conceptual, preliminary, and detailed estimates.
• Perform quantity takeoffs and allocate units of work.
• Organize the collection of estimated data.
• Identify sources of cost data.
• Be familiar with the key components of labor, equipment, and material costs.
• Determine crew size and productivity.
• Identify site conditions and factors that affect cost estimates.
• Allocate direct and indirect project costs.
• Identify and allocate contingency and escalation.
• Prepare a project estimate, including all direct and indirect costs, overhead, and profit.
• Be familiar with contract documentation.
• Discuss bid estimate strategy.
• Validate the cost estimate.
• Develop schedules based on cost estimate data.
• Introduction to Autodesk AutoCAD, Autodesk Revit, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Office, Trimble SketchUp, and Trimble WinEst.

Pre-requisites: BCT 211 or 313

Textbook/Materials

Means Engineering Staff (2012). RSMeans Cost Data with Access (2nd Edition). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. ISBN 978-1118335901.