Page 18 - 2018 National Home Improvement

2018 National Home Improvement Estimator, All Rights Reserved Page 14

Labor and Material Costs Change. These costs were compiled in the fall of 2016 and projected to
mid-2018 by adding a small percentage. This projection will be accurate for some materials and
inaccurate for others. No one can predict material price changes accurately.

How Accurate Are These Figures? They're as accurate as possible considering that the estimators
who wrote this book don't know your subcontractors or material suppliers, haven't seen the plans or
specifications, don't know what building code applies or where the job is, had to project material costs
at least six months into the future, and had no record of how much work the crew that will be assigned
to the job can handle.

You wouldn't bid a job under those conditions. And we don't claim that all construction is done at these
prices.

Estimating Is an Art, not a science. On many jobs the range between high and low bid will be 20
percent or more. There's room for legitimate disagreement on what the correct costs are, even when
complete plans and specifications are available, the date and site are established, and labor and
material costs are identical for all bidders.

No cost fits all jobs. Good estimates are custom-made for a particular project and a single contractor
through judgment, analysis and experience.

This book isn't a substitute for judgment, analysis and sound estimating practice. It's an aid in
developing an informed opinion of cost. If you're using this book as your sole cost authority for contract
bids, you're reading more into these pages than the editors intend.

Use These Figures to compile preliminary estimates, when a "snap" bid is needed to close the deal,
and when no actual costs are available. This book will reduce the chance of error or omission on bid
estimates, speed "ball park" estimates, and be a good guide when there's no time to get a quote.

Where Do We Get These Figures? From the same sources all professional estimators use: material
suppliers, material price services, analysis of plans, specifications, estimates and completed project
costs, and both published and unpublished cost studies compiled by both private and government
agencies. In addition, we conduct nationwide mail and phone surveys and have the use of several major
national estimating databases.

We'll Answer Your Questions about any part of this book and explain how to apply these costs. Free
telephone assistance is available from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Pacific time Monday through Friday except
holidays. Phone 760-438-7828, Ext. 2. We don't accept collect calls and can't estimate the job for you.
But if you need clarification on something in this manual, we can help.