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Estimator’s Edge

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2016 September

Hey, What’s New?

Necessity is the mother of invention…—Plato Ours is a phenomenally innovative society, and the construction industry is no exception in this regard. Wherever there is evidence of impediment, drudgery or difficulty, someone always...

2016 August

Camaraderie

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends …—John Lennon/Paul McCartney I have spent a lot of space and ink on this page, complaining about all the slings and arrows...

2016 July

Assembly-Line Drywall: Finally Coming into Its Own

It’s been five years since I last wrote on prefabrication of exterior wall assemblies, and much has changed in the construction environment since 2011. A sputtering economy has markedly improved (though at a snail’s pace),...

2016 June

Health Care: An Estimator’s Dream/Nightmare

But the dreams I’ve seen lately keep on turnin’ out and burnin’ out…—from ““Take It to the Limit” by Randy Meisner (The Eagles) Back in early 2008, when the proverbial poop hit the...

2016 May

Abstract Terms

How familiar is this? You get the long-anticipated call back from your favorite general contractor on a proposal you feel pretty confident about. He wants to do a preliminary de-scoping over the phone. It’s a...

2016 April

Budget Drudgery

I have squandered my existence for a pocket full of mumbles; such are promises …—Paul Simon It’s the “gift” that keeps on giving. And most bidmeisters these days recognize what a mixed blessing...

2016 March

Aspire to Greatness. Be an Estimator.

It was sometime early last spring that I was given the opportunity to do a little public boasting about my vocation and a chance to perhaps recruit some future bidmeisters.      A little background:...

2016 February

Residential Evil

The way you do me is frightening—think I better knock on wood …—“Knock on Wood” by Eddie Floyd      I must begin by confessing my bias. I rose up through the ranks on the...

January 2016

Ahead of My Behind

Bartender says, “We don’t serve faster-than-light subatomic particles here.” A neutrino walks into a bar It must have been by some inexplicable quirk or quark of quantum physics that I recently found myself...