Types of organization structures;
1. Project managers do their own estimating and then run the project. This is a typical cradle to grave delivery method. A. Selling points; I. Single source contact. II. PM knows the job well and writes excellent scopes because he has to live with the project. III. PM knows the entire history of the project from start to finish so there is continuity throughout the process. IV. Subs are loyal to PM because he awards the work. B. Disadvantages to this approach; I. Once the project the PM is currently working on starts to wind down they reenter the bid market as their next job begins. As a result of this process they are out of touch with current market conditions (i.e. they don’t know who has hot numbers, who is looking for work, wanting to build back log, commodity volatility, equipment/material prices, labor availability etc.) II. They have a small limited stable of sub trades because they’re not able to reach out and contact a large quantity of subcontractors. III. They don’t specialize in estimating so they can’t typically perform a thorough detailed estimate on all sub trades at the various stages of SD and DD documents. IV. They don’t have the ability to cost model various components of the project to help guide the design effort. V. It takes longer to do the estimating/preconstruction process because there is only one person performing the work. VI. Limited knowledge on VE ideas because they don’t have specialized trade knowledge in all disciplines. VII. PM typically (not always), buys out the project since they’re the only ones who know anything about the project. Lower level position as opposed to a PX being involved with the estimating department working in support of the effort. VIII. If the PM leaves the company or they become ill, most of the advantages listed above are lost causing a serious problem for the owner depending on where in the cycle this occurs. IX. Doesn’t package projects to achieve savings through economies of scale. X. They maybe a week negotiator. XI. No second set of eyes reviewing the detailed scopes of work before contracts are let. This can cause a loss of both time and money.
2. Company has an estimating department and a construction team; A. Selling points; I.
Depending on the company, they may only have a few estimators and not an entire team. If they only have a few estimators they are typically number takers and not actual estimators. II. If they have a full estimating team they should have some of benefits we have to offer (see ours Below) B. Disadvantages;
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