Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
(OP)
I am a Civil PE with about 7 years experience. Recently, some clients have wanted my company to estimate how long a job will take to construct and even what equipment will be used. I have absolutely no experience in construction methods, but want to learn. Are there any books on this subject that I can read, so I don't seem like a complete idiot when talking with contractors are my clients.





RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
They have both on line CD based and paper books.
They break different tasks down to crew size and equipment and price out the costs of each task. They also add location factors for most US and Canadian cities.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
Books like Means are a poor substitute for experience; however in this case there doesn’t appear to be enough time to get the experience the old fashioned way.
Rick Kitson MBA P.Eng
Construction Project Management
From conception to completion
www.kitsonengineering.com
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
Using cost books, without some prior experiance, can be very troublesome. You have to know and understand the basic assumptions the cost books make for their unit costs. Many new estimators forget about the mobilization and demobilization costs, the jobsite office costs etc. You might find that the book tells you you can pour footing concrete for $145/cy, but what about hand grading, forming, stripping and hand compaction, besides the jobsite office and supervision.
Get some training!
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
I agree experience is a vital, but I prefer to defend myself using published industry standard productivity rates if something ever goes to court.
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
To me there are 3 components to a cost estimate: labor, permanent project materials and equipment.
For the later, the equipment used on a project can vary from contractor to contractor. And the cost of equipment is somewhat dependent upon if it is rented or owned.
I have always perfered to estimate the labor in manhours which is a constant. Then multiply the manhours by the local labor rates and add the indirect costs for which Richardson has an excellent breakdown.
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?
Peurifoy's book has all that you're looking for. I have his '79 edition but below is a link to his latest book.
http://www
RE: Construction Methods and Estimating Book?