Estimating is a crucial part of shopfitting, as it directly impacts both the profitability and success of projects. However, even experienced estimators can make mistakes that lead to inaccurate quotations, missed profits, and delays. Here are five common mistakes in shopfitting estimation and how to avoid them.
One of the most frequent errors in shopfitting estimation is underestimating material costs. Whether it’s due to outdated price lists, overlooking suppliers, or miscalculating quantities, underestimating materials can result in cost overruns that eat into your profits.
How to Avoid It:
Utilising a dynamic material library, such as the one provided by Contract Controller, ensures that material costs are always up to date. With multiple suppliers and costs for a single material, estimators can select the best price, ensuring accurate cost predictions. By updating your library regularly, even changes in market prices are reflected automatically, keeping quotations competitive and accurate.
Labour is often one of the highest costs in shopfitting, and miscalculating the hours required for each task can lead to significant budget discrepancies. Whether it’s due to incorrectly estimating the time required for installation or failing to factor in specific skillsets, inaccurate labour costs can significantly affect your margins.
How to Avoid It:
A comprehensive labour rate system ensures that each task is accurately priced based on the complexity and skills required. With Contract Controller, estimators can pull from a library of standard labour rates, including adjustments for overtime or special skill requirements, so you can accurately predict costs and avoid underquoting.
Subcontracting can be an essential part of any shopfitting project, from electrical work to specialist installations. However, subcontractor costs are often overlooked or underestimated in initial quotations. This can lead to unexpected expenses that impact the project’s profitability.
How to Avoid It:
With Contract Controller, you can easily generate invitations for subcontractor tenders, and the system will analyse and incorporate their quotes directly into your project. By integrating subcontractor costs into your core bill of materials, you’ll have a more accurate and comprehensive estimate from the outset.
Material and labour costs fluctuate frequently, and failing to update your quotations to reflect these changes can lead to inaccurate bids. If you’re using outdated pricing or missing adjustments, you may find that your final estimate falls short of covering actual costs.
How to Avoid It:
Contract Controller’s live updates allow you to adjust both material and labour rates in real-time. By amending a single library item, all related quotations automatically adjust, ensuring that every job is priced at current rates, regardless of when the original estimate was created. This ensures your quotations are always reflective of market conditions.
Estimators sometimes overlook adding appropriate profit margins to their quotations, either due to pressure to submit lower bids or lack of clarity on required margins. This can result in projects that don’t meet the expected financial targets.
How to Avoid It:
Contract Controller makes it easy to apply the required markup and profit margin to all aspects of your quotations. By including margin calculations directly within the system, you can ensure that every quotation meets your desired profitability without the risk of overlooking essential figures.
Contract Controller is designed to streamline the estimation process while maintaining accuracy and flexibility. With an integrated library for materials, labour rates, and subcontractor costs, estimators can create precise, up-to-date quotations quickly and efficiently. The system’s real-time updates, along with the ability to adjust costs across all quotations, ensure that you’re always working with the most accurate data available.
By automating and simplifying the estimating process, Contract Controller helps you avoid common pitfalls and create professional, profitable quotations that stand the test of time. Whether you’re managing a single project or multiple tenders, Contract Controller gives you the tools to succeed in today’s competitive shopfitting market.
Book a demo today to see how our estimating software can transform your shopfitting projects for greater accuracy and profitability.
