Highlighted Blogs
Risk Analysis in Estimating: do-it-yourself (DIY) Monte-Carlo Simulation
Economic Challenges in Expanding Renewable Power Deployment – An Essay
This is a free knowledge sharing blog, aiming to discuss estimating related topics and methods to help early career estimators to provide the best possible estimating support to their internal / external clients. This could also be useful for the more senior practitioners in estimating along with planning & cost control personnel, procurement & contracts personnel, finance and business development personnel, project engineers & managers, proposal managers, project services managers and other leadership team members when discussing, reviewing and benchmarking estimates.
This could also be useful for governments and financing bodies to benchmark their investments. And finally, this could also be used as a free-resource by education institutions or other educators to explain some of the topics.
All the discussions are aimed mainly for estimating in the energy industry, but similar discussions could surely be made for other industries.
When my child was in primary school, he thought he knew what “Estimating” was, and when I asked him to explain, he went: “isn’t it rounding up to the nearest number”. Back then I said “yes” but………This project is an endeavour to write down what I think estimating is and all the discussions are based on my own experiences and estimating methods, for sharing with the larger community.
Started in October 2015, this will be a continuously developing repository of estimating topics, example files, benchmarks etc., with an addition every few months. I will try to upload self-made example files and templates for use if anybody wishes.
Any comments and feedback will be highly appreciated.
BLOG TOPICS
General – Increasing Estimate Efficiency Blogs
- Estimate Presentation
- Supplier Quotes for Estimating
- Estimating Time Management
- 80/20 Rule Applied to Estimating Effort
- Design Option Selection Estimate Layout
- A Call for Transparency: Sharing Working Estimate Files
- Print Macro- Automate Generation of Multiple Estimates
- Risk Analysis in Estimating: do-it-yourself (DIY) Monte-Carlo Simulation
General – Opinion Blogs
- Difference in Estimate Vs Bid Price
- Estimate Ownership
- Owner Vs Contractor Estimates
- Who Owns the Scope?
- Design Optimisation for a Successful Business Case
- Economic Challenges in Expanding Renewable Power Deployment – An Essay
- Does FOAK Project Size Matter?
Material Estimate Blogs
Construction Estimate Blogs
- Key Quantities and Direct Labour Hours
- All-in Labour Rate Build-up
- Labour Productivity Factor Calculation Tool
- Labour Estimating Norms
Benchmarking Blogs
- Open Source Benchmarking
- Power Plant Benchmarking (Open Source Example)
- Tank Farm Benchmarking (Open Source Example)
- Thumb Rules for Engineering Costs
- Piling Cost: Rough Estimate Model for Benchmarking
- Biomass Power Plant Benchmarking (Open-Source Example)
Lifecycle Costing Blogs
