Tired of GC estimating. Is it me or is it the environment?
Rant warning:
39yo Senior Estimator at a general contractor.
Boss came into my office to review an estimate and, as usual, tore into it. Pretty standard at this point.
What’s funny is he was calling out things I already flagged in my original submission. There’s no real review process or benchmarking here. I usually ask to sit down and go through estimates before bids go out, but that tends to get ignored. Then after the fact it’s, “I ended up redoing the whole thing… but the bottom line didn’t really change.”
In my last role, we actually reviewed estimates together, made adjustments, and refined them before anything went out. Here, I send it over with notes and it’s expected to already be flawless.
On top of that, he was annoyed I prefilled my timecard a day early. I’m working the same estimate and already know what tomorrow looks like, so it didn’t seem like a big deal.
It’s been a grind for six months and I’m pretty over it. Between the lack of structure, office bs, and constant commentary, it’s getting old. I respect the company, but I’m done with the daily circus.
I’ve got a few GC interviews lined up, but I’m also starting to question whether GC life is even the right long term fit. It feels less like estimating and more like quote management from subs. I do like when my numbers land within 1–2% of subs though... nice little “yep, I still know what I’m doing”.
At this point, subcontractor estimating is starting to look pretty appealing. I know a former sub who’d take me back in a heartbeat. Honestly, it might just come down to when I’m ready to stop participating in the GC version of professional group therapy. I'll need to burn a few more bridges in the GC world first.