Best Electrical Estimating Guides

You won the project but that is just the start. One of the most overlooked tasks in electrical contracting is Job Tracking. Smaller electrical contractors, just getting their electrical shop open, are overwhelmed with all the things that they have never had experienced being an electrician in the field. The list can be sobering, to say the least. License, insurance, Taxes, Payroll, OSHA rules, Employee rights, purchasing tools, and trucks. We could list an entire page of items and not touch the surface. Being confident with your estimates. Being confident in estimating electrical projects is one thing but tracking the estimate after the bid is equally important.  Furthermore, new electrical contractors, without a lot of previous office experience often fall victim to making decisions that are not knowledge-based. Bidding electrical work by the sq. ft or unit pricing will close your business fast. Not...

I only missed (2) light fixtures no big deal, right? The overlooked estimator As estimators, we will never be perfect and from time to time we will miss something. We do our best to get it right and weigh our time spent VS cranking out enough estimates to please the boss. Not everyone understands the importance of the estimate. After all, if the estimate isn't right, nothing else matters. The estimate is the foundation of the entire project. Your company will fail or succeed in its ability to estimate. Estimators seldom get the credit they deserve. Moreover, it is the Project Manager and Superintendent over the project that has the day-to-day control of the outcome, after the estimate. Subsequently, their face will be the face that is remembered as the...

The lost art of estimating In today’s computer age we have become custom to just pushing buttons and living with the results. The art of actually entering our knowledge along with the computer generated results has long been forgotten. Shorter bid dates, having to produce more estimates than ever before, are some of the issues we face each day. Detailed electrical estimating seems to be a lost art.

The Easy Path There is an easy path to creating an accurate electrical estimate reasonably fast. The answer is simple. “Spend endless hours learning how”. You must be willing to spend time learning how to estimate in the first place. Then master software to take what you already know and turn it into an electrical estimate that you are comfortable with. For instance at Best Bid we offer the best electrical estimating and on-screen takeoff software that can you can purchased. Our electrical bid software is easy, fast accurate, and affordable. Moreover a company like ours has the expertise to help you with all if your electrical estimating needs. This knowledge is a service that can't be purchased. Consequently the Best Bid Hybrid Pro is the most incredible software that we...

s Most people define leadership differently but “A leader knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” No matter how you define a leader, they can be a difference-maker between success and failure.In business, your goal should be to become successful. Once you understand that you become successful not only impacts you, your family, and your employees but when you become successful you are now in a place to help others. This would be a great place for a bible study.  ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!’ This is true all through business. If your employees do well with the small tasks they move up to...

Dan Jackson AKA Dans The Engineer I am borrowing this post for Dan Jackson AKA Dans the Engineer. There are some good lessons here and I have added my take. Do Electricians Really Earn That Much? Since entering the electrical trade, I have always heard people say that electricians are loaded and they earn loads of money, but do they really earn that much? I have read in media articles that electricians are earning more than £100k, but can you become a millionaire as an electrician? 100 pounds is like $130K so obviously England pays more than the US for electrical contracting.The average rate in TN may be $25ish and the average rate in California may be $45ish Early Ambitions and Background I grew up on a council estate and...

How to Run a Successful Electrical Business Becoming a successful Electrical Contractor does not just happen. You aren’t born with Electrical Estimating skills or knowing the perfect electrical estimating software. The good news is there are people that are willing to help. Check out bestbidestimating.com. Many electricians decide to go into business for themselves. After all, they’ve mastered the trade, created relationships with loyal customers, and developed a good sense of the rules and regulations. However, knowing how to run a successful electrical business requires a different skill set than that of a first-rate electrician. I spend hours each day talking to electricians that are taking the step to become an Electrical Contractor. Going in business for themselves sometimes is a life- long dream and other times it is out...

Paul from Abernathy Electrical Services Company Size: 2-10 employees Industry: Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing Time Used: Less than 6 months Review Source  Ease-of-use 5.0 Value for money 5.0 Customer support 5.0 Functionality 5.0 December 2018 Simple To Use- The Complete Package As an electrical educator, I have taught over 40,000 students in my time. When I talk estimating to folks I want to show them something simple and easy to understand. The complexity of a software means the difference in using it and putting it on the shelf to collect dust. I can promise you that will not the case with the Best Bid Hybrid Pro software because it is so easy to use and is so amazing affordable that it is a no-brainer for any electrical contractor. Pros I have been an electrical industry expert for...

A customer calls me and says man my company is having all kinds of issues. Everything is going wrong. We are losing money and I can’t keep employees on the job. Covid is making everything harder than it use to be. I really need some help. I need some kind of estimating program, bidding software, one of those electrical cost estimation software things that you guys sell. I have been thinking about buying the Best Bid Hybrid Pro. I have been looking at it and talking to you on and off about it for about a year or so but I got to do something and stop talking about it. This is the worst year that I have had and I am not sure I can keep going. He then...

This could be the most important article that you will ever read pertaining to your Electrical Contracting Career. After all you will fail or succeed based on your ability to estimate.Your ability to estimate will large be accomplished by what electrical estimating software you use. Why should you purchase the Best Bid Hybrid Pro? When you started your search for electrical estimating software you thought it would be easy right? Just Google “electrical estimating software” and “vwah-LAH”, issue solved? Well you may or may not know the top (4) spots and the last (3) spots on the first page of Google are paid possessions and may not even apply to your search term at all. These spots are costly and guess who pays that cost?-- Correct, the user. Then there...

Get your pre-game together This post is for electrical estimators that may be just a little nervous when they start to price electrical work. That can be a good thing, at least it means you care about the results and quality of your bid.Ok you have electrical estimating software and you have on-screen takeoff software to fall back on but electrical cost estimation is a little more than just the electrical estimate.  Electrical bidding software with programs for pricing electrical work is a must but electrical cost estimation just starts with the electrical parts, pieces and labor to install them. Good electrical estimators pricing electrical work with the best electrical estimating software like the Best Bid Hybrid Pro still need to account for items that the electrical estimating software will not include until you tell it to....

A customer calls me and says man my company is having all kinds of issues. Everything is going wrong. We are losing money and I can’t keep employees on the job. Covid is making everything harder than it use to be. I really need some help. I need some kind of estimating program, bidding software, one of those electrical cost estimation software things that you guys sell. I have been thinking about buying the Best Bid Hybrid Pro. I have been looking at it and talking to you on and off about it for about a year or so but I got to do something and stop talking about it. This is the worst year that I have had and I am not sure I can keep going. He then...

Best kept secret of being a successful Electrical Contractor. There are many things that have to come together to take your company to the next level. We have experienced them all. At Best Bid. We have lived through times when  business was  good and we have seen it when business was bad but there is one thing that gets you through all seasons of you Electrical Contracting Career and we will give you our secrete later on in this post. When you are just starting out in business you may not understand the basics of how things work. Getting projects to bid on may be one of them.Most areas have a local plans room where most of the work that is bidding will be posted. This is a great place...

What does it take to be a successful Electrical Contractor?  When owning and running a successful Electrical Contracting Company you learn to wear many hats. Being a great electrician does not prepare you for owning your own company. You will need to learn many new skills. There are so many things that go on behind the doors of an Electrical Shop that you never see as an electrician in the field. One lesson that you learn quickly is winning jobs doesn’t equal making profit. Another lesson that you will learn is working hard does not necessarily equal making a profit either.You can work yourself to death and still go broke. Once you win a project then you must install the project for less than you bid. Now you must get...

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