Estimating Building Costs for the Residential and Light Commercial Construction Professional by Wayne J Del Pico

Estimating Building Costs for the Residential and Light Commercial Construction Professional by Wayne J Del Pico

How to succeed in the construction business--step-by-step guidelines for estimating

To be competitive, contractors and homebuilders need to know how to generate complete, accurate estimates for labor and material costs. This book guides readers through the entire estimating process, explaining in detail how to put together a reliable estimate that can be used not only for budgeting, but also for developing a schedule, managing a project, dealing with contingencies, and ultimately making a profit.

Completely revised and updated to reflect the new CSI MasterFormat 2010TM system, the Second Edition of this practical guide describes estimating techniques for each building system and how to apply them according to the latest industry standards. Cost considerations and quantity takeoff and pricing are included for virtually every type of work found in residential and light commercial projects, from demolition, concrete, and masonry to windows and doors, siding, roofing, mechanical and electrical systems, finish work, and site construction.

Complete with many new graphics and references to professional construction cost databases, the new edition provides experienced contractors and novices alike with essential information on:

• How to correctly interpret plans and specifications, reflecting updates to contract documents since the first edition

• Computer estimating techniques and new estimating software for performing quantity takeoff

• The best methods for conceptual estimating as well as the extremely useful topic of parametric estimating

• How to allocate the right amounts for profit and contingencies, and other hard-to-find professional guidance

• How a unit price estimate is built along with labor issues and budgeting for subcontractor work

W. J. DEL PICO is the company's president. J.Del Pico, Inc., where he provides construction-related litigation support services and expert witness. He has more than 35 years of construction project management and estimating experience and has worked on projects across the United States. He teaches at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston as an adjunct professor. Del Pico is a well-known speaker and author on the topics of estimating, scheduling, and project management.

He is the coauthor of The Practice of Cost Segregation Analysis and the author of Plan Reading and Material Takeoff, Estimating Building Costs, and Project Control: Integrating Cost and Schedule in Construction. He is also an American Arbitration Association practicing Neutral who handles construction-related arbitration claims. www.wjdelpico.com contains further information about the author.