By Xkey AiE
What should an electrical estimate include?
An electrical estimate should include reviewed quantities, material and labor costs, supplier and subcontractor quotes, project-specific costs, overhead, and profit. Document drawing revisions, assumptions, inclusions, and exclusions so the final bid can be checked.
Your electrical estimate checklist
An electrical estimate brings quantities, installation labor, material prices and project costs into one reviewed scope. Use this checklist to document assumptions and check omissions before submitting a bid.
Choose work that fits your business
Assess project size, schedule, staffing, cash flow and the systems involved. Decide whether your team can deliver the scope before investing in the estimate.
Review the specifications
Check material requirements, installation standards, testing, commissioning, scope boundaries and payment requirements. Record unclear items and request clarification.
Review the drawings and revisions
Confirm drawing dates, addenda and specification revisions. Cross-reference architectural, mechanical and structural drawings for coordination issues. Track questions and their answers in the estimate.
Complete the quantity takeoff
Count devices and equipment, measure conduit and feeder routes, and organize quantities by system or area. Mark reviewed items so you can check the scope without counting twice. Follow the electrical takeoff guide for a systematic approach.
Build assemblies and installation labor
Attach the material components and labor units needed for each installation. Check supports, fittings, connections and accessories as well as the main item.
When using published labor units, read what they include. The NECA Manual of Labor Units overview explains that supervision is excluded from its installation labor units and should be estimated separately. The full manual is a paid publication or subscription.
Calculate estimated hours from quantities and labor units, then adjust for access, working conditions and project requirements. Apply your company’s labor rate, including the costs your business assigns to that rate. Review material and labor calculations separately.
Obtain supplier and subcontractor quotes
Request pricing for equipment packages and specialist work early enough to review exclusions, freight, delivery schedules and quote validity. Reconcile supplier quantities with your takeoff and avoid counting package costs twice.
RSMeans’ explanation of construction cost data distinguishes material, labor, and equipment components within unit costs. Use that structure to check what a cost source includes before adding supplier quotes or project-specific charges; the underlying datasets are commercial resources.
Account for project costs
Include project-specific supervision, equipment, temporary facilities, consumables and other costs your estimating method assigns to the job. Keep cost categories consistent so the same expense is not included twice.
Apply overhead and profit
Use your company’s documented approach to overhead and profit. Distinguish markup on cost from margin on selling price, and check the result against the project’s risks and commercial requirements.
Document the bid scope
State the drawing and specification revisions, included scope, exclusions, assumptions and quoted amount. Check that supplier qualifications and unresolved scope issues are reflected clearly in your submission.
Review the complete estimate
Check quantities, units, assemblies, labor, material prices, external quotes and totals. A second review can help identify omissions and duplicated costs. AiE supports this workflow; the estimator remains responsible for validating the result.
Review labor assumptions as well as quantities. ELECTRI International’s labor-productivity research overview discusses how project conditions can affect installation productivity. It does not establish a universal productivity rate or validate a particular estimating-software result.
Submit and record the bid
Confirm the submission method, deadline and required documents. Record the estimate version submitted and review any late supplier changes before accepting them.
Learn from the result
Where feedback is available, compare your assumptions with the bid outcome. For awarded work, project management and field information can help connect the estimate with actual performance. Compare Xkey AiE plans.
For a workflow built around bid review, explore electrical estimating software for professional estimators. To evaluate the economics of estimating resources, use the electrical estimating capacity and ROI calculator. Its capacity values are illustrative, not guaranteed cash savings or profit.
Explore AiE electrical estimating, the planned guided sample experience and an optional demo. Compare Starter, AiE Estimator and Project+, then choose a plan and request access.