The estimate doesn't end when the bid is submitted

By John Kenney, Cotney Consulting Group.  

The estimate is not finished until the final project review is complete and the lessons learned have been carried forward to the next opportunity. 

One of the biggest misconceptions in our industry is that estimating ends when the proposal is delivered or the contract is signed. It’s an understandable way to think because that's often how roofing companies are organized. Estimators bid work. Sales closes the opportunity, and then operations takes over. Everyone moves on to the next task. 

The problem is that roofing projects don't operate in departments. 

They operate as a continuous process, and the estimate is the foundation that everything else is built upon. When that foundation stops being part of the conversation after the job is awarded, companies begin losing something far more valuable than information. They lose alignment. 

I've often said that estimating is the first phase of project management. Over the years, I've become convinced it's even more than that. Estimating is the first operational decision the company makes about how a project will be built. Every assumption, every production rate, every material quantity, every labor hour and every note in that estimate tells a story about how someone believes the work will unfold. If those assumptions never make it beyond the estimating department, the field is forced to write its own story. 

That's where projects begin to drift. 

I've walked enough roofing projects over the past four decades to know that very few jobs go off track because of one catastrophic mistake. More often, they slowly move away from the original plan because information wasn't transferred, assumptions weren't challenged or conditions changed without anyone stopping to ask what those changes meant to the estimate. By the time accounting discovers a margin problem, the operational decisions that created it happened weeks earlier. 

The estimate should never be viewed as a pricing document alone. It should become the roadmap for the project team. It should explain not only what was sold, but how the estimator expected the work to be performed. That means identifying areas where production may slow, where access creates challenges, where sequencing matters or where coordination with other trades could affect labor. Those aren't simply estimating details. They're operational realities that the project manager and foreman need to understand before the first truck arrives on site. 

One area where I consistently see contractors struggle is the project handoff. Too often it becomes little more than transferring paperwork from one department to another. The estimate may be complete, but the conversation is missing. The estimator knows why labor was adjusted on one elevation, why an allowance was carried for questionable deck conditions or why certain details deserved extra attention. Unfortunately, much of that knowledge stays with the person who built the estimate. 

The project manager receives the documents. The foreman receives the work. Neither receives the thinking behind the estimate. That distinction is where profitable projects often separate themselves from disappointing ones. 

The best roofing companies I've worked with treat the handoff as an operational meeting rather than an administrative one. The discussion centers on risk, production strategy, sequencing and expectations. Estimators explain where they believe the project could become difficult. Operations shares field considerations that may require adjustments. Everyone leaves with the same understanding of what success should look like before work begins. 

Those conversations are rarely long, but they are incredibly valuable. 

Another mistake contractors make is assuming that once the estimate is complete, there is nothing left to learn from it. I believe the opposite is true. The estimate should continue to evolve throughout the life of the project. As production begins, actual labor performance should be compared to the original assumptions. Material usage should be reviewed. Unforeseen conditions should be documented. Every significant deviation becomes information that strengthens future estimates. 

Without that feedback loop, estimating becomes isolated from reality. 

Think about how many times contractors say, "Labor keeps getting harder to predict." 

The question I usually ask is, "What did your last twenty projects teach your estimating department?" 

Sometimes the answer is silence. Not because the information doesn't exist. Because no one ever captured it. 

Estimating improves when operations teaches it. Operations improves when estimating listens. The two departments shouldn't operate independently. They should function as partners pursuing the same objective: building profitable projects. 

Technology has made estimating faster than ever before. Artificial intelligence can assist with takeoffs. Digital platforms organize drawings in seconds. Software identifies quantities with impressive speed. These are meaningful advancements, and contractors should embrace tools that improve efficiency. But technology still can't explain why production slowed on the west elevation after lunchtime because the staging area became congested. It can't tell you why one foreman consistently exceeds estimated production while another struggles under similar conditions. It can't recognize the subtle operational lessons that experienced people identify after completing hundreds of projects. 

That knowledge only comes from connecting estimating with execution. 

One lesson I've learned after spending a lifetime in this industry is that estimators should occasionally leave the office. Walk active jobs. Attend project reviews. Listen to foremen explain what helped production and what slowed them down. Watch how crews actually install the systems you estimate every day. Those experiences change the way estimates are built because they replace assumptions with understanding. 

The same principle applies in reverse. Project managers and field leaders should understand how estimates are developed. When they appreciate the reasoning behind production assumptions and labor calculations, they become far more effective at protecting the margins established by the estimate. 

The strongest roofing companies I've known don't treat estimating, operations and project management as separate functions. They see them as different chapters of the same story. Each depends on the one before it, and each influences the one that follows. 

When that mindset becomes part of a company's culture, something interesting happens. The estimate stops being viewed as a bid that won the work and starts becoming the operational blueprint that guides it. Decisions become more consistent. Communication improves. Production aligns more closely with expectations. And perhaps most importantly, the next estimate benefits from everything the last project taught the company. 

That's how estimating becomes more than a department. It becomes a continuous process of learning, refining and improving. 

The proposal may be submitted. The contract may be signed. But the estimate should never be finished until the final project review is complete and its lessons have been carried forward to the next opportunity. 

Because the best estimators don't just win projects. They help build better roofing companies.