Construction Magazine November 2014 | Page 25

THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT ESTIMATION PITFALLS
calculations , but that ’ s about as far as it goes - estimating construction projects requires a level of detail and complexity which can only be provided by more sophisticated tools . In recent years , many firms have adopted complex spreadsheet processes to help crunch the numbers . These are very useful tools for many tasks and can automate key calculations to easily test different scenarios .
But such flexibility can also provide dangers , which mean they are far from perfect . Optimistically manipulating a figure in one column to bring a single cost item down can easily lead to consequences elsewhere in the document and by the time all the calculations have been completed , the effect has been massively multiplied . It ’ s only when you have won the contract and are about to start work that you might realise that what you thought was one minor change means your figures are way off the mark .
Eque2 ’ s specialist estimate software