What is included in an electrical estimate?
Short answer
A complete electrical estimate includes a quantity takeoff of every system in the tender documents, material pricing, labour hours, quotes for major equipment and the job costs needed to do the work, rolled up into a summary by system. A good one also lists its exclusions and the RFIs raised, and shows every counted item on marked-up drawings.
The parts of an electrical estimate
| Part | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Scope review | Reading the drawings of every discipline, the specification and addenda to find what is in the electrical scope |
| Quantity takeoff | Every fixture, device and piece of equipment counted; every conduit, cable and feeder measured, by system |
| Material pricing | Standard material from a pricing database; major equipment carried as supplier quotes |
| Labour | Hours from labour units, adjusted for heights, access, phasing and site conditions |
| Equipment quotes | Switchgear, lighting packages, fire alarm, generators and other items suppliers must price |
| Subcontracts | Work usually priced by others, such as fire alarm verification, coring or trenching |
| Job costs | Supervision, lifts and equipment rental, temporary power, permits and inspection fees, cleanup, as-built drawings |
| Summary | Material, labour and direct cost for each system, with totals |
| Exclusions and clarifications | What the price is based on and what it leaves out |
| RFIs | Discrepancies and missing information to raise with the consultant |
What the estimator delivers and what you add
An outside estimator delivers the direct cost of the work: material, labour hours and the job costs the documents require. Your overhead, profit, labour rate and final bid strategy stay with you. That is deliberate: you know your crews, your suppliers and how badly you want the job.
Takeoff or estimate?
A takeoff is the quantities only: counts and lengths by system, usually with marked-up drawings. An estimate takes those quantities and prices them for material and labour. Contractors with their own pricing database often buy the takeoff; everyone else buys the estimate.
Red flags in an electrical estimate
- One total with no breakdown by system.
- No labour hours shown, only dollars.
- No marked-up drawings, so you cannot check what was counted.
- No exclusions, which usually means nobody decided what was left out.
- No RFIs on a set of documents that obviously has gaps.
What our estimates include
Every Admiral Electrical estimate is built in Accubid Pro and includes the summary and detail by system (PDF and Excel), colour-coded marked-up drawings, a supplier material list, RFIs, and exclusions ready for your bid letter. See a sample estimate. If the general contractor later questions the number, we can defend it with you.