INTRODUCTION

Five Things to Remember in Creating a Fireplace Construction Quote Making constructions quotations can help grow your business and show clients what needs be done. Accuracy is crucial in construction quotations to ensure you reach your target without unnecessary costs. Underquoting could land you a sale but result in losses. A good construction quote involves consideration and time. This includes an accurate estimation of cost, labor, materials, and expenses. Understanding what's involved is necessary for the quotation to result in a win-win situation for your business and the client. This also includes understanding safety and function in fireplace construction quotes.

Here are five important things to remember when making fireplace quotes:

1. Don't Rush Your Quotes

Preparing a competitive fireplace construction quote or work order takes time. Throwing accuracy out the window by rushing to put a quote together will lead to painful mistakes.

You need adequate time to measure the fireplace or understand the building blueprint if it's a new building development. Sometimes you also need to factor third-party labor or vendors who supply the necessary materials.

Don't fall into the trap of thinking if you've done similar work in the past you can put a quote together. You need to do your due diligence. Accurate construction quotes take time, and we all know "time is money[1]".

So how do we make quotes quickly with proper due diligence? A quoting software is a key solution to speeding up the process and generation of your quotation. Here at Plexus, we speed up your quoting process by doing most of the leg work behind the scenes. This is so you can confidently make an accurate quote in minutes, placing your fireplace construction knowledge into the software.

2. Don't Forget to Collect all Site Information

It is important to have a good understanding of existing site conditions. This includes the length of the furnace vent, length of the flue, or if it needs a vertical or horizontal firestop. Incomplete information can create problems during construction which could spell additional costs and construction delays. In creating the quotation, it is necessary to know unique site conditions, such as limited accessibility or hindrance in the exhaust chase. Not factoring these unique situations could result in additional labor and material cost and possible losses from the contractor.

Visit the site as often as necessary to collect all needed data and disseminate information to everybody that's involved. If such unique conditions exist, factor them into your construction quote at an early stage and protect your profit margins.

In cases wherein you don't have the manpower or field knowledge to properly diagnose the site information, it would be important to have a list of diagnostic questions that will determine unique site conditions. Better yet, have professional access the site for you.

A quoting software can help you acquire the necessary information in unique site conditions. Diagnostic questions when answered can automatically check what needed or missing. Hence, will help you determine if there's any additional materials needed and the required period to finish the job. Doing a thorough walk around the site gives you security in knowing exactly what you will be dealing with.

3. Double Check That it all Adds Up

It is good practice to ensure you have the pertinent information when preparing a construction quote. This means fully reviewing the blueprints and specifications to determine the quotation has the necessary requirements. It is important to clarify any uncertainty is important before finalizing your quotation.

Math errors can have a devastating impact on your quote. Knowing your material and labor cost is key. Math errors in quotations can lead to losses, deficits, and construction delays. Good quoting software can factor intelligent pricing. This considers variables like customer contract, service type, service area, job scope, and vendor. This also ensures price accuracy and consistency and reduces pricing errors, protecting your company from losses.

If you are using quoting software and there are errors, it is typically attributed to inputting data incorrectly. Therefore, due diligence or having someone double check your work can prevent costly mistakes.

4. Consider your Labor Costs

Accurate estimates of labor costs can be a difficult and tricky aspect of preparing a construction quote. The labor market can offer a range of prices. Therefore, it is necessary to factor in hourly wages and estimate number of man-hours it takes to complete the job. You might consider looking at your employee's experience and productivity levels. On top of that, you should also factor their loaded wages[2] to cover your cost to employ your workers.

More experienced workers may be able to complete tasks quickly. This would reduce the number of man-hours needed but you will have to pay a higher rate for their services. Workers with less experience require more man-hours to complete a job but you can pay those workers a lower wage.

A quoting software can help assess and estimate job costs by factoring your employee loaded wages, expense reports, vendor bills, and ancillary costs. You can compare it with the original estimated cost, giving you a better gauge of your job's true actual margin.

5. Document All the Materials Required

The cost of fireplace units from distributors and suppliers can change periodically. If you are able to purchase these units in bulk when the cost is low would be ideal. This may require you to manage inventory, acquire storage space, and logistics which may cost more in the long-run.

When a client accepts the construction quotation, consider everything written there as permanent figures and is unlikely to be altered. Hence, you can perform a vendor purchase order as prescribed by your quotation. If special materials are required, don't assume it is comparable to a similar item. Your best bet is to call around to local suppliers or refer to your supplier catalog for accurate costing.

When putting a construction quote together, you need to make sure you have the necessary equipment and materials needed to perform the job. This may mean you might end up acquiring additional expenses for renting or purchasing additional materials. If this is the case, communicating with your client and creating terms and conditions is important for overall job costing[3].

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