Stan Shook - Beyond Estimating

2012-01-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

Beyond Blogging about Estimating

Well, in-case you haven't already figured it out yet, I've ended my run as a "self-proclaimed" expert on estimating. I am now, officially, just another working estimator. Well, I'm more than that, clearly. But I will no longer be writing about it.

You see, after 50+ hours a week of estimating, the last thing I want to do is spend time thinking and writing about estimating. And, since I no longer make any money helping other people learn about estimating (not like I ever really made much money doing that)... there's no good motivation for me to spend my precious "off" time doing it.

So, to my 3 official followers (one of whom is my wife), I say a very serious and heart-felt "THANK YOU. To all the rest, I say, hang in-there, best of luck, try not to let the deadlines kill you and never forget.... IT'S ONLY AN ESTIMATE.

All the best in life and estimating to you all.
Stan

ps - this site will be taken down in the very near future.

What's Stan been up to for the past 2 months?

2011-06-19T10:42:00.000-07:00

Well, let me tell you...
Back in April I was approached by Rosendin Electric of San Jose and offered an excellent career opportunity, one which I simply couldn't pass up, nor did I want to. So, after 15+ years of goin' it on my own as an independent estimator and self-proclaimed estimating guru, I've jumped back into the mainstream and joined the ranks of the #1 electrical contractor in the industry (not just my opinion, but a substantiated fact).

As of May 2nd, 2011, I am officially and FULL-TIME one of Rosendin Electric's Senior Estimators. It's a position which I am very proud and excited to have. It's been over 6 weeks now since I started and I've been working my tail off. I've already estimated several very large and amazing projects.

It's an entirely different mode of work for me, as in the past I primarily focused only on the "take-off" portion of the estimating process (which is no small portion, let me tell you)... but now I'm responsible for putting the entire estimate together: organizing vendors, subs, talking with the GC's, the clients, reporting to the Business Development managers, purchasing department and, of course, I now have a boss, which is oddly refreshing to me after years of only having 'clients' (who are like bosses except they can hold your payment for 90 days).
Although this has been a major change in my career and life, I can't express how happy I am to have this great opportunity to build a great future with an amazing company.

I'm not sure if I will continue to write on this blog or not, I haven't decided yet. Blogging takes a time and as you can tell, I've been very sparse in my postings. This is mainly because I'm so damn busy all the time estimating. So you can understand that the the last thing I want to do when I get any spare time is blog about estimating. Before, it was part of doing business, promoting myself and helping my clients (and colleagues). Well, now it's about me, my career and making sure I can be everything I can for the company who has put so much faith in me to help them achieve success.

As for my work with Electrical Contractor Magazine, that will continue... that is, as long as my editor, Andrea Klee, can continue to put up with my super-late submissions. But perhaps that too will get better as I won't be caught up so much with trying to land new clients, collect unpaid invoices and working 24/7 trying to keep ahead of everything - which is what you end up doing when you run your own show. Those days are behind me now, I've had my fun and felt the glory of success as a business owner. I've also felt the pain too, but that's all behind me.
To all my readers, clients, fans and supporters... I thank you for all the years you stuck around and waited for these crazy postings. Perhaps there will be more, perhaps there won't?

Best of luck out there with your estimating!
Stan

Paperless Estimating: Are you still experiencing paper-cuts?

2011-03-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've written a series of 3 articles on "Paperless Estimating" for Electrical Contractor Magazine. They are currently published in the January, February and March issues (just coming out this week). If you missed the first 2, you can find them on-line at http://www.ecmag.com/authors/?fa=view&id=27

'Going off the Paper' - January 2011
'The Monitor Factor' - February 2011
'The Learning Curve' - March 2011 (not the official title, they always change my submitted titles ;-)

I'm currently working 98.99% paperless. The remaining 1.01% is due to the need to print out certain documents which are too messed up or incompatible to use with Adobe Acrobat Pro or On Center's On-Screen Take-Off. Also, I still have a client or 2 who only ships me paper drawings which are not suited for scanning into digital format. I am currently working on re-training these clients.

If you have any questions or need any help with going 100% paperless, just let me know. I am available for training and consultation.
--
Stan

A Rant on a 'Square Footage Costs' Book and Using Square Footage Pricing

2011-03-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

This is one of my recent rants I posted in my LinkedIn group (which you should join!). I am re posting it here in-case some of you don't use LinkedIn. Also, I needed to post something ;-)

It began as a critique and commentary on ENR's newest "Square Foot Costbook - 2011 Edition" which they have been marketing madly to the construction industry for @$59.00. I'm not saying you should buy or not buy this book, but I certainly have some serious issues with how (I think) it was put together and the lack of detailed information. But hey, what should we expect to get for $59.00 ?

I've never been a fan of using square footage values as anything more than a simple "check-point" basis. I would never recommend bidding a job using square footage pricing, though I know some do and I'm sure some are successful doing it. That's the nature of bidding - some are just lucky.

But any square footage information provided (or used) by anyone should be thoroughly supported with specific details of design, building structure, site layout (is the site included in the price? We don't know, we weren't told!)... and, most importantly - specification criteria (i.e. was MC Cable allowed or is it an ALL EMT project?)

ENR has failed dramatically to provide this type of detail for any of their square footage costs. Additionally, we are not told what Labor Rate $ value was used. The only thing we are told is "these costs represent national averages"... then you are given a "Metro Area Multipliers" section to apply some added cost variable for whatever region you are working in. We are told, "The factors are formulated by comparing costs in a specific area to the costs presented in this Costbook." ... "Whenever local current costs are known... they should be used when more accuracy is required." Why thank you, I think I will use more accurate information.

Further examples of my frustration are the School Project "examples" they provided.
The 1st is described as a "1-Story Elementary School" of 41,202 sq.ft. The "Electrical" square footage cost is listed at $39.91... with (I guess) the adder of the "Communications" at $12.28 ... which together total $52.19

Turn the page and you get a "2-Story Elementary School" of 66,000 sq. ft. It has an "Electrical" square footage cost listed at $34.50 ... but there is no "Communications". So I guess one should assume there were no communications or that perhaps the communications is part of the $34.50 Electrical ? Still, that's a pretty big leap from the above $52.19 sq.ft cost basis.

But wait, there's more... the next is a "1-Story Middle School" of 64,000 sq.ft ... pretty close to the last one. Okay, here's something to compare to now. But the "Electrical" sq.ft cost is listed at $21.00. Is this a typo? Is the site work included? (we don't know) Were the children given light fixtures? (we must assume not).

And it continues to get worse... there's a 141,720 sq.ft 2-Story Middle School @$8.14 ... but they also have an "Electrical Power" category listed @$0.38 (yes, 38 cents) ... maybe that's the generator? The next is a 1-Story High School @$13.14 sq.ft. , a 2-Story HS @$20.64 and a 3-Story HS @$30.46.

I guess I'm actually happy with this book as it does seem to prove my theory that using square footage cost values is a real gamble and not something which should be done using a book that provides extremely vague information and details.

I would gladly welcome a dialog (or a debate) with anyone who was involved in this book. Of course, I can only speak of the Electrical divisions. I have no idea as to the accuracy or inaccuracy of the many other divisions, though at a glance it appears the discrepancies are very similar... which perhaps makes the book consistent.

Now, I'm not going to ask for my money back (though I sort of feel I should). I'm going to keep this book on my shelf along with my other references to things which really should be confirmed by a solid, accurate estimate using real-time data and costs.

Look for more details (and ranting) on using Square Footage Costs in the upcoming April issue of Electrical Contractor Magazine. If you don't receive the magazine, you should order a subscription ASAP. You can also visit their website to read past issues. http://www.ecmag.com/
--
Stan

Treading the Muddy Waters of a Water Treatment Project

2011-03-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

As you can tell by the date of my previous post, I've once again gone down the rabbit hole deep into another take-off. This time it's a waste water treatment facility (WWTF). Let me just say this, I'm not a huge fan of estimating WWTF's. But here's a few tips on estimating WWTF:

Absolutely avoid interruptions like the plague.
Study ALL the drawings and specs thoroughly before you start counting things. You need to have a complete image in your head of every building and every area prior to roll-off. This is not commercial building work. This is industrial. You must be highly aware of the elevations and structural elements of all buildings, platforms, wet wells and any other structure you are mounting conduit to.
KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT CLASSIFICATION ZONES! Many areas of a WWTF are Class 1, Div. 2 or higher areas. You must be very clear on exactly where these areas are as if you don't, you could be looking at a 60 amp disconnect thinking it is a NEMA 4x but it is actually an explosion proof unit - which carries just a bit more money and labor... like a $1,000+ more... each. And let's not forget the 1" explosion proof flex whip which is about x20 the price of a seal-tight flex whip. Be careful.
Can you say "stainless steel anchors" and "stainless steel strut"? Well, if you can, then you can probably read it too. So don't miss this specification requirement either. Your boss won't be very happy with you.
Don't forget the Unions, LB's, T's, C's, hub junction boxes, Meyers hubs, grounding bushings, grounding locknuts and all the other nuts & bolts. Are they stainless steel? PVC coated? You better know when and where.

Well, that's enough for now. The clock tells me it's time to hit my conduit schedule and get some take-off done.
Stan

Tip of the Week: Have you prepared your Bid Day To-Do List?

2011-02-22T11:32:00.000-08:00

Do you have an upcoming "Bid Day"? Is it this week? Next week? Today?
How prepared are you for it? Assuming you have your estimate fully under control and all all your take-off is being completed on-schedule (do you have a schedule for your take-off?), you should now be making plans for the BIG DAY. Because really, there's no point in putting in all the time, effort, OT, stress and work of putting together a complete estimate if you are just going to blow it all by not being prepared on Bid Day.

I highly recommend that you begin creating a "Bid Day To-Do List". This list should be laid out in a timed schedule, starting no later than 7:00 a.m. (this is based on a 2:00 p.m. bid) and it should include every possible task you can think of... even (and especially) including your coffee and bathroom breaks. SERIOUSLY! On Bid Day, every minute is precious, especially as the clock nears the final hour.

The list should include tasks such as these:

Back-Up ALL estimate files
Check for any last day addenda
Complete any last take-off entries (you should have been done yesterday)
Create Master "Base Bid All" extension
Review extension, make corrections
Create FINAL extensions by Bid Items (list how many you have)
Review all FINAL extensions, confirm accuracy
Begin setting-up Bid Summary sheets.
Fax final scope letters to GC's with "Price to Follow"
Follow-up with GC's to make sure scope letter is good for their bid.
Review all Vendor Quotes / BOMs
Call vendors with issues/questions
Coordinate final materials pricing with Purchasing
Back-Up ALL estimate files again
Eat something / take a 15-minute break / do some stretches
Meet with boss to discuss final price strategy
Finalize Bid Summaries
Confirm all entered Vendor and Subs Quotations

Your list can end up being very long and contain a lot of tasks. But this is why it is so important to make one. If each of the 18 items I listed above required an average of 15 minutes, this current list would require at least 4-1/2 hours to complete - and that's only if I was able to accomplish each one without interruption. Imagine if your To-Do list had twice the amount of tasks?

Without a well organized, deeply thought out To-Do list, you can easily get lost and forget to do something extremely important. This omission could easily be something that will lose your company a lot of money (and maybe even cost you your job).

If you are a Senior or Chief Estimator managing other estimators, purchasing agents, admins, etc. on the same project, then your To-Do list should include everyone's To-Do assignments. There should also be a 'Master' To-Do list distributed to everyone on the bidding team so everyone is aware of who is supposed to do what and when.

Here's the thing... once you create the 1st To-Do list, it will likely be applicable to all your bids. And with each bid this list should be refined, added to, made better - so you can be a better, more efficient estimator.

Happy bidding!

Tip of the Day: Back-up often and off your computer

2011-02-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a tip: Always back-up your active take-offs/estimate files to either a server, a remote hard-drive or remote online backup, or simply to a USB flash drive - anyplace but on your computer's hard-drive. You never know when a computer will go down or a hard-drive will stop working.

If this were to happen on or before the day of a bid, you could easily lose your ability to bid the job accurately and thereby will lose all your time spent on the project. Of course, this costs your company money. More importantly, you will also lose the opportunity to win the contract. Of course, you could always frantically try to put the estimate together in a hurry and still might win the bid... but you could also make a huge omission and be way too low. Once again, you could lose your company a serious amount of money.

If you or your company do not currently have a solid back-up system or plan, I highly recommend creating one. But more critical is that you stick to it and stay consistent.

I would like to hear what you want to learn about.

2011-01-19T09:22:00.000-08:00

I'm looking for ideas on things to write about this year. I need topics. If you have any ideas or want me to write about any areas of estimating (or even life in-general)... let me know.

Also, don't forget about my 'Beyond Estimating Academy' - expanding your estimating education is always a smart business and career move.
http://stanshook.blogspot.com/p/now-accepting-students.html

I look forward to hearing from you and, hopefully, writing about the things you want to learn about.
Stan

In loving memory of my father, Michael...

2011-01-03T14:02:00.000-08:00

This Christmas was a tough one for me as I had to say goodbye to my father, Mike Shook. I'm having a tough time writing something about him because I want it to be both eloquent and worthy of his memory, write a fitting tribute to who he was a man, as my father.

I'd be lying if I said he was perfect, I don't believe any of us are, nor can we be. We are only human and have been designed with flaws. When I was young, I didn't fully understand all the things my father was, what he was going through, how hard he worked and the demons he fought with. As I am now 46, with each passing day and each difficult moment, I learn a little bit more about my father and who he was. I am also learning about who I am.

My dad was a complex man. He had many sides to him, some were pretty rough, but most of them were very soft and kind. He devoted his life to providing for his family, raising his 5 kids and saving other people's lives. He also gave me everything I possibly needed and more. I was a very fortunate kid and even as a young adult, my dad bailed me out of missing rent and a car payment more than once or twice.

My dad and I didn't share too many similar interests or hobbies, though the ones we did are the certainly the best - Surfing, Fishing, Boating and being outdoors. My dad was an incredible swimmer and glided through the water like a dolphin. He was an amazing body surfer and taught me everything I needed to know about not drowning - a pretty important thing to teach your kid who at 7 years of age wanted to boogie board the 10 footers at Huntington Beach.

Mike is the really handsome guy on the right...

Then there was music. This was one area where my dad and I connected pretty good, even though we didn't necessarily share the same tastes. My dad was more of a Sinatra guy (not a bad thing to be), whereas I was more into Led Zeppelin and Queen. But his tastes in music ran deep and he knew who the best were. The music played in our house every night shuffled through Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Burt Bacharach, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Miles Davis, Lena Horne, Doris Day, Bobby Darin, James Taylor, Willie Nelson, Niel Diamond, Carol King, The Platters (one of his all-time favorites), The 5th Dimension, Roberta Flack, Dionna Warwick, Stevie Wonder and Al Greene... and, of course, Frank. I will say though, I think he privately felt Tony Bennett was the best of them all.

My father was not a musician as I am. But his love and appreciation for music had a huge influence on me and shaped so much of my musical life. Beyond all the things he didn't approve of me doing, he never once stopped me from playing music - not even my rock-n-roll. When I was 16, he took me to Guitar Center and bought me my 1st electric guitar... oh, and a really loud 100w amp.

My dad was a really sharp, smart guy. He wasn't hyper like me, in fact, he was the opposite of hyper. Seeing he and I together trying to do something was a real tragic comedy. He telling me to have patience and me saying, "I'm done. Can I go surfing now?". He was a master at card games and you could rarely win a hand against him. Same with chess and backgammon, the dice always rolling in his favor. He loved Las Vegas and Blackjack was his game. I'm told he did alright in that arena - maybe that's where the money the Les Paul came from?

Like most fathers, he also offered me a lot of good advice. Of course, being the young rebel I've always been, I didn't act on much of it, at least not at first. It seemed to take me 30+ years to figure out what he was saying to me and why.

Our relationship was very much like the one described so poetically in Cat Stevens' song 'Father and Son', the one where the father is saying to his son...

"It's not time, to make a change, just relax, take it easy.
You're still young, that's your fault, there's so much you have to go through."

The father then goes on to explain...
"I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy.
To be calm, when you've found something going on.
But take your time, think a lot, why, think of everything you've got
for you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not"

The son's reaction is typical to how all sons react to their fathers. A question born from immaturity, inexperience, the child desperately trying to convince his father he knows everything he needs to know. The frustrated cry of "why doesn't he listen to me?"

"How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again.
It's always been the same, same old story."

A great shot of Dad and me in Las Vegas, on his 75th birthday. I think we were discussing the proper way to stand with your hands in your pockets, something he did very well.

If I have any one regret it's that I was never really much of a friend to my dad. This was something that was just not meant to be, something programmed into our very differing personalities, something I just couldn't try hard enough to be. But he didn't care, he loved me unconditionally - this I know. I was his son, he was my dad. I couldn't have made it this far in life without him and I will carry him with me throughout the rest of my life's journey.
Goodbye dad. I love you.

Here is the obituary written by my brother, Stuart...

Michael E. Shook, 76, died December 26, 2010, at his home in Murrieta, CA, of lung cancer. Michael (Mike) was born in Long Beach, CA on September 4, 1934, to his mother Ruby Benson who later married Earl Shook who adopted Mike as his son. Mike attended Long Beach City College where he played football. After college he was a Long Beach City lifeguard and later joined the Los Angeles County Fire Department. In his distinguished 33-year career, he would quickly attain the rank of Engineer and become one of the youngest Fire Captains in the department. Mike's service in the Fire Department was a great source of pride for him and his family. In college, Mike met his wife Jo Ann Downing and the two married in 1955 and had five children: Jeanie Rene, Michael Scott, Steven Earl, Stuart Curtis and Stanley Frederic. They raised their children in Diamond Bar, CA and Carlsbad, CA. His wife Jo Ann passed away in 1999 from cancer at the age of 64. He is survived by his five children, six grandchildren and loving friend Gay. Mike liked to fish, play golf, and watch sports on TV. A lover of music, he enjoyed Sinatra, Ella and Tony Bennett. He took trips to Las Vegas and often shared stories of the early "Rat Pack" days. While he had a tough exterior he was a softie when it came to animals and was a long time supporter of the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. He loved the beach and enjoyed watching the pelicans flying low over the ocean. He is survived by his canine companion of 16-years, Kayla. The family is planning memorial services. Ashes will be laid to rest at Westminster Memorial Park, in Westminster, CA. The family wishes to thank the staffs of Scripps Hospital and Vitas Hospice for their tireless loving service.

So you want to be an Independent Estimator?

2010-12-17T08:06:00.000-08:00

So you want to be an independent estimator; so you can work from home, make your own schedule, work when you want to work. Because you think that would be cool and you are tired of having the very old-fashion, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. work schedule, otherwise known as “the daily grind” or “the treadmill” or “living death”.

Okay, I understand. I was once like you. I hated commuting, hated my bosses; how they would stroll in at 10:30 after playing a round of golf with their other boss buddies. I hated having to be all nicey-nice with all the office people 1st thing in the morning, especially as I watched them all casually stroll in 20 minutes late and then listened to them all waste another 20 minutes talking to each other, rambling on about their lives, their kids, how crazy the game was last night. Trust me, I get it.

I too hated having to wake up every morning at 5:30 a.m. to an alarm clock screaming at me, my body telling me each time “you know, we’d feel a lot better if we could just sleep-in a couple more hours”. So many times I cursed myself for having fun and staying up past 11 to watch a movie. And there were all those nights where we went out with friends or to a concert, not getting home until 2 a.m. and as I set the alarm clock for 6:15 (because I figured I could come in just a little late and that would be okay), I would say to myself, “F*&k! I’ve got to get up in less than 4 hours.” Trust me, I get it.

I will give you a bit of advice here, something I KNOW to be true from years and years of experience, not just for myself as an independent contractor, but also from the many, many times I worked with "sub-contractors" on projects. Sub-contractors who swore to me they were committed and really wanted to “make this work”. These were the ones who always told me that they “love the concept of being able to work from home because they could work when they wanted to work and do things during the day they couldn’t because of their job." (Meaning, I guess, that as a ‘sub-contractor’, they don’t have a “job” and they are not in an office from 8-5pm Mon-Fri).

So here are some things to think about:
• Your weekends are no longer days off, but they really should be. Psychologically, most people can't work well on the weekends because all their friends and families are off and there are usually special things happening (parties, etc.). Friends and family will not understand your need to work and will tempt you into doing things.
• There will be distractions. Friends, girlfriends, family will call you on the phone and want to talk. These distractions will cause you to spend more time working, but yet not actually getting much work done.
• Friends will be calling you to go to the beach, play golf, hiking, aikido - whatever it is you do with your friends.
• (for the men) - Girlfriends and wives (maybe both?) will demand time with you. They will want to have dinner, lunch, sex (really?), watch a movie and cuddle. They will tell you "you shouldn't work so hard for that guy"... because when it comes down to it, it's not their job or their money. Women want what they want, need what they need. Your needs are not important, so that's it - don’t try to argue with them.
• (for the women) – none of this applies to you as women do not have any problems running their lives, organizing their schedules, multi-tasking and being successful. Women have far more control of their profession and private lives than Hollywood tries to make us think.
• You have school and school work to do.
• You have other responsibilities to handle: laundry, errands, shopping, appointments, etc. - make sure you plan for these as they always take more time than you think.
• A 1-hour lunch "downtown" is always a 2-hour break.
• The internet is NOT your friend. It will cause you to lose time.
• Facebook is NOT work related. It will cause you to lose time.
• If you think something will take you 6 hours, add 2 more to that and 2 more to your work-day. Guess what? That's 10 hours!
• Reading long emails and reviewing spreadsheets given to you by your client uses up valuable time.
• Reading long articles by Stan Shook uses up valuable time (oh, but you learn so much, right?)

Let me put it another way, apply it to something very realistic, something which you might relate to better. You probably like playing golf, right? Most guys do. (I actually can’t stand it and have once and for all given the game up completely. Plus, my hip doesn’t do well with it.) So let me take you into the future, to a time when you are officially an “independent estimator” and you have complete, 100% control of your work schedule.

It’s Monday afternoon and your client just gave you a project which is due on Friday morning, no later than 10 a.m. Now, it’s a pretty small project and you estimate it’s going to take you 24 hours. Looking ahead at your highly organized calendar, you say to yourself, “I’m in good shape. I can work on it Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I’ll be done by Thursday afternoon!” (Good for you! Enthusiastic optimism is the key for your survival as an independent estimator. Please note, I didn’t say “success”, I just said “survival”.)

So you continue organizing the project, spending the rest of your Monday afternoon preparing for Tuesday’s work. This is a very good thing and I am proud of your diligence. Monday night the phone rings. It’s your buddy, Joe (or Fred, it doesn’t matter). He’s got a round of golf booked at your favorite course for 8 a.m. tomorrow – “Can you make it?” You pause for a second, think about your schedule, ponder the consequences of losing time on it, what if you get behind, contemplate a few scenarios on how you can fit it all in. Of course, you completely forget about the dinner out your wife has planned on Thursday night and your kids Cub Scout meeting on Wednesday night.

After a deep, well thought-out 10 second pondering, you say to Joe, “Yea, I can work that it. I’ll see you at the clubhouse at 7:30.”

Tuesday morning arrives, just like they said it would, except this morning starts with your alarm clock going off at 5:00 a.m. You decided to get up early so you could do a bit of work before the kids wake up and you have to help the wife fix them breakfast and get them ready for school (you do do that stuff, right?). You shower, shave, get your golf clothes on (I hate golf fashion), hit the coffee machine and head to the office.

Last night you were smart, cleaning up your golf clubs, doing an inventory of your bag, making sure you had your, shoes, enough balls, tees, a snack, water and, most important - your lucky divot repair tool. You then loaded it all up in the car so you wouldn’t forget a thing in the morning, which you knew would be busy. You are a very smart, well-organized independent estimator. I’m so proud of you. (Stan sniffles and wipes a tear of joy from his eye… his only good one left, the other lost many years ago to estimating)

It’s now 6:00 a.m. and you are sitting at your desk, a fresh, hot cup of Joe in your hand (not Joe your golf buddy). Your computer finally boots up and the 1st thing you do is open up a browser so you can check the daily news. Maybe it’s Yahoo or The Daily Beast, perhaps MSNBC.com? You check the news, read some funnies, watch a silly video of some guy who figured out how to drive a motorcycle into a wall and not get hurt (You gotta see this!). Or maybe you are so pumped up on golf that you decided to watch a few videos on swing techniques and ‘chipping it in from the edge’. Then you check Facebook and post, “going for an early morning golf with Joe… it’s great to be self-employed!”

Suddenly (and I mean suddenly), its 6:35! A bit of panic hits you and causes you to spill a bit of coffee on your golf shirt. “Damn it!” you scream. So you go and change your golf shirt and while you’re in the bedroom, your wife wakes up and says, “Are the kids up yet?” SHIT! The kids! You forgot about the kids. You answer, “No, but I’ll go wake them. Honey, remember, I’m playing golf with Joe this morning, so I’m leaving at 7:30.” She says, “Mmmm hmmm…” and goes back into a quick snooze, not really caring about your little golf game with Joe.

Its 6:45 and you head in to wake the kids. I don’t have kids so I really don’t know what the next 20 minutes are like, but I do know instinctively they are part of the reason I don’t have kids.

We are now at 7:05 and you are just finishing getting all their cereal and juice poured. The wife has just entered the room looking for some Joe (no, not your buddy), which you so cleverly have prepared for her in her favorite cup. She sits down with it and asks, “What time you leaving?”… for which you answer, “I gotta go now. I’m gonna be late!”

Now, I won’t be Mr. Negative here, because I know you’ve worked very hard to make everything work out just perfectly. After all, you are in total control of your schedule and there’s nothing which will keep you from achieving Friday’s due date.

So off you go! You kiss the wife goodbye, pour another cup of Joe into your travel mug and you are going to play golf. And it’s Tuesday! How freakin’ cool is this?
Everything goes great on the course; you shoot a 97 and beat Joe by 6 strokes. What a day! As you arrive home, you notice it’s only 1:00 and you say, “Okay, time for a quick shower, a bite to eat and I’m at my desk no later than 2:00.” And it’s at 2:00 when the ramifications of your decision to play golf kick-in.

It’s Tuesday, 1 of the 3 days you needed to complete this project. And by saying “days”… I mean 8 hour days. As it is now 2:00, you need to put in at least 8 hours of work (remember work? It’s that thing you do to make money). IF, and I mean IF, you can actually get in 8 hours of work today, you won’t be done until 10:00 tonight. But that would be if those 8 hours were completely uninterrupted - which of course, they will not be.

At 4:00 the kids have come home from school. Combined with a little time the wife needs to catch-up, talk about what the kids did and to see what your plans for dinner are… you lose at least a ½ hour, likely an hour. Now you will be working until 11:00. But wait, you also have to stop and have dinner with the family, go to the bathroom a few times, check Facebook and catch-up on a bit of the daily news. You’ve also been interrupted several times by the wife and kids, each time telling them LOUDER, “I can’t be interrupted! I am working!” Lose 1 more hour. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200 (You should have gotten a retainer deposit from your client).

Now you are working deep into the night, getting some work done, finally. However, if you want to achieve your 8 hours, you will be up to at least midnight. Now the biggest problem here is that you are worn out; tired from a very busy and eventful day. Also, YOU’VE BEEN UP SINCE 5 a.m.! This is the worst time for you to be working, trying to focus on estimating a complex electrical project.

So at 11:00 you decide you are cooked and you will make up the time tomorrow. Thing is, you are now behind schedule at least 2 hours behind schedule. Tomorrow you will likely lose another 2 hours, and again on Thursday. It’s how things are. Also, you need to remember the Cub Scout meeting on Wednesday night (gone) and the dinner party on Thursday night (can you cancel? Oh, the wife is gonna be mad).

And it’s by Thursday afternoon that the really real panic sets in along with the realization that you will be “up all night” making sure this project is ready for delivery Friday a.m. Aw, there’s nothing like meeting with a client at 10 a.m. after a full night of work and no sleep at all; your eyes all red and empty, your ability to talk hampered; hands shaking violently from too much coffee (too much Joe?). Don’t worry, your client won’t notice. Nah, they never notice stuff like that. They just notice the mistake you made at 2:30 a.m. and how because of it there must be many more mistakes and your estimate isn’t trustable. They will be looking for a discount (you should have quoted them a higher price).

So hey, don’t take it from me. A guy who for the past 15 years ran his own outsource estimating company, the 1st 5 years as a solo independent, the last 10 coordinating and managing employees and other sub-contractors...and today, once again, a solo independent who is more distracted and distract-able than you can imagine.

You certainly can control your own schedule, you are likely much different than I am. You are more organized, more focused, smarter, more dedicated to success. You will absolutely be the master of your domain, able to control every distraction, every hour of every day, productively making the most of each minute. Your wife won’t interrupt you, nor will your kids when they come home from school each day. Nobody will ever break the silence, knock on the door, run into your office unannounced and unscheduled. Your friends won’t call you to play golf on the weekends… well, eventually they will stop asking as they will grow tired of being told, “Sorry guys, I’m way behind and I have to work this weekend.”
--
Shook

It's been a long, tough year...

2010-12-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

Wow. December 16th. The year is almost gone, over, done and done. I've obviously gotten rusty with this whole blog thing. I lost my inspiration, copped a bit of an attitude, questioned my existence as both an electrical estimator and human being in-general. To my 5 or 6 readers (maybe there are more...I don't mean to exclude you), I truly apologize if I've let you down in any way. It's just been a really tough year for me. Let me explain...

1st off, as you may already know, in the early Spring I decided to once and for all close my outsource estimating company - TakeOff16. This was an extremely difficult decision to make, not from a financial basis (heck, that was pretty darn easy), but from a spiritual basis. You see, the business was my career, my life's work, my "Swan Song"... well, at least at the time it was. Now that I've had several months without it and am seeing my future a bit more clearly, I am starting to realize that I still have something bigger to achieve.

The big question, and still unanswered one, is: Will it involve Electrical Estimating?
For the very near future and likely all through next year... yes, it will. Of this I am very certain as not only must I earn a living, I am an electrical estimator - it's what I do.

What about in 2012 and beyond? Hmmmmm? I just don't know and quite frankly, I'm not thinking that far ahead these days, mainly trying to stay focused on the now, the moment. One thing I learned after running a business for 15 years is - you don't make rash decisions overnight and in the heat of a moment. You need to live and sleep with major decisions for awhile, let them cook, work them out like a really challenging math problem. And at the end of this long, arduous journey, the right (and sometimes wrong) decision will come to you. The true test and toughest challenge is being able to accept this decision no matter the outcome.

Electrical Estimating is what I know better than anything else... that is, except for writing, telling stories, playing music and talking. Those are things I really enjoy doing and hope to be doing more of. Perhaps there's a novel in me? A screenplay? A story about an electrical estimator who does something amazing to save the World? Okay, it won't be that. But maybe there is a great story in me to tell. Maybe I will find time to write some more songs, record an album? I hope so.

I also hope to be speaking out more, teaching and training. This was absolutely my favorite thing to do with estimating. Above all other moments, the times when I was teaching someone about estimating were the most productive and rewarding of all. So perhaps a "lecture series" is in the works (it is) and perhaps that 1st book will be about electrical estimating? (it probably will).

I'm not out of all the turmoil and struggles yet. Closing down a fairly good size "micro business" isn't easy and it doesn't happen overnight. I'm still dealing with a bunch of fallout and paperwork. One thing's for sure, by early Spring of 2011, ALL of it will be behind me and I will be headed towards a brand new horizon. So I look forward to that.

I hope 2010 wasn't too hard on all of you. I do believe 2011 is going to be better and I already see some strong signs of projects returning in the Construction Industry. So get ready! Because when things start booming again, there's going to be some crazy deadlines coming your way. Just remember, take a deep breath, eat healthy foods, try green tea instead of coffee, don't stay up too late on work nights, turn off your Facebook and other internet time-wasters (at work, of course), re-read ALL my columns on www.ECMag.com and check back in on this blog from time to time. I promise to be a better blogger in 2011.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Stan

Stay tuned... I'm almost back

2010-11-16T15:56:00.001-08:00

Hello? Is this thing still on? I'm reminded of a Pink Floyd lyric line, "Is there anybody out there?"... I wonder if there is. Well, stay tuned... I've been away but am planning a comeback. You don't want to miss it....

Are you suffering from 'Estimator Burnout Syndrome' (EBS) ?

2010-07-15T11:08:00.001-07:00

Are menial tasks like counting light fixtures and wall switches boring the hell out of you? Do you find it hard to get motivated to work 4 hours of OT to meet your deadlines? Are all of the projects starting to look the same? Are you making a lot of mistakes? Do you hate PM's and think they are over-paid for what they do? Have you gained more weight than you ever though you would? Does your neck stiffen up every time you see your boss with the Daily Pacific Builder on his desk? Do you think your boss is an idiot? Do you often talk to or scream at your computer? Are you and your computer on a 1st name basis? Are you dating your computer? Do paper cuts make you want to blow something up? Are you tired of writing RFI's about design flaws that Junior Engineers wouldn't even make? Do you hate Architects? Do you want to kill any Architects? Do you consider yourself superior to electrical engineers? Are you mad because you are not an electrical engineer? Do you feel as if you are blamed for all of the company's lost profits? Does the sound of the plotter make you wish you had stayed in college and become a doctor? Do Job Walks bore the hell out of you? Are you starting to use a red pen to check off your wife's shopping list? Have you worked every Saturday for the past 28 weeks? Do you bid jobs in your sleep? Do you count out loud while you have sex? Do you have a clicker next to your bed? Do you just make shit up and enter in as take-off? Do other estimators talking about estimating make you want to vomit? Do you often leave the office an hour before you have to show up again? Do you frequently miss all your favorite TV shows? Did it seem like your kids grew up and moved away during your last project? Do you want to choke the college graduate who just started and asked you if he could go home early...again? Do you wish there was an "I" in team? Are you tired of the word BIM? Do you read Stan Shook's estimating column in Electrical Contractor Magazine...while you are at parties? Do you laugh out loud while holding letter openers? Do you think that Bic's purple highlighter pen is a waste of water? Are you tired of hearing PM's say "I'm going to stop by the jobsite and then go home from there, see you tomorrow!"... at noon? Is your best friend an estimator? Do you often perform a detailed quantity take-off of the items on your desk? Have your "extensions" been a bit limp lately? Do you repeat the same things over and over again? Do you repeat the same things over and over again? Does hearing "you're too high" make you want to take more drugs? I mean, take drugs. Do you frequently drink beer while you are estimating? Do you wish you could drink beer while you estimate? Are you tired of always being 5th out 40 bidders? Is this forum starting to bum you out, even though you find it funny?

If you answered "Yes" or even "No" to any one of these questions, you may be suffering from EBS and should seek help immediately, or take a very long vacation. You may even have a valid workers-comp claim and may want to find an ambulance chasing attorney.

EBS is not a joke. If you know of any estimators suffering from EBS, don't let them bid any work. Do not try to feed them. Do not let them in your office or in any other estimators cubicles. EBS is highly contagious and can spread through an estimating department faster than a pornographic email of a girl holding a Makita drill.

It's not too late. Seek help now! Call 1-800-IHA-VEBS today for a free brochure with tips on how you can overcome this stigma.

This is another conversation I started on my LinkedIn Discussion Group. If you want to chime in, contact me via LinkedIn and ask to become a member.

The Future of Estimators and BIM

2010-06-11T10:58:00.000-07:00

The following is a conversation I started on my LinkedIn Discussion Group. If you want to chime in, contact me via LinkedIn and ask to become a member.

The Electrical Industry has always been faced with the dilemma of the shortage of qualified estimators. The industry has never really put much emphasis on the training of estimators, not like they have electricians or even project managers. Finding a college level course which teaches "electrical construction estimating" is very difficult and I know of only a few colleges which offer such courses.

This issue is now becoming worse as the rise of technologies such as BIM and Virtual Design are becoming required practices, especially on the very large projects such as hospitals and high-rise buildings. The "old dogs" are not necessarily trained to be modelers, nor have they used CAD on a daily basis. However, I must say there are many elders in our industry who were integral in creating these technologies - especially the many estimating software programs we use today. So to dismiss an entire generation from being "BIM capable" would be an error for sure. Here's to those guys!

But there are many who are still using paper spreadsheets and calculators. These are estimators with decades of knowledge and experience which has not always been passed down - at least not in any huge numbers. Myself, I had very little mentoring or training from senior estimators. Almost everything I know about estimating and this industry I had to learn hands-on and from my own powers of observation. There were no classes, no teachers, no books, no You Tube videos.

These 'masters' are soon to be gone, retired, dead. They leave behind a generation who is very computer savvy, but not necessarily CAD savvy and especially not BIM savvy. This generation doesn't have time to learn an entire new craft (or do they? can they afford not to?)... plus, it won't necessarily help them with the many other daily tasks and bids they have to crank out.

So we bring in a new, younger generation of BIM kids. Gamers really, as familiar working in a 3D model as they are navigating the internet or the Monster Energy drink section at the local 7-11. To these punks, BIM is nothing new and is certainly not impressive. They just accept it all as normal.

But these kids are not estimators, nor have they been electricians, installers. How will they really know what it is they are designing? How will they know how to 'design and layout an estimate' or make their model a functional estimating tool?

Will estimators become modelers and modelers become estimators?
Your turn to chime in... more from me later I'm sure ;)

The Day After Tomorrow's Bid

2010-05-19T09:47:00.000-07:00

I know, it sounds like some bad B-rated disaster movie. The opening scene has the camera giving us an estimator's minds eye view of his office as he returns the day after the BIG BID. It pans around an exploded office littered with an overturned chair and a disheveled desk; plans and spec books thrown in heaps on the floor, a Outlook Calendar Reminder beeps and flashes on the monitor, reminding him his work will never be done. A 1/2 full coffee cup cold and sour smelling; he briefly considers it as a possible cure to the headache which still pounds his brain from yesterday's out-of-control insanity.

As he pours the coffee out in the sink, he realizes how unhealthy yesterday was and says to himself, "Next time it won't be like this." But it will be. Bid Day is always like this, has always been like this and for him, it will always be like this.

Does this sound familiar? Hopefully not. But it is a very common, real-life drama which plays out for estimators all over the World. Bad planning, lack of support resources and poor time-management combined with the relentless, cruel nature of impossible deadlines typically creates the scene described above. For most, it is a slow destructive cycle which can ultimately lead to an early heart-attack and probably causes some kind of cancer or brain tumors.

For others, it is simply the way estimating has been done for years. In fact, some even enjoy it (you sick bastards). It's the way their fathers and grandfathers did it. It's the way all the estimators they worked with do it. Screaming, yelling, cussing and kicking. Eating stress for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert. Year after year, day after day. Early morning arrivals and late-night homecomings. Missed meals, way too much coffee, cigarettes and doughnuts. Exercise is only achieved when you laugh at the thought of actually exercising.

What about you? Do you thrive in the chaos? Do you throw all caution to the wind and jump on the back of your estimate like it's a wild bronco, riding it off the canyon cliff and not worrying about the landing? Do you forget about yourself, your family, your health, your life? Leaving it all behind for your job (which is certainly important for sure) and this bid which you really don't have a chance in hell of winning and shouldn't even be wasting your time on but are because 2 weeks ago you just couldn't say one simple word: "No."

Is this type of bidding killing you? Have you gained more weight than you ever thought you could have? Are you tired all the time? Do you sleep well? Does your back hurt? How does your skin look? Pale? Green? Sick?

What about your bids? Are your bids successful? Are you bidding too many losers? Are your winners not really winners? Have you thought about the possible links of your estimating success vs. your physical health? Perhaps bidding less would result in more? Better estimates will create more success, better health, more time: a better life.

Sorry to paint such dark images, I only do it because I care. Really, I do. I also hope none of this really describes you or other estimators you know. But if it does, share this blog with them and this too:
http://www.ecmag.com/?fa=article&articleID=6811

Now, take a deep breath, throw the doughnut away, go brew some Green Tea and when you come back to your desk...sit down and plan out your next week of bidding based on working 8 hour days only and include 2 15 minute walk-breaks each day. You can do it and I believe, you will be more successful and live a longer, healthier, happier life as an estimator.

It's BID DAY! Are you ready?

2010-05-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

Here's one from the Electrical Contractor Magazine archives, December 2006. I'm not sure why it is missing from the archives, http://www.ecmag.com/authors/?fa=view&id=27 ... but as it is a BID DAY for me, I thought it would be appropriate ti revisit.

How to review your Bid Summary: Your very last chance to get it right – part 3 in a 3 part series

Note to estimators: I write this article assuming you have finished and reviewed your take-off (see part 1 – October’s issue), and ran and reviewed all of your extensions (see part 2 – November’s issue). If you haven’t, you will need to accelerate the following to Warp 10. You may also want to practice some deep breathing and take any heart medication now.

Bid Day - 6:00 a.m.
You’ve made the right decision to get in early and get a head start on today’s bid. The coffee is fresh and hot, the office is empty, quiet. It’s Bid Day and there really isn’t much left to do. Receive a few quotes, crunch numbers, write the proposal and fax it out. No worries, no problems. All is well, right? Yeah, sure... in a dream world.

Welcome back to reality. Bid Day is by far your most challenging day. The day where it all comes together and you find out whether or not the last 2 weeks of estimating were worth the effort. The take-off is done and reviewed (right?), the extensions thoroughly reviewed (right?) and all that is left is putting together your Bid Summary. Right? Right.

Putting together and reviewing the Bid Summary is the most important step in the entire bidding process. It is here where mistakes most easily occur and can easily go un-noticed because there is often little or no time left to review.

There are so many figures to input and review:
Tax percentages, “cut & adds”, tools, trucks, lifts, job site expenses, estimating costs, labor rates, factoring and distribution percentages. Let’s not forget overhead and profit. Additionally, your Bid Summary is not limited to the “fill-in-the-blanks” screens of your estimating software. Your estimate review notes, proposals, vendor quotes and your boss are all part of your summary review. So make sure to schedule time for all of them, especially the boss.

Vendor proposals and B.O.M.s need to be reviewed thoroughly to discover any missing items or duplications. When reviewing these proposals and B.O.M’s, always ask questions: Did they include the emergency ballasts? Lighting control switches? Dimming panels? How about Alternate #1? Are the transformers NEMA 4X? Did they use copper or aluminum bussing? What did the specs require? Asking and answering questions will guide you to finding the errors – both yours and the vendors.

One way to assure a proper and thorough review is to create a process that you repeat on every bid, no matter what size or type. This will help you maintain continuity and flow on each bid your review. As part of this process, I recommend creating a Bid Day To-Do list. It sounds cliché, but To-Do lists are great organizational tools. Even Santa keeps a list. So make a list, check it twice and stick to it until your price goes out.

One last time: NO INTERRUPTIONS!
Just like reviewing your take-off and extensions, reviewing your Bid Summary requires uninterrupted focus. You must be left alone by anyone not involved in your bid. Screen all phone calls, answering only those pertaining to the bid. All others go to voice mail. I also recommend a sign on the door saying “I’m bidding a job – go away!” … or something nicer if you want. Just make sure everybody understands and respects your sign.

Take short breaks during Bid Day
By 11:00 a.m. you should have a good handle on your estimate. It’s time for a good break. Take a short walk, do some stretches, eat an early lunch. It is import to keep your energy levels up during Bid Day. I highly recommend eating something healthy (no sugar) and not too much. Taking a break replenishes your energy level, helps your concentration, thinking and your ability to focus.

1:00 p.m. - the final hour
At this time you should have everything covered and all major decisions should be made. It is now time to begin a slow, thorough final check of every entry in your Bid Summary. Check all totals for materials and labor hours; labor rates, quotation prices, OH&P percentages, taxed items and percentages, added costs. Look at every number carefully and note all commas, periods, etc. Make sure all the values are correct. Remember - $100,000.00 is just 1 comma and a zero away from $1,000,000.00.

Look at your Final Sell Price in different ways
Once you’ve input all your rates, percentages, quotes, taxes, etc. - you should have a Final Sell Price. Look at this number and try to get a feel of whether it is right or not. Does it seem too high? Too low? Compare it to your historical data on similar projects. Most estimating software programs have a Bid Analysis feature where you can input square footage and job duration information. What do these numbers tell you? Do they make sense with what you estimated during your take-off?

1:55 p.m. - relax, it’s almost over
Staying relaxed and not losing control of your bid is critical to success. If you have prepared yourself properly and reviewed your numbers thoroughly, everything should be okay. So stay calm, keep your mind in the game and relax - it will all be over at 2:00.

It's Friday... next week is almost upon us!

2010-05-07T09:18:00.000-07:00

It's Friday... what are you going to do to TODAY to make next week's estimating more efficient, easier and more successful?

Many estimators are often exhausted by the time Friday comes around. After a long week of insane deadlines, long days, late nights and a whole bunch of stress, it's no wonder they look at Friday as a sort of "day of rest". This is a pretty human thing to do and not uncommon for the average employee of any company.

But what if by being super-efficient on Friday, your coming work week could be a breeze? What if it could be twice as productive and more successful? Would you put forth the extra effort on Friday to make this happen?

So what can you do today to make next week better? Well, one thing is certain to help: Don't goof off! You will be wasting precious time and ultimately be screwing yourself for next week.

Beyond that, perhaps not taking a long lunch, not allowing any 'water-cooler chit-chat' or other distracting conversations from other employees. Maybe a sign on your closed office door saying, "It's Friday, please don't disturb me as I am setting myself up for next week's success." Perhaps you will become an inspiration to your fellow colleagues and the entire estimating department will become more successful, thus the company will be more successful. I know, it sounds crazy... but it works.

Other ideas include...
- creating and/or planning out your To-Do list for the new week.

- Holding a meeting with your estimating team to discuss what next week's Bid Schedule looks like.

- Backing up all your current job and estimate files, so you don't lose this week's work.

- Cleaning up your work space, removing all the old bid docs and plan sets.

- Review your Outlook (or other) Calendar/schedule. Send out reminders and/or confirmation emails on appointments, meetings and Bid Dates. Organize "personal" appointments around your "work"...not the other way around. You owe this to your employer, he/she does not owe it to you.

- Create a list of goals you want to achieve. Try to envision what will make you the most success and bring you the greatest rewards.

And last, but not least... if you are deep in the thick of getting an estimate or project done, by all means...forgo all of the above and get to work!
The clock is ticking.

-

Day 3 - Reviewing your Audit Trail

2010-05-06T09:57:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - I know, you are probably thinking, "wait Stan, isn't this Day 4?" Well, no, not really as yesterday was my birthday and I took the day off. So this is officially Day 3.

Not much to blog about today, too busy and I must catch up from taking my day off (I'm behind, but it was well worth it!).

So I will simply leave you with this thought/tip-o-the-day:
When reviewing your Audit Trail entries... make sure to go slow and confirm each of these 3 equally critical elements to your entries: 'Assembly' or 'Item' (which one?), Description (what is it?) and 'Quantity' (does it make sense compared to the others?).

Are all 3 of these elements COMBINED correct?

BEYOND this 1st review step, ask yourselves the following:
How do they coincide with the entries before and after?
Are they entered on the right label set? (so important to an accurate Bid)

And last...If an entry doesn't seem right or you know it is flat our wrong... how will you go about correcting it? (I'll help you on this one with a post later on)

Have a great day of estimating! And remember - the clock is always ticking.

Day 2 - a bit distracted

2010-05-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

Now, before anyone thinks I'm going to write a daily diary here... just stop any such thoughts. I probably won't and don't really want to. So titles are often misleading.

Day 2 has proven a bit tougher in that I've been fighting back many tiny distractions. All of them combined have caused me to lose any focus I had on attacking my daily To-Do List (did you make one? do you have one? do you stick to it? Why not?). So, here it is now 11:45 and I've yet to really accomplish anything associated to the forward progress of my work.

What are you estimating today? Have you allowed distractions into your day? Have they disrupted the flow of your take-off? Is it Bid Day? Can you close the door and tell everyone to "Please, leave me alone. I have a project with a deadline I am working on successfully and accurately completing." Can you do this?

Allowing distractions in our daily work day is what causes us to get behind. This causes stress, which causes us to become unfocused, which causes us to get further behind, which causes more stress, etc. Do you get my point? I think you do.

So, what are YOU estimating today and how are you keeping all the interruptions away?

Day 1 - on my own, again

2010-05-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Whew! Well, I finally made it. I'm officially reorganized and set-up at my new home office. Still a bit disheveled and there is still much more to be done with getting the old company completely closed; lot's of loose ends and legal things to wrap up.
Then there are all the boxes of file folders and paper-work to organize.

Some of my main clients already know my story, but for those of you just tuning in... I am closing my company, TakeOff16 Inc., and am setting out on my own once again. It is quite a major change in my life and career. TakeOff16 has been a primary force in my life for over 10 years now, so the transition will be interesting.

I am very excited to be moving on, forward to my new venture...which is essentially just me, myself and I continuing to consult on electrical estimating, perform estimates and of course, write more about it. Writing will be one of my primary focuses, though it will not be a primary source of income (one must be realistic when it comes to making money). I do hope to take on more students and grow my "Beyond Estimating Academy" to include group seminars and lectures around the USA.

I am going to take the entire month of May off; to catch my breath, take a few days in the sun, chill my soul and reflect on all that I have done, and all I want to do. I am also a bit behind on finally catching up with all my deadlines for Electrical Contractor Magazine. Speaking of which, I need to sign off here and finish my next column.

Thanks to all of you who continue to follow my blog, I promise more interesting and informational blogs will follow soon.
Day 1...to be continued.

Now Accepting Students!

2010-03-29T07:43:00.000-07:00

Lot's of good things starting to happen. Here's one which could involve you or your estimators: (hint: you can click on the image for a larger view)

March Estimating Column in Electrical Contractor

2010-03-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Make sure you catch my recent estimating column in Electrical Contractor Magazine...it's on estimating residential work and is part 1 in a 2 part series.

If you don't get the magazine... SIGN UP!!!
Also, you can visit their archives where you can access ALL of my past columns.
Lots and lots of good stuff in there... in fact, an entire EDUCATION is waiting for you!

http://www.ecmag.com/authors/?fa=view&id=27

Stan

Estimating my lecture series...

2010-03-21T13:52:00.001-07:00

Ahhhhh, finally... a day off! No deadlines looming, no lectures to write, no phone calls to make no (sound of cars crashing, record needle scratching, sudden realization transformed into blasting sound waves in my head)... DANG IT! I've got an article for Electrical Contractor which is, as usual, way overdue! Okay, so much for my day off. Actually, I have 3 articles which are overdue.

So I've finally returned home from my "Bat Country Lecture Series". Well, not 'home-home' really - my wife's family's home in Southern CA. What a week it was. Driving from Nor-Cal to So-Cal with the dogs, dropping them off with the wife (She flew down a few days before. See he father had a heart attack and...well, he's okay now and...well, nevermind.) Then, the next day I drove 6 hours to Las Vegas, where I stayed up until midnight studying and putting the finishing touches on my lectures for the Electric West Show and McCormick Users Conference - as well as I had to create an advertisement for my estimating academy, which I needed to get to Kinko's at some point in-between my EW lecture and driving to AZ for the McUser's conference.

Then I was up at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, leaving my room by 7:00 a.m. so I could walk the 2 miles from the LV Hilton deep into the bowels of the LV Convention Center, of course carrying all my handouts, computer and a latte (no spill either!). Gave my 4-hour workshop/lecture, which went very well and I again want to thank the 12 guys who showed up to listen to it all. I do hope they got enough out of it and found it enlightening. So "THANKS!" you guys!

Then I breezed through the Electric West Showroom floor, barely stopping to say hello to anyone...so pressed for time; I'm always pressed for time (there's a lecture series in that, I'm sure of it!). Walked the 2-miles back (okay, it probably wasn't 2 miles) to the Hilton, grabbed my bags and my car, then sped off to find that Kinko's.

Found the Kinko's, got my stuff printed. While I waited, I treated myself to a nice lunch at Gordon Biersch. You should always reward yourself after each great accomplishment; especially if no one else is rewarding you. Then off to Arizona I went.

Now, let me just say this: if you are in a hurry to get from Las Vegas to Tempe Arizona, DON'T DRIVE! Unless you really want to see Hoover Dam and/or sit in traffic.

After I finally made it to the front of the line at Hoover Dam (it was like being in-line for the newest ride at Disneyland), I thought, "Okay Stan, this is it. You are gonna fly across the desert highway like a bat out of hell and nothing will stop you" (God I love Meatloaf - both the music and the food item) ... of course, I was as wrong as I could ever be on this one. I averaged about 53 MPH during the entire 7-1/2 hour drive; which, according to my GPS system was only to be 4-1/2 hours.

One good thing came from all of this however. I now know where all of President Obama's Stimulus money for "Highway Construction Jobs" is: Arizona.
(John McCain must have worked some sweet deals there.)

Finally pulled into the hotel in Tempe @9:20pm. Had a nice dinner with a colleague (thanks again Tim!) and then dropped off to sleep @12a.m. Nothing like a really nice hotel room to make you feel ready to sleep. I would highly recommend the "Tempe Mission Palms" to anyone.

Then I was up again at 6 a.m., ate breakfast and at 8 a.m. I was once again talking about esimtating. A 1-hour lecture on "How to Set-up Your Estimate as a Project Management Tool." I'm sure this was some really exciting stuff to listen too at 8:00 a.m. boy, let me tell you. But you know what, they seemed to like it and they were a really great audience.

Speaking of the McCormick User's Seminar. 1st, McCormick really puts on a great event. Lots of style, class and extremely useful, insightful information is provided. So kudos to Todd McCormick and his team for all they do. Also, kudos to all the McUsers. A great, great group of people. All of you are so friendly and so positive. Thank you for taking the time early in your Friday morning to come out and listen to my prattlings on about estimating. I hope I get to do it again next year.

Of course, then there was Friday night's "fiesta". It started off innocent enough, but ended up with at least 2 too many beers for me. I won't go into the next morning's details and let's just say I wasn't feeling much like checking out of the hotel and driving another 6+ hours to So-Cal. 'Nuff said there. It was as close to a Hunter S. Thompson moment as I could get.

Funniest thing... as I was weaving (I mean walking) myself back to the hotel room after the "fiesta", I found myself in the back alley of the hotel trying to find a way to get in. So I was wandering around, deeply in-need of my hotel room bathroom or a really large bush. Suddenly these 2 young punks (I'm old enough to call young guys "punks" now... an honor I gladly accept and often exercise these days) call out my name "Stan Shook! Hey! You're Stan Shook! Oh man, YOU ARE OUR HERO!". Now, I'm no idiot and I think I know when someone is jerking my chain... so I said, "Hey guys, that's funny, thanks." and they were like "No man! You are (expletive) awesome and what you said to us this morning really meant something. You've changed our lives!"

Now, these 2 guys appeared to have attended a "post-fiesta" of their own. But I think, perhaps, that I may have "reached them" somehow with something I said. I wish I could recall their names as I am sure they are reading this and I would like to thank them by name for their fanship and for telling me that I've helped them, given their careers a boost. It does mean a lot to me and it keeps me going on with this path I've taken (even if they were drunk and out of their heads... I'll take any compliments and fans I can get.)

So after my fatal morning of, well... recovery... I packed my bags and headed west across the desert. It was a beautiful drive, meditative and relaxing. It didn't start off that way as just as I was leaving AZ, my photograph was taken by one of the Phoenix Police Dept's "drones" - a "mobile photo-ticket" vehicle. AND... I think i was in a "construction zone" which I think either doubles or triples the cost of the ticket. They got me going 70mph in a 60 or 65 mph zone... so I am guilty as charged.

Such is life on the road. Again, thanks to everyone who came out to hear me speak. Without you, my audience, I would just be talking to myself - which really wouldn't be as much fun.

More blogging to come... and I promise, it will be about estimating.
Peace!

2010-03-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

Wow! It's already been another year and it's that time again for another one of my great workshops at the Electric West Show in Las Vegas. It's not too late to get in on my lecture today, on March 18th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. I hope to see you there!

Here are the details:

Lecture, open-discussion and workshop activities focused on how estimators can be used for much more than “bidding projects”. There is no one who knows the project’s initial contract design better than the estimator(s) who took-off the project pre-bid. Once a contract is won, the estimator(s) should work in concert with project superintendents, foremen, project managers, purchasing agents, vendors, and even with your General Contractor, Architect, Engineer or Owner – to help them all understand how the project was priced, areas of missing design, conflict issues, value-engineering, change-order reduction, project phasing, scheduling and even staging of large installations.

This workshop will be an excellent opportunity for Owners, Senior Project Managers and Estimators (senior & journeyman level, but juniors could also benefit); anyone who is involved in the responsibility of completing a project within budget.

Objectives of the lecture/Workshop:

Objective 1: A deeper understanding on the role of the estimator during the construction phase

Objective 2: To provide a deeper insight, including tips and tricks on ways to maximize the estimate & estimating department as a project management tool

Objective 3: Teachings on how to set-up an estimate and preparing it as project management tool; getting attendees to think beyond thinking just fulfilling the ‘Bid Form’

My Session information/details:

Session: TH4 Beyond Bid Day: Using Your Estimating Department as a Project Management Tool
Track: Residential/Industrial/Commercial Applications
Date/Time: 3/18/2010 8:30 AM-12:00 PM
Room Number: 202/203

Electric West Home Page

Hello? (tap tap tap) Is this thing on?

2010-03-17T08:13:00.000-07:00

Maybe the question should be, "Is this blogger on?" ? ... and I'm not talking about being "on something"... just "on" period. On his game? On his schedule? On his To-Do list? You know? On.

Well, admittedly I haven't been very "on" these days. Checking the of my last post, I haven't been "on" for over 3 months! Not that I've been too missed; my 3 or 4 blog fans haven't been sending me emails or nagging questions like "Hey Stan! When are you gonna finish that novel?"
I digress.

I guess I should start by talking about what I am doing right now.
Today I am in Southern California, getting packed for the short 4+ hour drive to Las Vegas (baby!). Once again, it's time for the Electric West Show. Which means it's time, once again, for me to talk to a room full of strangers for 4+ hours on a topic relating to (or close thereabout) something electrical estimating.

For this year's 4-hour workshop, I have chosen the topic of "Using your Estimating Department as a Project Management Tool" - a topic which I think has much merit and certainly one I will be able to jabber on about for 4+ hours. Perhaps you will be one of the lucky attendees? If not, I will try to post my written paper and PPT prez soon...here, on this BLOG.

http://www.electricshow.com/electricwest2010/Public/Calendar.aspx?DateId=1000166&ID=1011025&sortMenu=102005

www.ElectricWestShow.com

After tomorrow's lecture (8:30 - 12:00 at the Las Vegas Convention Center)...
...I will be driving deeper into the desert to Scottsdale, AZ for a quick, 1-hour lecture at the McCormick Systems Estimating Software Users Conference... the topic of my talk? "How to set-up your estimate as a project management tool." I figured it to be a fitting topic with my lecture for Las Vegas, and quite honestly, it is just easier to focus on 1 lecture subject... especially when the lectures are within 24 hours of each other ;)

http://www.mccormicksys.com/events/2010/2010_Conf_pkt.pdf

http://www.mccormicksys.com/

Beyond all this... (Beyond Estimating), I've been working my butt off trying to save my business (literally) and keep it afloat during this crazy thing they call a recession. I just don't understand why they don't just call it a 'depression'... because really, it's quite depressing. I know I'm depressed. Don't get me wrong here. I do believe things are getting a bit better, they just haven't gotten any easier; and I don't think they will be anytime soon.

So we must keep pressing on, right? Because really, we have no other choice and unless you live in Haiti or any one of the many countries where war is being waged, you should consider yourself one of the luckiest people on the planet. I know I do.

So, onward with the blog and onward with Beyond Estimating.

I hope somebody is still out there, reading this, checking it for new postings.
Look for more postings from me soon. The future is changing, now... and there will be more exciting posts, stories, lectures and information spewing out of my brain onto this blog page.
I promise you that.

Best of work and life out there!
Stan

OMG! 2010 is almost over!

2010-01-15T09:04:00.000-08:00

What the heck are you talking about, Stan? It's only January 15th!

I know, I'm always a bit extreme. But really, it feels like an entire year has passed since I wrote in this blog. And of course, I said last month I would try harder, blog more.

2010 has proven (so far) to be a better year than 2009... at least the energy and vibe is there. My team and I ended 2009 (on January 5th to be precise) on a really high-note with the successful take-off, completion and delivery of a large hospital expansion project.

We were given the plans on December 14th. 200+ electrical and systems drawings, fully designed "Construction Set". With the Christmas and New Year's holidays smack dab in the middle of it all, we were basically given 2 full weeks to get the project done.

I placed a team of 4 estimators on it - (1) Senior, (3) Associates and then myself as Chief... assisting, directing, coordinating everything they needed to work efficiently.

So 14 days of work, each day producing an solid average of 8 hours of "actual production" time (most of my team worked 10 hour days on the average)... so that's 112 hours per estimator, totaling @448 estimating hours. Add in my time during the 2 weeks, which was easily 32+ hours... and we finished it all at @480 hours.

Divide e 448 hours by the 200 sheets, and we averaged a little under 2.5 hours per drawing.
This actually matched our performance on past hospital project take-offs. The reality is though, that many drawings were schedules, details and other "non-take-off" sheets. The sheets with actual design on them averaged anywhere from 6.5 to 10 hours per page - which I do think is realistic for hospital designs.

I must say that I think this may very well be one of the best take-offs we have ever prepared. The efficiency of my estimators was awesome and their focus stayed really strong, even after their holiday breaks (yes, they all got Christmas and New Year's off - I'm not Scrooge! ;)

So, with the hospital project completed and the tables now clear (what a contrast - 1 day hundreds of drawings laid out all over the office, the next empty table tops)... we set our sites towards this new year of, hopefully, busier times. The industry analyst and magazines have all issued their 2010 forecast. I'm trying not to read them as they mostly say the commercial sector will be down about 15% from last year, which is not very good news at all. They do say residential work will be up, though I am very skeptical as to how... especially with all the existing homes and foreclosures out on the market. Who the heck is building new homes?

Perhaps they are talking about 'Residential Apartment Buildings' ? This would be good news for the commercial contractors as those are typically large projects. Also look for Nursing Care & Elderly Housing projects to be on the rise. That trend started early last year and we saw many projects in 2009. In fact, we just completed a conceptual budget on a 11-story elderly residence facility with 100 apartment units. This was a nice way to start the year.

I hope 2010 has already proven itself to be more prosperous for you too. It does feel better, maybe it actually will be better.

However, no matter what it is... I am very thankful for the life, health and wealth I have had and continue to have in my life. I am one of the most fortunate people on the planet. We should never lose focus of how fortunate we are, especially in the wake of Haiti's current crisis - a serious reminder of how fragile our lives are and how easily they can be destroyed in minutes by a catastrophic event beyond our control.

Stay strong, live well and keep up the good fight!
Happy New Year!

2009 is coming to an end....THANK GOD!

2009-12-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

What a year. A really, really, really bad year. I'm glad it's soon to be over, though it's not like the simple changing of the year date is going to change things much... but perhaps it might help?

I've been (very) absent from my writing for many months now; caught up in a tornado of indecision, decisions, more indecision, bad decisions, final decisions, rescinded decisions and then more indecision. Basically I've been gripped with fear over what the future might be and having to deal with what the now is. So writing this blog has not been a huge focus or concern of mine.

My business has changed quite dramatically and is still changing on a weekly basis. We've been able to hang on and have been fighting through it all and we getting busy again. Still, i's so hard to know what is going on, what the future will be like. Is this just a freak moment of hope in the midst of the battle? Or is it a real sign that work is coming back? Of course, I am hoping for (and fairly optimistic about) the latter, and I am willing to hang on to see what happens.

My sincerest thanks to those clients who have continued to support us - whether you have given us work or not, I know you are all fighting the same as I am. Together we can help each other survive this "end of an era". Hopefully we will all come out the stronger as the "new era" begins.

So here's to a new year, a new start and hopefully a new economy.
I hope things continue to get better for all of you, your families, friends and your companies.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year!
Stan

No, I won't be at the NECA Show

2009-09-10T09:09:00.000-07:00

I've been getting a lot of emails and calls from clients, readers and friends asking if I am attending this year's NECA Show in Seattle. Unfortunately, I am not... but I do wish I was. Not only would I like to see Seattle (I've never been there), but the NECA Show is always a great show to see.

Though I won't be there in person, I will be there in spirit. For all of you who do get to go, make sure you have a good plan for walking the isles and visiting vendors, and/or attending any lectures/workshops you think would beneficial to your ongoing estimating work.

Whether you an owner or an estimator working for an owner... make sure you seek out the new technologies, software and other business tools which can help your company become deeper involved with the rapidly emerging VDC (virtual design construction) and BIM (Building Informational Modeling) markets. The sooner you embrace these "happening now" technologies, the better prepared your company will be when (not if) you are faced with having to work with them on a future project.

One thing you must absolutely do is stop by ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR MAGAZINE's booth and grab the latest edition of the mag. In it will be my recent column on "Estimating Tight". This highly insightful piece is a must read for anyone bidding in today's over-competitive and quite ludicrous 'bidding below cost' market.

And while your are at EC Mag's booth, make sure you say hello to Andrea Klee and compliment her on the fantastic work she and her team are doing with the magazine. (also, throw in a good word for me if you can. Thanks!).

Here's an old article from 2006 on 'Estimating the NECA Show' - Everything I wrote then is still relevant and applicable to this year's show. So read it before you go!
http://www.ecmag.com/?fa=article&articleID=3755

http://www.necaconvention.org/

As they say on 'The Show' floor... HAVE A GREAT SHOW!!!

I'm going on vacation....... really, I am. I swear!

2009-08-13T08:38:00.000-07:00

Tonight, Mrs. Shook and I are embarking on a mini-vacation. We leave the SF Bay behind and catch a northbound train to Oregon, where we will visit some dear friends who recently escaped the madness of the BIG CITY and bought a small farm out in the woods. Ahhhhh..... finally, a trip away from it all which doesn't involve family, the dogs, driving 10+ hours and most importantly... work. (God, I hope it doesn't involve any work!).

I don't get many vacations. In fact, I haven't been on a 'real' vacation for a few years now. My last one was when I went to Spain for 3 weeks (Oh...do I love Spain!). But that trip did include far too much "family time" and not nearly as much "drunken beach bum" time. Still, the 3 weeks away from it all recharged my battery (I only have 1) just enough to climb back onto the work-train and roll down the fast-track for a couple more years.

Now, the real trick for me is figuring out how to completely disconnect it all while I'm having fun. I could try large amounts of alcohol, but this usually proves to be very bad for me and typically kills the 'fun factor' for the next couple of days. There is the idea of NOT taking my PDA (Personal Distraction Appliance), which will eliminate my ability to see any emails from my various clients asking "Where the hell is my file?!" or "Why can't I open the attachment?", and one of my all-time favorites... "Can you bid this by Monday?" ( this one will come in on Friday afternoon)

Leaving this DEVICE OF EVIL behind will also not allow me to receive any business phone calls. Sure, I could screen the calls, but WILL I? My sources say "No". The temptation to answer is far too great, and, I fear, programmed deep into my auto-response system.

What if it is a new client with a huge opportunity? What if they need me now? And what if by answering that one call, I secure a whole bunch of work and land our newest, "best client"?

It has happened before. I can't tell you how many times I've secured really good work while I've been "on vacation". In fact, it seems as if old Murphy has made sure there will be no new business calls coming in while I'm NOT on vacation. It's almost as if I need to go on vacation just so the dang phone will ring. (I'm actually practicing this strategy more and more).

But the sad reality is that by taking my PDA, looking at emails AND answering those calls... I won't really be helping my business or company out at all. In fact, I will continue to further thwart the true success and progress I so desparately need and seek. I MUST LEAVE THE BUSINSESS AND EMPLOYEES BEHIND. I MUST LET THEM HANDLE EVERYTHING... without me.

Leaving it all behind is, perhaps, not entirely possible. I will still need my brain and have not yet figured out how to remove it without permanently damaging myself. We must try though. In fact, we must succeed at doing so because not being able to break away from estimating and all it involves will eventually wear us down, clog our brains and souls, making us bitter, cranky and inneffecient at our jobs. A few weeks after our return, we will be very bad estimators.

So off I go today, AT 12:00 sharp! I will shut off the computer and walk out the door to go pack for the trip. My PDA will still be on until today's end, as I am involved in a couple of projects bidding today. But it too will be TURNED OFF at the end of the day... and I, hopefully, with the help of a 17 hour train ride, 4 days of beautiful sunny weather, the smell of Oregon's green forests, some great foods, delicious wines and (hopefully) several moments of playing some groovin' music with our good friends, I will succeed at achieving true "vacation mode".

I shall return! Better than I was when I left.

ps - If my editor from Electrical Contractor Magazine, Andrea Klee, is reading this... just know I will be taking my laptop and working on finishing October's column on Estimating BIM. ;)

Offsite Back-ups: How safe is your data really?

2009-07-31T11:12:00.000-07:00

I'm going to write a more in-depth article on this, but until then I wanted to get you thinking about it as you never know when a disaster is going to strike. That's why they call them disasters, I guess?

In the past year, 2 of my employees homes have caught fire (and no, I had nothing to do with either one). One of the houses completely burned to the ground, everything (including my Ford Taurus SHO, a company laptop and an Accubid key) was lost. The other, more recent fire, only burned the garage and caused a lot of smoke damage to the rest of the house.

The best news is that nobody was hurt or killed, so we are all really thankful for this.

However, both families lost a great deal of their personal lives and past history - especially in the forms of photographs and digital media files which were not backed-up off-site. They also have literally lived in hell dealing with the aftermath and the insurance companies, trying to salvage anything possible. Even if something doesn't burn, you can't just get it back because of the smoke damage. Everything has to be cleaned and certified it is safe to handle again.

So, why am I writing to my Electrical Estimator/Contractor base about this? Well, most (if not all) of your lives and businesses are tightly held in the form of digital media files. All your estimating databases, client databases, job files, software licenses, job reports, spreadsheet tools, historical analysis, financial records, network settings, health insurance accounting - pretty much the whole kit-n-caboodle (spell check?).

EVERYTHING IS ON A HARD DRIVE...and not just one (more on that later). Hard drives, which, in a serious fire or flood or tornado (for you mid-westerners) or earthquake can be irreparably damaged. And that TAPE BACK-UP you have... well, maybe someone remembered to take it home or put it into the fire safe, but it might not have everything from every employee's computer on it.

Speaking of the TAPE BACKUP... when was the last time you and your office managers sat down and really discussed what was being backed up and what should be? What sort of back-up plan/system does your company actually have and how well is it enforced? (what about your own personal files at home?)

FIRE SAFES are not safe. Sure, they can protect certain hard-goods like jewelry and even some paper goods (make sure you check their rating). But during a serious fire, they can heat up into the high hundreds if not thousands of degrees F... which would basically render any type of digital media completely useless. In fact, one of my employees had a small fire safe and the paper documents inside it were scorched and had burn holes in them. Again, check the rating of your fire safes.

TAKING THE TAPE BACK-UP HOME is also not very safe. Not only could they get destroyed in a fire (what if the car caught fire) but they can also be STOLEN! I personally don't recommend sending all your critical back-up files home with someone, away from your business.

"So what the heck do we do Stan?" Well, I'll tell you...
I highly recommend researching "Off-site" data storage companies and getting an account set up to store your critical and all your project files 'off-site' or 'in the clouds' so to say. We use a company called "Divinsa" www.divinsa.com

Divinsa has a very 'user-friendly' interface and great tech-support. It is really easy to use their service, in fact, once you set it up it all becomes very automatic - however and whenever you want. It is also not as expenisive as you may think. Our monthly account costs us a little over $150/month. Okay, sure, that's $1800 a year... but compare this to the cost of trying to recover (more likely recreate) all of your lost data files. If you really think about it, the price is nothing compared to the losses. Also note your insurance carrier does not consider your lost data as something they should reimburse you for, even if you could prove it was worth mega $$$'s to create and therefore just as if not more expensive to re-create it.

Most of these types of companies will charge you by the "mega-byte" or "giga-byte" used, meaning if your backup files consist of 3 gigs of hard-drive space, they will charge you a fee per the space you take-up on thier drives. But note, you are not charged twice for the same files backed-up each night as they just write over the previously saved files and occupy the same hard-drive space.

A strong caution on the back-up and storage of drawing and other CAD related files, even job photos...they are often very large files and can quickly add up to some serious storage space fees. Also, these are not necessarily files you need to back-up offsite, though any CAD or BIM design work can represent hundreds if not thousands of hours of work... so you may want to seriously consider backing them up. One recommendation here is to buy 1 or 2 500gig portable storage drives. However, I would only place non-essential or easily obtained/restored files on these.

Well, that's quite a bit there to think about. I certainly hope none of you ever have to experience tragedy such as a house or office fire... or flood, or tornado, earthquake, elephant stampede, military coup, meterorite impact, volcanic eruption, bad divorce, etc.

Time flies when you're having.... fun?

2009-07-29T09:19:00.001-07:00

Well, 1st... my apologies to all my faithful followers for not having anything new written or posted for the past month. Also, my last posting was a bit of a cop-out too. So there, I apologized and now it is time to move on.

So what has been happening in Stan Shook's world of estimating? Quite a bit actually and, like all the rest of you, not enough. Business has been steady and Team16 has been relatively busy cranking out a large hospital project which we delivered over the last couple weeks. We've also seen the slow trickle of smaller analysis projects and what we call "PM Assist" work (i.e. change order review and estimating). So we have been staying alive and keeping it all in tact.

The reality is there just isn't a ton of new work going on out there, so the "pre-bid" estimating is definitley slow. The good news is we are getting many calls and requests for assistance on estimating Solar projects and other "Renewable Energy" installations. This is really exciting as all my prior research and study time for the past few years are starting to pay off.

One of my estimators just completed a take-off for the 1st "rough-in" phase of a 60MW (yes, mega watt) hydro-electric dam project. The elevations were awesome to look at. The turbine and blades are over 35 feet in diameter and almost 70 feet tall. This was not your normal, everyday water treatment facility. We are hoping our client wins the contract so we can continue estimating the rest of the project.

I've also just completed some "conceptual" estimating and budgets for a company who is designing and installing large power distribution stations for large photovoltaic arrays. My analysis and designs start at the 15kV utility overhead lines/pole and head all the way down-line to the inverter units. The trick was putting together "plug and play" modules for the creation of several possible scenarios.

When you do this type of "conceptual" estimate, you should always factor in a good 4 hours plus of visualizating as much of the project as you can. You need to see the end result in your mind before you start taking-off conduits, wires, equipment, etc. If you do not start with a solid plan of what you want to produce, you may find yourself having to re-do take-off and entry... which is not cost or time-efficient.

By spending a few hours thinking about and visualizing what my client needed (or what I thought they needed), I only had to do my take-off once. After that, it was all in the power of my extension label set matrix. I had input everything in such a segregated way, I could easily produce 30+ different options of installations - including quantities of conduits, wires, trenching, and equipment pad configurations.

I've also been working on new marketing plans and ad ideas and trying to finish 2 columns for Electrical Contractor, which are once again overdue. Damn I hate deadlines!
So stay tuned (please). I promise to post more interesting speak and writings in the next few days.

How NOT to run a blog. By Stan Shook

2009-06-18T08:58:00.000-07:00

IF there are any of you still checking this blog (not sure if any of you were ever reading it to begin with)... you will see I've been a bit lazy with updating it. It's been exactly 1 month since my last posting. So, what have I learned in the last month?

Well, one thing I learned is a blog is another responsibility, task, To-Do, a chore; a living, breathing, existing entity which can add more pressure to an already over-pressured and committed persons day. So, for those of you thinking about starting a blog, just know this and be ready to face the music when it comes to keeping up this very serious responsibility.

Now, what has been going on?
The past month has proven to be a very tight moment in the life of running my small business, TakeOff16. I've also had a couple of really bad weeks dealing with some minor health issues (summer flu, stress).

Always remember: STRESS CAN MAKE YOU SICK!
I didn't follow my own advice. Perhaps I should read my columns in Electrical Contractor Magazine more often?
http://www.ecmag.com/?fa=article&articleID=6811

So the summer kicked off a bit rough for me. And it has been pretty darn slow on the Jobs Board. We have had a steady stream of work though, just nothing to scream about. However, this morning has brought several (more than 3) requests for quotes on new projects. This is giving me some new found hope things are starting to pick up and contractors are getting busy enough to start looking for additional resources (TakeOff16!).

This just in from the local business news - The SF Business Times:
"The SF Bay Area construction industry is leading the pack on the unemployed with over 20% of the construction workforce out of work and almost 50% of the Union (IBEW) Electricians are all waiting in the hall for work."

Those are some really serious and scary figures. It is also another sign of how bad of shape the State of California has gotten into. Still, I also wonder if perhaps what we are seeing here is a "correction" to the past 5 years of insane building trends, where we had the IBEW screaming they didn't have enough electricians and were hiring anyone who would show up at the door.
Of course, I am not an economist, nor even close to being an expert analyst as to what the heck is really going on out there.

Basically, I just needed to post a blog and let you ALL (there's got to be at least 4 or 5 of you - right?) know what's been going on and that I am still a living, breathing, blogger. I will try to post more soon.

Hang in there. Times are tough, and may be getting tougher, but we still have it better than the people in North Korea and Iran... and probably 90% of the planet in general. So, let's all stop whining, roll-up our sleeves and get our butts back to work!

Deadlines don't care about your new methods

2009-05-18T07:33:00.001-07:00

Wow! Another week gone in a flash. Good thing too. We got buried with some serious deadlines again (thank you clients!) and were once again deep into the take-off zone.

We experimented a bit with our new On-Screen TakeOff program. Some good stuff in there, but I am still not convinced we will be speeding up our take-off anytime soon. As with any new methodology or software system, there is a learning curve and lots of lost time trying to ramp up into an efficient use of the system. As we used it, we had to keep our sites on where we want to take it, how it will be integrated into our current system and methods. Of course, we always find a few new ideas and inspirations along the way which have us wondering whether we need to change our current methods.

Change can be good. But it can also slow you down and cause a huge interruption to your schedule. Change can cause you to lose sight and focus of the tasks at hand, like daydreaming. Change is an interruption. Changing an entire methodology, especially one like estimating, can really cause some serious confusion.

So as we venture deeper into CAD estimating systems and On-Screen TakeOff, we need to make sure we consider the lost time due to research and development and not allow this time to interrupt our flow and efficiency. After all, the deadlines don't care you are using and learning a new system.

Estimating My Social Network

2009-05-11T11:00:00.000-07:00

I am writing an upcoming column for Electrical Contractor called 'Estimating Your Social Network'. It's about how the trend of Social Networking has entered into our daily lives, what is actually doing for us as estimators/bosses/sales people, whether or not it has a profitable functionality for business owners... and how it potentially has interrupted our work schedules (yes, I said "interrupted").

It is quite amazing how connected we all are now. With just a simple click of the mouse, I can "connect myself to thousands of industry professionals, just like you (me)." I can also keep up with my 68 friends and family too, as well as post any one of the 15 deeper thoughts I have on cheddar cheese. So don't get me wrong, I see some very viable use for Social Networking.

However, from the view of a business owner/boss/chief estimator who possibly has employees engaging in this 'social' activity during their workday, I do have some serious concerns. The last thing my business (and my clients) need is my estimators taking time out of their very busy work day to develop their social network. Now, what they do on their own time (breaks, lunches, before/after work) is none of my business and I have no issue with any time they may spend doing this. But while they are at work, I want them to be working - period. I want them to be 100% focused on their (my client's) projects and my business.

We already have the continuing interruption of personal calls and text messages coming in through cell phones, plus the addictive attraction of the internet. Now we've added another layer of distraction. I believe there is a strong cause for concern over this, especially during economic times where the level of productivity can make or break a struggling business. Perhaps the recession was partly caused by millions of employees all spending 30 minutes a day networking on the internet?

(Back to me... a business owner who (so I am told by experts) needs to be as deep into this stuff as I possible can be.)
There is a concern I have of being left behind or becoming obsolete in a business environment which has embraced the Social Networking trend (we will see how long this last). I am concerned that I only have 21 confirmed links on my LinkedIn account, whereas some people have at least 6,000 or more. I must be doing something wrong? Perhaps I'm watching way too much TV or playing too much music at night? Maybe I'm just not putting enough time into Linked-in during my work day?

Now, I'm sure there is some expert out there who will say "Stan, you just need to put in a little time each day..." And I'm sure they are right. However, let's just say "a little" time each day consists of 15 minutes. For me, I would be putting in 15 minutes into LinkedIn, FaceBook, Twitter and my blog. That's 1-hour easy!

So just when did I get this extra hour of time? Did I just add it to my day and now I am working 10 hours instead of 9 (actually it's 13 instead of 12, but who's really counting?). Speaking of which, I just spent about 1.5 hours writing this blog post. Of course, for me, it's all part of my job... so it was not wasted time. However, my schedule is really screwed for today and i will most certainly be working late tonight.

More to come on all this in the upcoming EC Mag column. Until then, perhaps we will Link-in or catch each other on facebook and maybe share a few tweets.

Captain's Log, Star Date 05112009... day 531 of the recession

2009-05-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been over a week since my last blog post (which was a pretty weak one at that, but like I said, "I needed to land some work!"). So I did, and I am in a much better position this week to take a few minutes and update you all on what's going on, what I think and... hopefully, give you something to think about.

First (and this is not something to think about... it is something you must do ASAP) - GO SEE STAR TREK! What a great show! Best movie of the year so far and (in my movie opinion) blew 'Wolverine' out the door (chick flicks are now violent and Hugh Jackman was posing way too much for the camera).

Now, I'm not a "trekkie" to any extreme (if you want to see some real trekkies, rent a documentary called "Trekkies" http://www.trekdoc.com/... it may just make you feel a bit better about that golf, fishing or model train set obsession you have.) Anyway... Star Trek kicked some serious space-butt. The kid who played Kirk had Shatner down so good, that I am still wondering if they CGI'd his facial ticks and expressions. Hmmmm? Hollywood is hard to trust these days. As for the rest of the cast, they were all great and the story line was a lot of fun. It was all very trekkie and, as my wife will confirm, it is definately the best Star Trek movie ever made, maybe the best Star Trek episode ever?

Okay, so enough movie stuff... onward to the electrical construction industry (not nearly as much fun, but it pays the bills for the fun)....

So I landed a bunch of work last week and have been told more is on its way this week (a huge WOO HOO! comes from Stan's office). This is very good for me and especially for my TakeOff16 estimators, who were all very eager to see the return of crazy deadlines and more work than they can possible finish in a week's time. I'm sure their moment of celebration will pass as soon as they realize they will be working next weekend - sorry guys, don't make any plans ;) (I wonder if they even read my blog? Maybe I should make it a mandatory policy?)

It is also a highly encouraging moment for all of us (that means you) as we may be seeing a sign of the economy releasing it's death-grip on our industry. Personally, and I am no economist, I think business owners and contractors are starting to relax a bit on the future. I think the reality that we all need to make things happen is starting to spread faster than the swine flu. For now, I am keeping my optimism at Level Orange.

No time to blog! It's time to land some work.

2009-05-01T07:19:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone!

Sorry the blogging has been very sparse and inconsistent. I've been swamped trying to catch-up with life and business after my week away last week. There must have been 100 emails waiting for me to answer (and I was answering emails while I was gone last week!).

I've got so many ideas and thoughts I need to get posted, but I also must stay focused on bringing in some billable work - of which there is very little. In fact, if any of you reading this need any help bidding more projects - GIVE ME A CALL NOW!!! (please, thank you.)

So, stay posted, keep checking in with the blog... new stuff will be showing up soon.
Now, everyone get back to work!!!

By the time I get back from Phoenix

2009-04-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

Whew! I'm back. Sorry I haven't posted anything since Thursday, but I took a few days off after the McCormick conference and I locked my computer in a vault so it couldn't taunt me into playing with it. So... here's the latest and greatest:

The McCormick User's Conference really was a great event. Friday's 1-hour lecture went much better than Thursday's, I think, though everyone seemed to enjoy both equally. Again, what a great event Todd McCormick and team put on.

So much information to pack into only 2 days, but they did a great job with it. Not only did I learn many things I never knew about the program, but I am also super-psyched on the upcoming features in v9.1. They really do a super job with listening and giving their users what they ask for. Way to go McProgrammers!

There were also some great presentations from NetPricer, Autodesk Project and OnCenter's On-Screen Takeoff (which I bought and will be using very soon - more on that as I master it).

They closed the show with a great night out at Chase Field ballpark where the Arizona Diamondback's got smacked hard by the SF Giants (sorry AZ, I can't help it if I just happen to be from the SF area). McCormick set us all up in the right-field box suites, fully catered and they even brought by the World Series Trophy, which my wife almost got arrested for touching! (and she doesn't even like baseball!)

The bus trip back to the hotel was funny and I was able to get most of the bus to sing along on Neil Diamond's 'Sweet Caroline' (ba ba ba). Kudo's to all of you who joined in and let go of your "too cool for school" attitudes. For a moment, we were all back on the school field trip's bus ride home. A bit nostalgic, but a lot of fun.

I met so many great people at the conference and we all had some excellent conversations on estimating, the electrical industry and all things centered around it. I want to thank everyone again for all their support and continued "fanship" - it was very humbling to know how many of you like what I am saying. Now I must work even harder not to let any of you down.

Well, it is back to work now. It's Tuesday and I feel as if I am a week behind it all. So much for taking a bit of time off. Stay posted for my next few posts, which will be more estimating specific and less "me, me, me!" (it is the way of the blog I fear)

Update from the McCormick User's Conference

2009-04-23T20:34:00.000-07:00

Thursday - April 23rd, 8:35 p.m.

What a great day at the conference today! Todd McCormick and his team have put on a great event.

They kicked it off last night with a fantastic dinner reception. Lots of McCormsters (I just made that up) mingling, catching up with old friends, meeting new ones. I hooked up with 'the Canadians' for an after-reception beer slam. Great guys and a lot of fun to talk with. Canadians are so mellow and happy. However, the 4th Corona may have been a mistake on my part. It was a tough night after that. That's all I can say about that.

Today's conference was fantastic and I learned so much. Some great speakers and discussions, lots of good questions from the audience. One of the coolest things is meeting all my peers and swapping estimating stories, tips and tricks. I think this is where these types of events really pay off. You get to meet people who are all doing the same thing as you are and relate to everything you go through. It is good to be around my fellow estimators.

They demo'd the On-Screen Takeoff program and how it interfaces with McCormick. Awesome! I wish I had bought this last year. I'll be getting the program tomorrow. If your not using it, you need to be. Get a demo ASAP - you'll be blown away.

My lecture today, "How to review an estimate" went well (or so I am told, I didn't feel 100% with it. Maybe the Coronas had something to do with that? Hmmmmm?). It was tough trying to get all I had prepped into a 1 hour lecture. But you do what you can with the time you are given. Tomorrow is a 1-hour abbreviated talk on "How to Set-up, Train and Manage you estimating department" - 1 hour? Yikes!

I was also very humbled by all the 'EC Mag' fans coming up to me thanking me for all the articles, telling me how much they help. A very happy experience for me at a time when I really needed it. Thanks everyone! More great articles on their way!
Stan

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

2009-04-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

Oh boy! Spring is in the air and so are a lot of really tall people. Although this seemingly has nothing to do with the electrical construction industry, there is a indirect connection. For without all the pipe, wire, light fixtures, safety equipment and low voltage systems, we would never be able to hold professional basketball games let alone see them on TV. So the World should thank every electrician they know - especially the really tall ones!

40 games in 40 nights! My toughest challenge will be scheduling all my work so I can catch each and every one of them. I'm a bit freaky when it comes to the NBA Finals. My pick this year? Well, I'd like to see Lebron vs. Kobe in The Finals - and I'd like to see Lebron grab the ring.
http://www.nba.com/playoffs2009/series/

PRODUCTIVITY REPORT CARD: YESTERDAY'S GONE

2009-04-09T06:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sure many of you (well, maybe 6 of you) are wondering how I did yesterday with my quest to achieve "6 full hours of actual, productive work" - the key word being "productive" and not "actual". Okay, well...I'll tell you.

I think I did okay, giving myself about a B+. I'd love to say A-, but I just don't think I really achieved all I should have (notice I didn't say "could have").

Looking back, I can see a few moments where I let the time get away from me; answering emails I'm sure I could have waited on, taking that 1 phone call from a friend (who apparently had all his work done), a bit too much organizing (damn this OCD), and that 20 minutes of 'free' phone consulting with a client who still owes me money.

As for my success, well, my 2-hours of "personal" errands I had to run went well and only ran a 1/2 hour over. But, I got my taxes picked up, met with a contractor at my house (busted fence) and was actually able to get in a quiet, sit-down lunch in my backyard. Of course, most of this was made possible by the fact I left my cell phone on my desk at the office. Hmmmmmm? There's something to think on.

So my realistic tally is that in my 12 hour day (I got to the office at 7 and left at 7), I achieved about 5 hours of fully productive, "billable" work. Then I had about 1.5 hours of training and mentoring a CAD/Title 24 job, another hour of strategy and project scheduling, my 2-hour personal stuff + a 1/2 hour lunch, and a 1/2 hour writing my daily blog (the one which inspired this 1/2 hour of work).

So, that's at least 9.5 hours and I'm sure there was 1-1/2 hours of just lost time doing who knows what. Making coffee, reading the internet, responding to emails, something. It is possible some of this time was actually work related as most things in my life are.

My point on all of this is that most of us probably never really think about how much actual work we are getting done. We return home each day saying, "wow, that was a long day at work." But was it long because we were actually doing so much work? Or was it long because we allowed ourselves to lose focus and invited interruptions into our day? Did we use our time wisely or did we waste it? Could we have turned a 12 hour day into a 9 or a 10 day and still achieve the same amount of work? Are we "living" at our jobs or "working" at our jobs?

Well, I don't have the answers for any of you...that's not my role here. I just think about these things and pose the questions. I have my own battles to fight. Speaking of which, this 1/2 hour is up and I need to get to work.

Today's Goal: Achieve 6 full hours of productive work without interruption

2009-04-08T08:36:00.000-07:00

Can I do it? 6 "full" hours of productive work... today...without allowing interruptions. Hmmmm? A very daunting task indeed.

As it is already 8:30 a.m. and I have been at the office since 7:30 a.m., 1 hour has already passed. Now, in this hour I have at least a 1/2 hour of productivity by meeting with 2 of my estimators, laying out their day of work and discussing an ongoing project. So this is good. The other 1/2 hour we will call "non-productive" as it was spent getting nestled into my chair, activating my computer, opening outlook, warming my coffee and 1 other 5 minute thing I don't need to discuss here.

Which then leads me to my continuing effort to post my daily blog, which I guess I should consider as "productive work" as part of my job these days is to write this blog. So, the tally so far is pretty good: at 8:41 a.m., I have achieved @41 minutes of real, "productive work" time.

What about you? As you read this blog, can you look back at your day so far and honestly realize how much 'productive' work you have accomplished? Can you also identify how much 'non-productive' work you have spent? Was it necessary? Was it habitual? Why did it occur? Are you just lazy or did someone else cause it? If someone else’s fault, did you allow it to happen? So therefore maybe it was your fault? Could you have prevented this "wasted time" from happening? Should you have?

It's tough to point fingers at yourself and cast blame on all your faults. The "positive" people absolutely frown on such ideas. But if you don't take a really hard look at who you are and what you do, how you work and the mistakes you make in maintaining productivity - you may find yourself trapped in a perpetual cycle of being unproductive. Which is just not good for anyone; your company, your family (did you work late last night trying to "catch up"?) and most importantly... yourself (did you have to pass on a round of golf or hike with the kids because you had too much work left on the table?).

Why only 6 hours? Well, I keep my goals realistic and I do know there will be a fair amount of unexpected interruptions - there always are. I could consider these as "productive" work, especially those which involve talking with clients. However, I am primarily thinking of my "billable" productive work. I also know of a couple personal appointments I have today, which are basically interruptions and will impact any flow of efficiency I create.

So, it's now 8:50 a.m. and I am still holding onto this blog moment as part of my 6 hour goal of "productive" time. If I can actually stop writing and close out this blog posting by 9:00, I will have achieved 1 full hour of productivity so far today. This means I only have 5 more to go before I feel like an Olympic Gold Medalist! Of course, I must do this before 5:00 today, which means I only have 8 hours left to get it all done. In these 8 hours is a 2 hour 'personal time' interruption, so really I only have 6 hours. I need to eat lunch (and shouldn't do so at my desk). So maybe I can get that done in a 1/2 hour... leaving me with 5-1/2 hours to get it all done.

And what about you? How well is your 'productive time' scheduled today? What are your goals? Did you make a 'To-Do' list? Is it realistic? Is it prioritized? Can you get it all done? Did you factor in the 5 minutes of reading this blog? Hmmmm?

How about the time it might take to read this article on organizing your time? Do you have the time to read this article? Is reading this a priority? (I think so, especially if it will help you get more organized, but I'm a bit biased with my writing.)
http://www.ecmag.com/?fa=article&articleID=6334

Well, I better get to it. It's now 9:10... I'm already 10 minutes behind! Tick tock....

2 lectures at McCormick's Annual User's Conference - April 23rd & 24th

2009-04-07T11:53:00.000-07:00

Wow. You finish one lecture and its right back into the next one... or two actually. I'm currently preparing for and writing 2 new, 1-hour lectures for the upcoming McCormick Estimating Systems Annual User's Conference.

The conference takes place April 22nd through the 25th. I will be speaking on the 23rd and 24th, and will also be attending the entire conference - so there will be plenty of time to get to talk with me (or listen to me talk).

Here's the info on the seminar, I'm sure it's not too late to get in on it:
http://www.mccormicksys.com/

Let me know if you plan on attending, I'll make sure to connect with you at the seminar. Hope to see you there!
--
Stan

"Never surrender, never give up"

2009-04-06T08:30:00.001-07:00

I have 2 Aussie Cattle dogs and this story confirms my belief they are the most amazing, smartest, toughest and most resourceful dogs on the planet. The lesson we should all take away from this pooch's adventure: Never surrender, never give up!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090406/od_afp/australiaanimaldogoffbeat

Issa Dog

Cassidy (also know just as "D" or "Mr. D.")

Don't Give Up the Fight! The Recession is not forever.

2009-04-01T09:40:00.001-07:00

There's so much chatter, talk, scary Yahoo headlines, vague news clips, radio-heads screaming at each other (and I'm not talking about the band either), You Tube videos, facebook postings, LinkedIn group discussions and other twitterings about this damn recession - it's a wonder anyone is getting any work done at all.

In my opinion, we are all way too busy wasting our time with our iPhones, making You Tube videos of our kittens and kids, telling each other about what we are eating on twitter, watching the news and, I'm sorry if this offends anyone, complaining about "how screwed we all are."

Well, as much as there is some serious hypocrisy going on here as I write this blog (and you reading it), I really feel that someone needs to slap us all in the face (not facebook) and say, "HEY! EVERYONE! SHUT UP AND GET BACK TO WORK!"

And I'm not talking about that "dot.com" work we've all been slacking around on for the past 10 years. I'm talking about real blood, sweat and tears kind of work folks! (They are also a great band!) We've had it way too easy for far too long and guess what? We are now paying the price for it all...and what a HUGE price it is. The only way anyone will come out of the other side of this recession is by staying in the fight until the end. We have no need for those who simply give up and decide to put all their energy into complaining about it.

And for those of you who have lost your jobs, well, I'm sad this has happened. But I say to you that you must not give up. Keep applying for the jobs/career you want, the one you know you are good at. If you need more education, now's the time to get it. Train and educate yourself as much as you can. Become vital, necessary; somebody a successful company would want on their team.

If you can't get your dream job, well, just get a job...any job. Life isn't fair and there never were any promises (if there were then they lied to you). Stay busy, stay functional and make as much money as you can doing anything you can find. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is above cleaning a bathroom, taking out the trash, sweeping the streets or (dare I say to the affluent types) picking vegetables. Heck, go help the old woman who lives across the street, offer to take her to the grocery store, clean her yard, paint her house. While you're at it, offer to take out her trash. Strong opinions, I know. But doing nothing is total failure in my book and you are not helping anyone, especially yourself.

So, now that I've taken up (not wasted I hope) 10 minutes of your precious time ranting, I want to offer something helpful to your fight against the recession. Go to the EC Mag archives and read the following articles. There's good stuff in here about a couple of key things you can do to fight back the recession and come out on the other side a winner.

Develop, Revisit and/or Rewrite your Business Plan
http://www.ecmag.com/index.cfm?fa=article&articleID=6932

Never Stop Bidding Work
http://www.ecmag.com/?fa=article&articleID=8712

Hire an Outsource Estimator (so you can bid more jobs!)
http://www.ecmag.com/?fa=article&articleID=6608

Read my archived articles on Electrical Contractor Mag's web site!

2009-03-30T12:03:00.000-07:00

Not only is Electrical Contractor the best magazine in our industry, it is also a really cool, well put together magazine with tons of educational and product information every estimator should be studying.

Don't just scan through the advertisements either. There are many great feature articles, columns and other industry news which can help keep you current and up-to-date with the latest industry trends, methods, personalities (me!) and especially all the latest from the Solar, Wind, Green, LEED and other Renewables industries.

Another great thing about the magazine is they have an archives section where you can read all of my past estimating columns (and other writers too!). http://www.ecmag.com/authors/?fa=view&id=27

Seriously, EC Mag and www.ecmag.com should be a daily read and review for ALL electrical estimators, electricians, project managers and owners - especially all of you who are just starting your careers. I highly recommend this magazine!

So check it out:
--
Stan

Another Lecture in the Can!

2009-03-18T18:00:00.001-07:00

Well, it is over. Whew! Another lecture notch in my belt.

The lecture went great. Somehow (not such a mystery to those who know me), I was able to talk for 3-1/2 hours and nobody left the room before I stopped. So, I will take that as a sign they liked what I was saying.

However, the success needs to be shared with my great audience, for without them I would have been talking to the walls (I really would have, but it wouldn't have been as much fun). Thanks to everyone who came to hear me talk, I truly appreciated your presence. I think we all had a very good time and your questions, thoughts, comments were excellent and right on-target with where I was trying to lead you. You made my job easy.

I know I gave you tons to think about and ponder; ,but you may return home with even more questions, thoughts and comments. If you do, please send them on to me and I will gladly reply with any thoughts and knowledge I can spare.

In fact, please send me your email addresses, Skype contact info, Linkedin, etc. so we can stay in better touch.

Don't forget your homework assignment (Bid Schedule) and have fun setting up, training and managing that estimating department! You are on the right track to success and survival in the new economy.

For those of you who couldn't attend, well, let's see what we can do about that in the near future.
Thanks again everyone! VIVA LAS VEGAS!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

2009-03-17T20:18:00.000-07:00

It's not too late to get in on my lecture at the Electric West Show in Las Vegas on March 18th at the Las Vegas Convention Center. I hope to see you there!

Here's are the details:
How to Set-up, Train and Manage Your Estimating Department
Session # W 10
Date/Venue Wednesday, 03/18/2009 1:00PM - 4:30PM , Room N 240

Description
Meeting deadlines on multiple projects presents intense challenges. In addition, there are even deeper challenges in scheduling, organizing, directing, training and reviewing the work of multiple estimators. In this session, attendees will gain deep insight into these challenges and will be provided with many tips and tricks on how to develop and manage one’s own estimating department. Regardless of size, building a real estimating department is vital to the success of a contracting business. This session will also discuss bidding strategies, how to select projects to bid, and many other related topics.

Electric West Home Page

Estimating the Sun: Make sure you don’t get burned

2009-03-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

– by Stan Shook, Copyright 2007
(first published in Electrical Contractor Magazine)

“Mama always told me not to look into the eyes of the sun. But mama, that’s where the fun is.” - Bruce Springsteen - 1973

The future is looking brighter as Solar Power Systems are becoming more common on commercial and industrial projects. For electrical contractors, this rapidly growing market offers great potential to make money. For their estimators, it adds another costly system to estimate – one which carries a great potential for losing the company money if not estimated right.

There are 3 basic parts to most Solar and similar alternative power systems such as Wind Generation and Potato Fields (Hey! I was told they have them in Idaho).

1 – The Power Distribution System (PDS). We know a lot about this system as we encounter it on most projects. This is the Main Switchboard, distribution panels, transformers, disconnects and their associated feeders. This system, unless existing, is always part of the electrical contractor’s scope of work.

2 - The Power Conversion System (PCS). This is typically the AC/DC Power Inverter. Sometimes this is a complete, single point-of-connection, packaged unit. It can also consist of several pieces of equipment; often an isolation transformer and disconnect switches on both the line and load sides.

3 – The Power Generation System (PGS). This system is the Solar or Photovoltaic System, the Windmill, or the Potato Field.

System’s 2 and 3 are usually up for grabs by either the ‘certified’ electrical contractor (EC) or a specialty contractor. If an EC is not certified or experienced with installing solar systems, or is not a manufacturer’s representative and therefore can’t purchase the system components – they will probably need to get a sub-contractor quotation for a complete, “turn-key” installation. The EC would then be responsible for primary voltage (120v – 600v) connections only. The actual installation of the PCS & PGS would be by the specialty subcontractor. However, the EC still needs to clarify with the sub as to who is responsible for furnishing and installing the AC/DC Inverter unit and any related components.

Knowing your company’s exact scope of work versus your solar subcontractor’s scope of work is critical. When you solicit a subcontractor’s quotation, you need to make sure they include everything you are responsible for. You must also coordinate and clarify each other’s exact scope of work and what each of you will or will not be furnishing and installing. For example: you wouldn’t want the sub to omit $50k in labor for equipment you assumed they were installing.
More questions to ask your sub: Who is responsible for furnishing and installing the wires from the combiner boxes to the solar arrays? Who is responsible for terminating the wires at the combiner boxes and at the solar arrays? Who is responsible for making sure the entire system is bonded?

Everything’s connected
The PDS 1-Line will typically consist of the primary power equipment with feeder(s) to each AC/DC Inverter. At the Inverter, there should be a disconnect switch on both the ‘line’ and ‘load’ sides. These will most likely be furnished and installed by the EC. Remember, some Inverters are complete packed units, so you must know whether or not to include these disconnect switches. Again, you need to confirm this with your sub or equipment vendors.

Leaving the Inverter, there will be a DC power feeder heading out to each Combiner Box. Sometimes this is a short distance, sometimes a few hundred feet or more. From the Combiner Boxes a series of wires heads out to connect to each of the Solar Panel Arrays. Usually these wires are run in conduits to metal wire-ways which run the width of the Solar Panel Arrays. Typically this wire is a #10 gauge copper, usually 2 for each array series.

The Solar Panel Arrays are last. These are usually installed by the specialty sub-contractor (unless that’s your company). They come action-packed with mounting brackets, stanchions, specialty cables, clips and a whole bunch of nuts and bolts. They are often installed on the roof of a high building or parking structure. So if you are estimating the labor to install them, you should consider factoring the labor.

Do it by the Code Book!
Often times the branch circuitry and feeder systems for the PGS are not properly designed. Sometimes the designs come from a “boilerplate” design-spec issued by the Photovoltaic System Manufacturer and many electrical engineers in the industry just don’t have a clue as to what they are doing.

As solar panels generate DC voltage, positive/ negative (+/-), a ground wire is not always required. However, you should always check the specifications, wiring schematics and verify any special requirements with the Solar System manufacturer or sub-contractor.
You need to know your NEC and even the local codes. Check the specs and notes to find out if the engineer has asked for more “spare capacity” than the NEC requires. Also make sure you check your wire and conduit sizes, your distances and installation environments. Perform some voltage drop calculations. Per NEC, you may have to increase your wire size, which may require you to increase your conduit and wire-way sizes.

Solar Systems are pretty simple to estimate once you get familiar with them. If you do all your homework, ask the right questions, coordinate the scope with your sub and make sure you cover all necessary materials and labor costs - your future should be bright, sunny and free of any burns.
--