What is estimating?

  • Preparing pricing estimates of structural and miscellaneous steel, including developing a takeoff of all material and labor required for the project. Takeoffs are from structural steel drawings or architectural drawings. ASI uses BlubeamREVU for material takeoffs. And Tekla ERP estimating program for all estimates.
  • Working with outside vendors to request and receive project specific pricing to meet firm deadlines
  • Coordinating with teammates to ensure a complete bid package with a thorough understanding of the project schedule, project  requirements and our sales needs
  • Making initial contact with General Contractors and potential customers
  • Being responsible for completion of the final bid proposal and emailing it to contractors by bid time and date

What is Esti-modeling?

Project Management and Approach

American Steel intends to estimate, manage, and coordinate all aspects of this project with 3D models, starting with an esti-model in collaboration with any design data available. In this procedure American Steel would build a model of the structure in SDS/2 (detailing software) first. During this process coordination between the detailer and the engineer can happen at the model level using native model exports from a variety of engineering systems rather than outputting everything through 2D representations. With a preliminary model available American Steel and the erector can review the structure for fabrication and erection concerns in a 3D space where misinterpretations can be cut down dramatically. An early version of the a project is shown below, using 50% DD Plans for layout and scaling.

Once approaches are established American Steel can use that very same model to apply labor estimates in our ERP system and price out material options. This ties all material requirements to their 3D representations and vendors can quote true nested shapes to make most efficient use of stock shapes, as opposed to weight-based estimates.

Labor application is handled automatically using a catalog of formulas that are routinely tested and refined with every project we participate in. Past uses of these formulas are linked directly to shop production tools allowing operators performing the task to not only see the labor time goals but also give feedback on a piece-by-piece method in addition to time tracking performed by the operations manager.