Electrical estimating fundamentals

Most electricians lose money on jobs they "won." Not because they can't do the work, but because the estimate was built on guesses, fuzzy labor rates, and numbers that never accounted for what an hour on the job actually costs. This session walks through electrical estimating the way it works in the real world: how to tell an estimate from a bid from a quote, how to build a burdened labor rate from your own costs, how to recover overhead honestly, and how to assemble it all into a five-line estimate you can defend. We also cover the ten estimating mistakes that kill profit, when to walk away from a bid, and why job costing is the feedback loop that makes every future estimate sharper. Whether you're pricing your first commercial job or you've been bidding for years and want to tighten up the math, this is the foundation everything else sits on. CHAPTERS 00:00 Electrical Estimating Fundamentals 00:30 What you will be able to do by the end 01:06 Estimate vs Bid vs Quote: Know What You Are Signing 02:00 Direct Costs, Indirect Costs, and Overhead 02:56 Labor Units: The Industry Language of Estimating 04:00 Material Pricing and Waste Factors 04:51 The Burdened Labor Rate: What an Hour Really Costs You 06:01 Overhead Recovery: Turning Monthly Costs into an Hourly Number 07:10 Markup vs Margin: The Math That Protects Your Profit 08:28 Assembling the Full Estimate: The Five-Line Build 09:50 Reading Plans and Specs for Scope Gaps 10:52 Allowances and Alternates: Pricing What Is Not Decided Yet 11:52 The Ten Estimating Mistakes That Kill Profit 12:58 Contingency: Sizing the Cushion Honestly 13:50 Presenting the Number Internally Before It Goes Out 14:37 The Estimate Review Checklist 15:30 When to Walk Away from a Bid 16:18 Job Costing: The Feedback Loop That Sharpens Estimates 17:12 Unit Pricing vs Detailed Takeoff 18:06 Software vs Spreadsheet vs Paper 19:01 Bid Day Procedure and Deadlines 19:53 Ethics of Bid Shopping and Bid Peddling 20:46 Key Takeaways 21:31 Standards and References 22:21 Review Questions Open Book Advantage teaches tradespeople how to find, verify, and apply the right information under pressure, whether that's on an exam or on a bid. More training at openbookadvantage.com. #ElectricalEstimating #Electrician #ConstructionBusiness #Estimating #ElectricalContractor #TradesTraining #OpenBookAdvantage