Producing inaccurate estimates can be disastrous for a contracting company, with a negative impact on efficiency, profitability and reputation, warns Amtech, a Trimble company.

“The accuracy of the estimate is fundamental to both winning jobs in the first place and managing them efficiently and profitably once they have been won,” observes Amtech’s Tina Mitchell, Director of Customer Services.

“Bidding too high, or too low, can have a negative impact on win-rate while low bids increase financial risk – just a 1% under estimate on labour costs could result in thousands of pounds in losses on a large project. Furthermore, any inaccuracies will be noticed by others, to the detriment of your reputation,” she added.

To highlight the potential risk areas of inaccurate estimating in more detail, and to explore ways to increase the accuracy of bids, software provider to the building services industry, Amtech has published a White Paper titled ‘Reducing Risk in Estimating’, which can be downloaded free of charge at www.amtech.co.uk/reducing-risk.