Recently I had the misfortune of being asked to estimate a school renovation project in New Jersey. I say misfortune because it was the worst set of drawings I have ever received and I don’t mean since starting an electrical estimating service, I mean ever! The project consisted of approximately seventy five electrical drawings alone.…
Have you ever wanted to perform design assist electrical budgets in hopes of generating more revenue for your company? Providing electrical estimating budgets can give electrical contractors an edge over the competition that bidding standard projects does not. Basically there are three phases to electrical design assist budgets that you need to understand and they…
People start businesses everyday. Some people are driven by visions of grandeur or wealth. Others want freedom and flexibility that they perceive comes with owning their own company. Some are simply thrust into the situation without a lot of choice (yes that does happen)! The vast majority of the new electrical contractors are people who…
2016 was an interesting year for DBP Electrical Consulting. The political season ushered in a feeling of optimistic caution among most of the electrical contractors I dealt with. As a whole the year was very similar to 2015 in the USA but I saw a dramatic slowdown north of the border with my clients in…
The CERT (Consulting Estimators Round Table) winter conference was held last week on February 13th in beautiful and warm Scottsdale Arizona. It was a welcome break from the long Colorado winter. Carl Cathcart and his wife Mary was our de facto host and hostess. They took us around and introduced is to some of the…
Seasons Greetings from DBP Electrical Consulting! It’s hard to believe that 2014 is all but a memory. Overall DBP Electrical Consulting had a great year! There were some bumps along the way but in the end we finished with five straight years of growth. Through the year we worked on projects all over the United…
Construction news services such as ISQFT or The Bluebook provide a great source for projects to bid. For a new electrical contractor it provides a way for the company to get their name out in front of potential clients. Nothing speaks better of your company than a professional looking proposal with a competitive number. On…
DBP Electrical Consulting is proud to announce that as of January 2014 it will be offering module based on-line / home study electrical estimator training. This training will provide everything you need to get you on your way to becoming a professional electrical estimator! The individual modules can be purchased separately to help reduce the…
Many electrical contractors see change orders as a means of improving their profit margins on jobs. Just as many use it as a bidding strategy when they see poorly designed drawings. This thought process drives me crazy! The owner of the project paid the engineering firm good money to design and draw their electrical project.…
Recently David Parden of DBPEC was invited to teach a basic electrical estimating 101 class at the American Society of Cost Segregation Professionals (ASCSP) 6th annual national conference in Denver. It was a great opportunity to network with folks we do not normally get to in our day-to-day affairs of construction and budget estimating. It…
