WHAT DOES AN ESTIMATING MANAGER DO?
Updated: Jun 12, 2025 - The Estimating Manager oversees the estimating team to achieve monthly sales targets and maintain client relationships for business growth. Responsible for tender management, negotiations, and ensuring compliance with company policies in all quotations and contracts. Focused on pricing strategies, project handovers, and continuous team development aligned with strategic objectives.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Estimating Manager
1. Estimating Manager Duties
- Management Systems: Responsible for consistently implementing management systems and practices, including the authority to assume or assign duties and responsibilities explicitly depicted in the descriptions of other position titles.
- Customer Satisfaction: Accountable for customer satisfaction, quality of estimates, competitiveness of estimates, and the estimated financial performance of assigned projects.
- Business Development: Responsible for supporting business development and ongoing development of the company’s ability to compete in the marketplace.
- Pricing Estimates: Finalize pricing estimates.
- Relationship Management: Develop strong relationships with subcontractors, suppliers, customers, and designers.
- Training & Leadership: Provide on-the-job training for estimators assigned to projects and serve as Estimating Team Leader.
- Team Management: Manage and direct Senior Estimators, Estimators, and others in the estimating department.
- Employee Management: Responsible for overall direction and management of employees.
- Skill Development: Work closely with Senior Estimators to identify and develop management skills.
- HR & Performance: Interview and train employees, plan, assign, and direct work, oversee professional development, performance improvement, and progressive discipline of employees, address complaints, and resolve problems.
- Bonding Compliance: Work closely with the Bonding Agent to ensure proposal bond requirements are met.
- Regulatory Compliance: Manage and maintain SOX compliance.
2. Electrical Estimating Manager Details
- Project Selection: Work with management to track and select projects to bid.
- Bid Management: Manage the bid team throughout the entire process.
- Quantity Takeoff: Quantify project components.
- Site Evaluation: Visit the project site to understand site conditions and restrictions.
- Specification Analysis: Develop a clear understanding of project specifications.
- Procurement Coordination: Work with procurement to ensure that necessary subcontractors and vendors are contacted.
- Cost Estimation: Prepare a cost estimate in Accubid for materials, equipment, utilities, timeline, and required workers.
- Bid Review: Lead bid review meetings with management.
- Subcontractor Selection: Select subcontractor and vendor teams and close the bid.
- Proposal Preparation: Advise and assist in preparing bid forms, conceptual estimates, and negotiated proposals.
- Estimate Review: Review all final estimates to ensure accuracy and completeness.
- Cost Tracking: Track historical costs and ensure they are used in pricing.
- Process Development: Develop policies and procedures related to the bid process.
3. Estimating Manager Responsibilities
- Team Management: Managing the estimating team to ensure monthly sales targets are achieved.
- Client Relations: Managing client relationships to maintain and develop business opportunities.
- Tender Management: Completing and reviewing all tenders, ensuring they are submitted within specified client deadlines and that inclusions and exclusions are clearly defined in the submission letter.
- Negotiation: Conducting tender negotiations with both suppliers and clients.
- Project Handover: Ensuring the effective handover of all awarded projects to the project delivery team.
- Contract Review: Reviewing closed contracts and measuring results to analyze data for future bids.
- Pricing Strategy: Developing pricing strategies to maximize profitability while maintaining a competitive advantage.
- Team Development: Developing and growing the Estimating Team in line with strategic objectives.
- Compliance: Ensuring all quotations, contracts, and RAMS are executed in strict accordance with company policies and procedures.
- Commercial Support: Assisting with commercial, technical, and contract matters relating to quotations and orders.
- Document Management: Maintaining all contract documentation efficiently and in compliance with company policies and procedures.
4. Sales and Estimating Manager Accountabilities
- Business Development: Securing business through sales and marketing strategies in line with targets and turnover set by the shareholders and board of directors.
- Cost Estimation: Prepare cost estimates from detailed drawings from a range of sources, including customers' outline plans or original designs, relative to specific contracts and in line with company, customer, and regulatory requirements.
- Reporting: Report to the Managing Director regarding any problems or concerns or suggested improvements relating to pricing or the smooth running of contracts.
- Contract Management: Ensure that any variations or changes to contracts are identified and brought to the client’s attention, with any related costs charged accordingly.
- Bid Management: Ensure the development and delivery of bids in the Region.
- Team Engagement: Ensure engagement of the Estimators / Operations Department in the bids.
- Innovation Promotion: Engage with the Technical Solutions Department to promote innovation and technical excellence in offers.
- Bid Governance: Supervise the implementation of bid governance requirements.
- Client Follow-up: Follow up on the offers submitted to clients.
- Contract Negotiation: Contribute to contract negotiation and supervise the winning bids handover to the Operational Teams.
5. Sales and Estimating Manager Functions
- Growth Strategy: Contribute to the development and implementation of a growth strategy for the Northern Region of Freyssinet.
- Sales Objectives: Contribute to the definition of sales objectives for the Northern Region in alignment with the company’s objectives.
- Business Development: Build and maintain a robust pipeline of quality business opportunities.
- Commercial Strategy: Develop winning commercial and teaming strategies to increase the success ratio and grow order intake in the Region.
- Client Engagement: Engage regularly with clients and partners to analyze context, competition, and market potential.
- New Business: Identify opportunities for potential new clients and specific project targets with a view to turning them into new business.
- Client Growth: Grow opportunities with existing clients by presenting them with innovative technical solutions, products, and services.
- Promotional Activities: Explore and maximize promotional activities such as seminars and networking events (internal and external).
- Sales Reporting: Maintain updated sales reporting using the company CRM tool (Salesforce).
- Tender Strategy: Define tender strategy in relation to the opportunity, including partnering and pricing strategies in line with the company’s objectives.
- Bid Integration: Integrate with the estimating team to deliver successful bids.
6. Estimating Manager Job Description
- Tender Identification: Identify tender opportunities and monitor tender search, including ROIs, EOIs, and preliminary proposals.
- Bid Qualification: Manage the bid qualification process.
- Bid Management: Manage bid teams and inputs from a variety of stakeholders.
- Team Leadership: Manage and coach a small estimating team effectively.
- Tender Pricing: Manage and monitor the progress of tender pricing against trade budgets to identify problems and provide solutions.
- Contract Review: Review contract documents and conditions to identify key risks and propose mitigation strategies and management practices to minimize exposure.
- Compliance Management: Manage all compliance concerns with proposed contract provisions and contract conditions that will impact pricing and preliminaries.
- Stakeholder Relations: Develop and maintain relationships with key stakeholders (subcontractors, suppliers, engineers, etc.).
- Estimating Leadership: Lead estimates, establish templates, develop procurement schedules, and present first-principles methodology during reviews.
- Management Review: Attend and participate in review processes with senior management.
- Client Engagement: Attend post-tender discussions and client meetings.
7. Estimating Controls Manager Overview
- Stakeholder Collaboration: Work directly with project managers, design managers, finance controllers, and supply chain managers.
- Estimating Management: Lead and manage the estimating scope for a wide spectrum of construction projects to enable Intel business and manufacturing.
- Resource Planning: Develop resource plans for all projects, manage the resources, and update all trackers and indicators.
- Process Compliance: Provide estimating processes and procedures and ensure compliance on all projects.
- Estimate Review: Perform detailed estimate reviews for total project cost.
- Top-Down Estimation: Develop top-down estimates as needed in support of all projects.
- Market Research: Perform local market research to ensure a constant pulse is maintained in the industry.
- Trend Analysis: Set up and lead the trend log process to capture all design, market, execution, and procurement evolution.
- Scope Assumptions: Translate scope implications into scope assumptions for estimating.
- Risk Assessment: Lead and estimate major project risk assessments to ensure all estimates have comprehended the most probable cost outcome.
- Contract Negotiation: Support contract and bid negotiations.
8. Estimating Manager Details and Accountabilities
- Team Management: Manage a team of Estimators to ensure all client deliverables are submitted in a timely manner with the highest level of accuracy.
- Resource Allocation: Direct resources, prioritize tasks, and provide guidance to team members, performing supervisory activities, including but not limited to annual performance assessments, coaching, and counseling.
- System Development: Support the application of automated systems development to enhance Estimating tools, and manage complex MS Excel workbooks/MS Access databases.
- Leadership Briefing: Brief Senior Leadership Operations reviews (Strategic and Pricing Reviews) for approvals.
- Proposal Review: Prepare and review final pursuit proposals.
- Bid Estimation: Develop hard bid estimates start-to-finish for Industrials contracts, initiate and lead meetings as needed to achieve goals and dates, and follow up as needed to deliver competitive estimates minimizing scope gaps/misses.
- Estimating Ethics: Work with and lead other Estimators and project team members, encourage ethics in estimating, and be aggressive yet reasonable in strategically determining bid fees, buy-downs, and profit margins.
- Vendor Coordination: Coordinate with Procurement & Supply Management to obtain vendor quotes in support of detailed cost proposal development.
- Material Preparation: Prepare required material lists based on historical alignment with RFP workload data.
- Cost Breakdown: Prepare a detailed breakdown of cost elements of the respective RFP requirements and concept of operations.
- Historical Data Analysis: Accumulate, evaluate, and document historical cost data for the development of pricing factors for future estimates.
- Contract Review: Review contract documents/modifications/parameters to determine the scope of work and equitable cost allowance for scope changes.
- Process Improvement: Bring new ideas, processes, and procedures.
- Performance Enhancement: Adjust to enhance performance.
- Client Expansion: Conduct reviews with regional teams and eventually expand the client base.
- Sales Support: Support sales and operations.
9. Estimating Manager Tasks
- Tender Management: Manage and coordinate tender submission, directing the lead estimators, programmer, H&S, construction managers, and other parties that may be part of the bid team.
- Project Methodology: Provide input into project methodology and program, including innovative alternatives.
- Risk Assessment: Identify risks and opportunities.
- Budget Estimation: Build cost budget estimates from preliminary documents.
- Cost Management: Manage the build cost budgets as the design phase progresses.
- Detailed Estimation: Prepare detailed estimates from tender/consent documents.
- Subcontractor Analysis: Analyze subcontractor and supplier estimates.
- Stakeholder Relations: Build and maintain relationships with clients, consultants, subcontractors, and suppliers.
- Tender Review: Review full tender submission prepared by estimators, program, methodology, and non-price attributes for management sign-off prior to submission.
- Team Mentorship: Mentor and provide guidance to team members.
- Department Management: Manage all aspects of the estimating department.
- Cost Calculation: Calculate labor, material, and equipment costs to develop an estimate and bid proposal.
- Change Order Pricing: Prepare estimate prices on change orders for ongoing projects.
- Vendor Coordination: Obtain quotes from suppliers, subcontractors, and specified manufacturers to complete a materials and labor take-off.
- Bid Preparation: Prepare required bid forms and documents.
- Deadline Management: Complete work in a timely manner to meet bid schedules.
- Client Communication: Respond to clients in a timely manner.
10. Estimating Manager Roles
- Reporting: Report to the Senior Estimating Manager.
- Scope Analysis: Analyze Requests for Proposals (RFPs), plans, and amendments to determine scope of work.
- Cost Estimation: Prepare time, cost, schedules, materials, design, and labor estimates.
- Bid Review: Review documentation for accuracy and competitive bidding.
- Material Takeoff: Prepare material takeoffs on assigned projects for Divisions 2 through 14.
- Estimate Preparation: Prepare estimates (conceptual, design-build, hard-bid) and quantity take-offs.
- Team Coordination: Confer with the bid team on the scope of work, changes, RFIs, and adjustments to cost estimates prior to proposal.
- Bid Review: Review assigned bid packages and documentation.
- Proposal Accuracy: Ensure proposal submittals are accurate and on time.
- Historical Data: Assist with managing the historical cost database.
- Supplier Directory: Maintain the suppliers, contractors, and subcontractors directory.
- Project Review: Review project plans and specs.
- Vendor Pricing: Obtain subcontractor and supplier information and pricing.
- Bid Documentation: Prepare instructions to bidders, bid form, and other bid solicitation information.
- Proposal Coordination: Coordinate technical proposal requirements with business development.
- Relationship Management: Develop and maintain relationships with customers, the design team, specialty contractors, suppliers, and user groups.
- Subcontractor Recruitment: Recruit new subcontractors and vendors.
- Team Participation: Participate in Estimating Department meetings.
- Schedule Support: Assist project management with preparing schedules for proposal submission.