Curious how other CPMs and preconstruction leaders are approaching conceptual estimating strategy. What has proven most effective in establishing reliable cost direction before design fully matures? Interested in hearing what is working in today’s environment.

Can I ask some opinions on what the correct terminology This is important for my software haha. I dont want to confuse people. 1. Tender vs Bid. Which word do you use to describe the set of documents your client sends you? 2. Direct vs Indirect cost. What do you call a cost you incure, but don't want to show in the cleient pricing schedule 3. Letter of offer. Is that the word you use to dsecribe the letter you submit to your client detailing your inclusions and exclusions?

I heard this the other day on Linkedin. But the guy broke down projects into three pillars: Find work Bid projects at a price/terms and conditions you can deliver them. Probably the hardest part cause construction is so heavily commoditized. Do work Complete the scope defined in the contract. Pouring concrete, trenching, standing steel etc. Do whats on the drawings, and check what you built was correct. Get paid Contract admin. Payment claims, variations etc. The only thing I’d probably add is completions. Handing over the project at the end.

I'm keen to hear who everybody is, and what their goals are I assume you already know who I am. But if you don't I'm Tim. I worked for 8 years for big contractors on road, rail, renewable energy projects. I've always worked for head-contractors. I recently worked for some smaller contractors as a consultant when I left my job doing estimating and contract management. It was good, but I found it hard to see a path to scale (other than just starting a contracting business myself) So I instead decided to build software, and found that that's 100x harder than I thought and a very easy way to lose money

Something I've been really interested in is the role of big data in construction. So far all I see is hype. And the hype has been around for at least a decade. I went to a presentation where they spoke for an hour about how data is transforming construction. Construction companies need more data. Etc. etc. When the speaker got asked how they use data, he said they compare their planned and actual costs. Oh really? So does everybody else on earth through their accounting system. It must be one of the consistently most overhyped concepts. (This article from 10 years ago talks about how data is more important than money) https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2016/04/19/how-big-data-and-analytics-are-transforming-the-construction-industry/?utm_source=canva&utm_medium=iframely I am really interested to ask though, has anybody found genuinely useful applications of data to construction? Has anybody seen good applications? I do think with AI, there are two big changes: 1. Context/background information is increasingly important to get AI to do effective work 2. Unstructured data can now be useful