Commercial Construction Estimating Services
We estimate commercial construction from your drawings — all divisions quantified in CSI MasterFormat, general conditions built from the project schedule rather than applied as a percentage, and the scope gaps between trade packages identified before they become somebody's change order.
Get a Free QuoteWhat a Commercial Estimate Covers
Site and substructure. Demolition, earthwork, utilities, foundations and slab, quantified against the geotechnical report where one exists and with the assumption stated where it does not.
Structure. Concrete, structural steel, masonry or wood framing with the connections, embeds and fireproofing the design requires, priced as an assembly rather than by weight alone.
Envelope. Roofing, cladding, glazing, insulation, air and water barriers and the flashing and sealant that tie them together — quantified as an assembly, because the failures and much of the cost are at the transitions.
Interiors. Partitions by wall type, ceilings, doors and hardware, flooring by material and room, painting by substrate and millwork to the specified grade.
MEP systems. Mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection quantified as systems with equipment counted, distribution measured on routed paths and the controls carried explicitly.
General conditions and general requirements. Supervision, facilities, equipment, safety, cleanup, submittals, testing and closeout — built from the schedule, because these are duration-driven costs and a percentage makes duration free.
Commercial Building Types We Estimate
Office
Core and shell, full build-out or tenant improvement, with the distinction between landlord and tenant scope stated explicitly because it moves the number and it is frequently unclear.
Mixed-use
Where retail or amenity space sits under residential or office floors, with the transfer structure, separate services and acoustic separation that combination requires.
Institutional and civic
Higher finish expectations, public procurement requirements, prevailing wage where applicable, and the documentation obligations that come with public work.
Assembly and entertainment
Large open spans, elevated occupant loads driving egress and life safety, and specialised acoustic, lighting and AV scope.
Adaptive reuse
Existing structure retained with new systems threaded through it, where unknown conditions and abatement drive more of the number than new scope does.
Core and shell
Building delivered ready for tenant fit-out, where the boundary between base building and tenant work is the single most important thing to establish before estimating anything.
Where Commercial Estimates Go Wrong
General conditions as a percentage
Supervision, facilities and equipment are duration costs. A percentage of the trade total does not move when the schedule extends by three months, while the actual cost moves by three months of spend.
Scope gaps between trades
Blocking and backing, firestopping, housekeeping pads, access panels and final connections to owner-furnished equipment. Every trade reads them as somebody else's and the general contractor absorbs all of them.
Base building and tenant scope unclear
On a core and shell project, whether the base building carries the HVAC distribution, the ceiling grid, the sprinkler drops or the electrical panels changes the number substantially, and it is frequently ambiguous in the documents.
Existing conditions assumed benign
On renovation and adaptive reuse, what is behind the wall and above the ceiling is the largest variable, and abatement can be a scope of its own. Assuming the favourable case on all of it is not conservatism.
Long-lead equipment not flagged
Switchgear, elevators, custom glazing and major mechanical equipment carry lead times that put procurement rather than installation on the critical path, and a late release is a schedule failure.
Square foot rates from a different project
A rate carries the structure, envelope, finish level, site conditions and market of the project it came from. Applying it to a different project imports every one of those assumptions invisibly.
What You Receive
- A full estimate in editable Excel organized by CSI MasterFormat division
- A marked-up plan set showing where every quantity came from
- General conditions built from the project duration, as their own detailed schedule
- A scope gap list — items sitting between trade packages, identified for assignment
- Allowances listed individually with the basis for each
- An assumptions and exclusions schedule
- Long-lead items flagged as schedule risks alongside their cost
- The pricing basis and the date that basis was current
Documents We Need
- The full drawing set — architectural, structural, mechanical, electrical, plumbing and civil
- Specifications, particularly Division 00 and 01 for general requirements
- The project schedule or expected duration, since general conditions are built from it
- Geotechnical report where site work or foundations are in scope
- Room finish schedule, door and hardware schedule and wall type schedule
- Equipment schedules with furnish-and-install responsibility identified
- Any addenda issued to date
- For core and shell: the base building and tenant scope boundary
- For renovation: existing conditions information and any hazardous materials survey
Trades in a Commercial Estimate
A full commercial estimate covers all of these. Each links to how we quantify that trade.
Tools and Standards
Quantities, rates and assemblies are read against the published references that govern this work. Where a project specification conflicts with any general reference, the specification governs:
- CSI MasterFormat — the organizing structure, so the estimate reconciles against the trade bids you receive
- AACE International cost estimate classification, where an estimate class needs stating
- ASTM E2516 — classification of cost estimate formats
- UNIFORMAT II elemental classification, where a systems breakdown suits the stage better
- Every estimate states its pricing basis and the date that basis was current
What Moves a Commercial Number
Six variables that decide more of a commercial estimate than the measurement does.
Structural system. Steel, cast-in-place concrete, precast, masonry or wood frame differ in material, in erection method, in schedule and in what they demand of the foundation. The system is a design decision with consequences through the whole estimate.
Envelope complexity. A flat curtain wall and an articulated elevation with multiple materials, reveals, returns and transitions differ enormously for the same area, because the cost is in the junctions rather than the surface.
Finish level. The same floor plate delivered as warm shell, standard office or high-end corporate can differ by a multiple. The finish schedule is where that lives, not the plan.
Project duration. General conditions run by the week. A schedule extended by three months adds three months of supervision, facilities and equipment, and none of it appears in a percentage-based approach.
Site constraint. An open suburban site and a constrained urban site with no laydown, restricted delivery windows and hoisting for everything are different projects at the same square footage.
Existing conditions on renovation. What is behind the wall and above the ceiling is the largest variable on any renovation, and abatement can be a scope of its own. Where it is not established, the assumption belongs on the face of the estimate.
Allowances, Contingency and Escalation
Three things that carry real money and are frequently invisible in the number they sit inside.
Allowances are listed, never blended. Every allowance appears as its own line with the basis stated. An allowance folded into a unit rate cannot be challenged, cannot be improved as information arrives, and hides the fact that the item was judged rather than measured.
Contingency is stated, not buried. A contingency inside the rates is indistinguishable from a higher price, and nobody can tell whether it has been spent. Carried as its own line, it is visible, it can be sized to the actual level of design definition, and it can be released deliberately.
Escalation is an assumption with a rate and a period. A bid held for months and built over years carries material and labor escalation. We state the assumed rate and the period it covers, because folding it into the base hides an assumption you should be able to argue with.
Design contingency where the set is not complete. Where the estimate is prepared before construction documents, design develops between now and then and it develops upward. That is carried explicitly and sized to how much of the design is actually settled.
And exclusions are written out. What the number does not include matters as much as what it does. Land, financing, design fees, furniture, owner-furnished equipment and permits are frequently outside the construction cost, and confusion over which are in is a recurring reason budgets fail.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you estimate whole buildings or single trades?
Both. A full multi-trade estimate with general conditions carried, or specific divisions where that is what you need. Tell us the scope when you send the drawings and the quote reflects it — there is no advantage to us in selling you more coverage than the decision you are making requires.
How do you handle general conditions?
Built from the project schedule as real line items — supervision by role and duration, facilities and utilities by month, equipment by how long it is needed, plus safety, cleanup, submittals and closeout. Not as a percentage, because a percentage makes duration free and a twelve-month and an eighteen-month project with identical trade scope are not the same cost.
Do you identify scope gaps?
Yes, as an explicit list. Blocking and backing, firestopping, housekeeping pads, access panels and final connections to owner-furnished equipment are the recurring ones — every trade reads them as somebody else's and the general contractor absorbs them by default.
Can you estimate core and shell separately from fit-out?
Yes, and establishing that boundary is the first thing we do. Whether the base building carries HVAC distribution, ceiling grid, sprinkler drops or electrical panels moves the number substantially and is frequently ambiguous in the documents — so we state the boundary the estimate was built to.
Do you handle renovation and adaptive reuse?
Yes. Unknown existing conditions, abatement, structural reinforcement and threading modern systems through an older building are where those estimates live, and we state the investigation assumptions explicitly rather than absorbing that risk silently into unit rates.
Do you use square foot rates?
Only as a sanity check on a measured estimate, never as the estimate. A rate carries the structure, envelope, finish level, site conditions and market of whatever project it came from, and applying it elsewhere imports all of those assumptions without anyone seeing them.
Send the set and tell us the scope
Upload your plans or tell us what you need. We’ll reply with pricing and a delivery date.
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