Let’s face it, we have experienced unprecedented growth in the building supply industry for over a decade. Building material sales representatives only had to be in the right place at the right time to sell lumber and building material. Having accurate takeoffs and turning them around quickly certainly helped to win and bolster relationships with your customers and saved aggravation, time, and money, sometimes even thousands of dollars in delivery costs, labor delays and complicated returns and credits. All of which are very important in a booming economy.
Now that lending rates have increased and the market has cooled somewhat, does the cost of providing accurate timely takeoffs pay? More importantly, what is the actual cost to provide this service?
Is an accurate timely takeoff worth the investment?
Fewer jobs mean more builders bidding on the same project. If your company cannot produce an accurate takeoff in a timely fashion, you can’t bid the job. This means you won’t sell it, causing further reductions in sales. Even worse than not bidding on the job would be being awarded a job based on an inaccurate takeoff that causes cost over runs, credits and returned material.
Maybe it makes sense for the sales team to do the takeoffs since they have fewer customers to deal with and fewer sales?
Do they really have less customers? Most likely they have the same number of customers bidding on more projects trying to get work. This takes more of your sales team’s time, further limiting their ability to prospect, which has become detrimental to increasing your customer base and sales volume. In addition, most salespeople do not have the years of experience to produce an accurate, timely takeoff on today’s complicated structures. In contrast, they will most likely be intimidated to go after larger more complex projects knowing that the responsibility is on their shoulders.
Is it cheaper or more cost effective to hire an in-house estimator?
Homes and buildings have become infinitely more complicated over the past two decades. With the plethora of product choices available including sheathings, fire rated assemblies, engineered lumber products, insulating and vapor barrier systems, etc. it is extremely important that an estimator be versed in not only quantity calculations but product compatibility and availability.
An in-house estimator with these qualifications will require a reasonable base salary, benefits, vacation / sick time, and accounting expenses. You will also need to invest in a software system, as well as training (assuming there is someone at your company already knowledgeable enough to provide that training. If not, start there and add that cost as well.) The days of investing in a large format printer and using digitizers and scales to manually do a takeoff are over. Many times, the cost of just printing larger projects could be more than the entire takeoff if outsourced.
Add all that up and divide by the number of takeoffs that estimator will be able to produce a year to determine your cost per project. In most cases it is likely far less expensive and more efficient to outsource this task. Afterall, Lumberyards and building supply companies are proficient at purchasing, warehousing, and delivering product. Knowing how to read and interpret complicated plans to provide a competent material takeoff is usually not high on the list of skills possessed by yard managers, salespeople, or sales support staff.
Outsourcing a takeoff to Delavue Management will more than pay for itself in many ways over:
Our estimating team has provided tens of thousands of accurate and timely material takeoffs to Lumber and Building Material Suppliers for more than 10 years. We pride ourselves in staying informed about products and availability as well as using the most current and relevant technology to provide our services.
We note all potential issues we see (we see many!), and assumptions we make so our customers can provide the most comprehensive material lists possible and provide expert advice PRIOR to final bids and orders.
Our takeoff accuracy and lead times are unmatched even by expensive “in- house” departments.
Contact us to discuss how we can add value to your company.