---
id:
aliases: []
tags:
  - authorship/original
  - destiny/permanent
  - original-format/typewritten-print
  - status/complete
  - type/daily
title: 2025-11-11
---
# 2025-11-11

## 2025-11-11 06:06 --- Tuesday Morning, Before Work

#topic/estimating

One of the most appealing aspects of estimating
to me is the dynamic we have with our employers.
my experience was at Ace that estimators act like,
and are treated like good artists, like loveable
little-scamps who always get into trouble, but
you keep them around because they do good work.
There was no other position with a similar reputation.

I attribute this strange relationship to two
facts of our role:

1. Estimating provides executives with a service,
    one that they could almost do without, but that they
    understand the value of paying for.

2. Estimating is just math-heavy enough that it
    seems like magic to the uninitiated.

In these ways we're actually more like court
wizards than artists, which is an understandably
desirable position.

## 2025-11-11 14:41

#topic/estimating #topic/transparency

I just saw a post on a construction estimators forum
from a user lamenting that their coworkers and customers
largely do not understand the difference between markup and margin.

It made me remember the micro-debates about that I would have with Dale
every time we were closing out an estimate.
This is the example I would always give
while trying to explain it to him.

![[markup-vs-margin]]

***

The user also stated that they would prefer to list overhead and profit
separately from scope line item costs,
but that their customers push back when they try.

I'm not sure where they got this preference.
Sure that would be more "transparent",
but it's at odds with the purpose of a breakdown.
