46 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
46 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
---
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id: 2026-05-14T22:43:05-0400
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title: 2026-05-14 22:43:05
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tags: []
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daily: "[[2026-05-14]]"
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---
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# 2026-05-14 22:43:05
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I believe [[construction-estimating]] gets its fetish[^1] for **granularity**[^2]
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from its proximity to, and significant composition of,
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skilled trade workers, and their biased perception of the value of effort.
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[^1]: Fetish is the right word for it if you've ever heard the justifications.
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[^2]: Granularity is a great word for it,
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I got it from [[jared-defanti|Jared]].
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I was calling it _precision_ before,
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but that's [laden](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/value-laden) with positive value
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where _granularity_ sounds as annoying as it is.
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Generalizing,
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if I can do some electrical task to the bare minimum standard in ten hours,
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then I can do it meticulously, with an appreciable increase in quality, in fifteen.
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Past fifteen hours there is literally nothing more that I can do
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that could be argued to add value to the result.
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Back to "bare minimum",
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the term has objective meaning in trade work.
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Absolute minimum quality is defined by governing codes.
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Contrast with estimating:
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I _can_ complete an estimate for a million dollar project in an hour.
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I could reasonably spend ten hours or a hundred on the same project.
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In estimating, minimum quality may be set by internal standards,
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but those standards may be bent or broken
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for the right job or the right customer.
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> [!summary]
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> In skilled trade work, the road ends after the "extra mile".
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>
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> In estimating, you can't even tell when you're on the extra mile,
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> and after you pass it the shit just keeps going,
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> <small>and also we're paying for gas in this analogy.</small>
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