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---
id:
aliases: []
title: 2025-12-03
tags:
- authorship/original
- destiny/permanent
- status/draft
- type/periodic/daily
dg-publish: true
---
# 2025-12-03
## 2025-12-03 15:54
### Excluding Vs. Ignoring Project Requirements
#topic/estimating #topic/transparency
There is a distinct difference between _excluding_ and _ignoring_ requirements.
If, before award, you communicate to the customer
that your cost does not include respect for a requirement,
_and_ they understand the implications of the omission,
you have _excluded_ that requirement.
If your cost does not include respect for a requirement,
but you have not communicated the omission to the customer
_and_ made a reasonable effort to inform them of the implications of its omission
you are _ignoring_ that requirement.
_Excluding_ requirements is common practice.
_Ignoring_ requirements is unprofessional and irresponsible.
Sometimes requirements are ignored out of convenience.
If an estimator is confident a requirement won't be enforced,
they may ignore it to lower the estimate and save time in closeout.
More ethical estimators may have no desire to do so,
but may nonetheless feel obligated to.
If a contractor is confident their competitors will ignore a requirement,
they may feel that the moral high road offers two losing options:
* include it and appear overpriced
* exclude it and appear to present coverage concerns
The winning strategy, as always, is open communication with the customer.
> [!important]
> Given the same project documents and your proposal,
> a reasonably experienced estimator employed by your customer
> should be able to replicate your takeoff with confidence.