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Complete Bid Packages, Division 01 Through Division 49, Delivered in 24–48 Hours
A GC bid is not just a number — it is a document that represents your company's reputation, your understanding of the drawings, and your ability to build the project for the price you submit. The Virtual Estimation prepares complete, bid-ready GC estimates for general contractors, commercial developers, home builders, design-build firms, and construction managers across 🇺🇸 USA, 🇨🇦 Canada, 🇦🇺 Australia, and 🇬🇧 UK. Every estimate is produced in CSI MasterFormat structure with full Division 01 General Requirements priced, all trade scopes taken off, and subcontractor bid leveling included — exactly what you need to submit a complete, defensible bid.
We use PlanSwift and Bluebeam Revu for digital quantity takeoffs directly from your PDF or CAD drawings, RSMeans City Cost Data for regional material and labor pricing updated quarterly, and Sage Estimating for commercial and industrial project assemblies. Final deliverables are provided in Excel format ready to drop into Procore, Sage, or any standard GC project management platform. Our estimators are AACE International certified cost professionals and AIQS members, with direct experience estimating residential, commercial, industrial, government, and design-build projects across all 50 US states and internationally.
GC estimating is the highest-complexity estimating work in construction. Unlike a subcontractor who estimates one trade, a general contractor's estimate must coordinate every trade — concrete, structural steel, masonry, carpentry, roofing, MEP, finishes — plus all Division 01 project overhead costs that most estimators undercount or miss entirely. Underbidding Division 01 is the single most common reason profitable-looking projects turn into money-losing jobs once construction starts. We price it in full, every time, including superintendent labor, bonds, insurance, temporary facilities, testing, permits, and closeout.
At The Virtual Estimation, we understand the critical role accurate cost estimation plays in the success of your construction projects. Our team of expert GC Cost Estimators combines industry knowledge, cutting-edge software, and thorough attention to detail to provide you with precise cost estimates and Complete Bid Preparation.
Whether you're working on residential, commercial, or industrial projects, our estimators have the expertise to deliver reliable results that help you win more bids and stay within budget.
Detailed, precise estimates that give you confidence in your bids
Every trade scope is taken off digitally using PlanSwift and Bluebeam Revu with annotated drawings showing measured areas, counted items, and linear runs. Takeoffs are organized by CSI division so quantities can be verified item by item. No estimated quantities — everything is measured from the drawings.
Quantities are priced using RSMeans regional unit costs for your specific zip code, adjusted for current material market conditions. Division 01 General Requirements are itemized separately. The final estimate is assembled in a complete bid package with base bid, alternates, unit prices, exclusions list, and sub scope matrix.
You receive Excel and PDF deliverables within 24–48 hours. If addenda are issued before the bid date, we update the estimate at no additional charge. Post-bid, we can assist with scope clarification meetings, budget reconciliation, and value engineering if your number comes in over the owner's budget.
We provide a complete range of General Contractor Estimating services tailored to meet your specific project needs:
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Request a Free ConsultationOn a $2.5 million commercial project, Division 01 General Requirements can run $200,000 to $375,000 — 8% to 15% of the total contract. Miss half of it and you have just handed $100,000+ of your profit to the owner. CSI Division 01 covers every cost that supports the construction project but does not get installed as permanent work. Our GC estimates price Division 01 in full, line by line:
Project Management & Supervision: Superintendent salary and benefits for the full project duration, project manager time allocated to this project, assistant superintendent if required by project size, and project executive oversight time for complex projects.
Insurance & Bonding: General liability insurance (typically 1.0-1.5% of contract), builder's risk insurance for the construction period, umbrella/excess liability policy costs, performance bond and payment bond (typically 0.5-2.0% of contract based on contractor credit and project type), and workers' compensation insurance for self-performed work. Bonding rates vary by contractor — we apply your actual bond rate or use market benchmarks if unknown.
Temporary Facilities: Site trailer rental and setup, portable toilets (quantity based on crew size and OSHA ratios), temporary fencing and security for the project perimeter, site signage and traffic control, temporary power hookup and monthly utility costs, temporary water and sanitary connections, and dumpster/waste hauling for construction debris throughout the project.
Testing & Inspection: Third-party special inspection fees required by the structural engineer of record — typically concrete cylinder testing and compressive strength lab analysis, structural steel bolt torque inspection, high-strength bolt inspection, soils compaction testing during earthwork, masonry grout and prism testing, and fireproofing inspection. Special inspection programs on IBC-governed commercial projects are non-negotiable and frequently cost $15,000 to $75,000 on mid-size commercial work.
Permits & Fees: Building permit fee (calculated from owner-provided permit fee schedule or estimated from local jurisdiction tables), plan check fee, separate MEP permits for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing where required, fire sprinkler permit, grading and demolition permits, and school fees or development impact fees if applicable in your jurisdiction.
Project Closeout: As-built drawing preparation, O&M manual assembly and delivery, equipment commissioning support, training sessions for owner's facilities staff, spare parts procurement, and punchlist completion and final cleaning costs.
Every experienced GC has been there: three electrical subs submit $78,000, $95,000, and $103,000 for the same scope. You take the $78,000 number, win the bid, and three months into construction your electrical sub tells you fire alarm wasn't in their scope, the electrical panel labeling wasn't included, and the parking lot lighting is excluded because the fixture schedule wasn't in the drawings when they priced it. The $78,000 number just became $112,000 and the difference comes out of your profit.
Bid leveling eliminates this risk. Our bid leveling service creates a trade-by-trade scope comparison matrix for every sub trade on your project. For each quote received, we document: what is explicitly included, what is explicitly excluded, what is ambiguous or silent, and what the adjusted normalized bid value is once missing scope is accounted for. The result is a side-by-side comparison that shows your true apples-to-apples sub number for each trade — not just the dollar amount, but what you are actually buying for that dollar amount.
Bid leveling is most critical on these trades: electrical (fire alarm, emergency power, specialty systems inclusions vary widely), mechanical/HVAC (controls, testing and balancing, equipment startup, curb adapters), plumbing (backflow preventers, trap primer systems, grease interceptors), and sitework (utility connections, compaction testing, import/export quantities based on grading assumptions). We include bid leveling scope matrices for all major trades as a standard deliverable in our GC bid preparation service.
Federal, state, and municipal construction projects require GC estimates built around Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage rates — not market labor rates. Davis-Bacon wages are published by the US Department of Labor for every county in the United States, broken down by trade classification and project type (building, heavy, highway, residential). Using the wrong wage determination — or applying market wages instead of prevailing wages — on a government project will produce an estimate that is either non-compliant for submission or seriously under-priced once certified payroll obligations hit your job cost.
Our government GC estimating service applies the correct Davis-Bacon wage determination for your project's county and construction type. Every trade labor cost is calculated using the prevailing wage rate plus the full fringe benefit rate (health insurance, pension, vacation, and apprenticeship training contributions) as published in the wage determination. We flag all apprentice ratio requirements and journeyman-to-apprentice ratios that affect your labor cost assumptions. For Service Contract Act (SCA) scopes — facilities maintenance, operations, janitorial, and similar work — we apply the correct SCA wage determinations separately.
Our government bid packages are formatted to meet federal procurement requirements including: SF-1442 Solicitation, Offer, and Award form references; Section 00 40 00 bid form completion; DBE/MBE subcontracting goal documentation; Buy American Act and Buy America compliance certifications; and project-specific wage determination attachments. We have prepared government GC estimates for GSA, Army Corps of Engineers, VA hospitals, DoD facilities, state DOT projects, and municipal public works departments.
Most GC estimates are prepared at bid time, when construction documents are 100% complete. But some of the most important cost decisions on a project happen long before the drawings are finished. Owners need to know if a project is feasible before spending $200,000 on architectural and engineering fees. Lenders need a construction budget before issuing a loan commitment. Design-build contractors need a GMP (Guaranteed Maximum Price) estimate to win a contract before full drawings are available. CM-at-risk firms need to issue early trade packages while design is still in progress.
We prepare AACE International-classified preconstruction estimates at every design stage:
AACE Class 5 — Conceptual (SD Stage, 0-15% design complete): Prepared from program square footage, building type, occupancy classification, and basic system assumptions. Accuracy range typically -50%/+100%. Used for owner feasibility analysis and initial pro forma modeling.
AACE Class 4 — Schematic Design (SD Stage, 10-30% design complete): Prepared from schematic floor plans, building sections, preliminary MEP system selections, and site plan. Accuracy range typically -30%/+50%. Used for budget confirmation, value engineering of major systems, and lender presentations.
AACE Class 3 — Design Development (DD Stage, 30-60% design complete): Prepared from design development drawings and outline specifications. Accuracy range typically -20%/+30%. Used for GMP proposals, CM-at-risk contracts, and owner budget approvals before final construction documents.
All preconstruction estimates include stated accuracy ranges, cost breakdown by building system (structure, envelope, MEP, finishes, site, Division 01), escalation assumptions, and a list of design assumptions made where drawings are silent. These estimates are formatted for direct use in owner presentations, lender packages, and design-build RFP responses.
Detailed estimates for foundations, slabs, and structural concrete work.
Comprehensive electrical takeoffs for all project types and sizes.
Accurate plumbing estimates including fixtures, piping, and labor.
Precise masonry takeoffs for brick, block, and stone projects.
Complete lumber takeoffs for residential and commercial framing.
Professional roofing estimates for all materials and project types.
Get answers to common questions about our project cost estimating services.
Still have questions about our building cost estimating services?
Contact Us Today| Project Type | Typical Range |
|---|---|
| Small Residential (under 3,000 SF) | $150 – $350 |
| Large Residential / Custom Home | $350 – $650 |
| Multi-Family (per building) | $500 – $1,200 |
| Commercial Tenant Improvement | $400 – $900 |
| Mid-Size Commercial (10,000–50,000 SF) | $800 – $1,800 |
| Industrial / Warehouse | $900 – $2,000 |
| Government / Prevailing Wage Project | $1,000 – $2,500+ |
| Preconstruction Budget (SD/DD Stage) | $300 – $1,200 |
First-time clients receive 30% off. Volume pricing available for GCs estimating multiple projects per month. Fixed-fee quote provided upfront before work begins. Prices in USD; CAD, AUD, and GBP pricing available for Canadian, Australian, and UK projects.
