Trimble Quest Help
Next topic: Structure an Estimate for Control
Developing an accurate estimate of the cost of a project is one of the most important steps of the planning phase. Estimates should be competitive and practically executable: competitive to ensure the acquisition of new work, practically executable at a profit, to ensure the sustainability of the organization.
Estimates can be developed at varying levels of detail. At the one end of the spectrum lies a coarse-grained, rough cost estimate, based on high-level activities/items/components. At the other end lies a fine-grained estimate, where detailed work breakdowns are developed and priced for all items in a project. Developing such a detailed estimate is more time-consuming, but, as a rule, significantly more accurate. Trimble Quest does not enforce the level of detail at which an estimate is developed, but it comes into its own when a fine-grained estimate of high detail is required.
In Trimble Quest, it is possible to decompose items into the individual resources and productions required during execution. However, it also facilitates a templating-based approach, where information reuse is encouraged and simplified. Company-specific estimating templates can be developed, which will greatly expedite the production of highly detailed estimates for new projects. These templates can be refined and adapted over time, based on the feedback of completed projects. Such an approach will not only improve the accuracy of estimates but will also encourage standardization within an organization.