Mark thinks that a comprehensive list such as the one included in his estimating software package is arguably the best tool for preventing misses. It “allows you,” he says, “to focus more on the important stuff instead of wondering all the time about what you might have overlooked.”
I, on the other hand, am inclined to think that the spreadsheet/checklist that you have built entirely yourself will prove the better tool. As I said to Mark, “It strikes me as virtually incontestable that you increase your awareness of your list by building it yourself, just as you understand any construction and its use more deeply by entirely creating it yourself.” You won’t understand framing as well if you only remodel structures initially built by other builders rather than also framing new structures yourself. You won’t have as strong a grasp of all that goes into estimating for framing if you just work your way through someone else’s checklist, modifying it here and there, rather than building your own checklist by thinking through the entire process step by step.
Mark and I have wrapped up our exchange by concluding that neither of us is likely to be absolutely right or wrong. His approach might be better for some guys, mine for others. Or as Mark says, “That is what makes construction so complex (and interesting). Both and neither. This idea and that.” Take what you can use, leave the rest.
No matter which method you elect for acquiring a spreadsheet/checklist—buying one prebuilt and modifying it or building your own—you must keep after what I call “the slipperies”—those greased pigs of estimating that can so easily evade your awareness as you work your way down a spreadsheet.
There are myriad such slipperies. If they escape your attention, they can do major damage to your bottom line and, thereby, to your company. They are expensive. And they stick their snouts into every division of work in a project.
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