I talked with a guy last week who told me in his first sentence that he needed to hire an Estimator for Roads and Bridges because “I’m old” and “I have not met anybody who can estimate with as much fervency as me”.
We went on to explore why that might be. I suggested that the fault might lie with construction companies themselves for pushing all the glory to the Project Managers and sticking the Estimators in a back room with their spreadsheets. He latched onto the word “glory”.
“Glory?”, he said. “The thrill of the kill is in the estimating department! You’ve got it all wrong! I love estimating! The deadlines. The crunch-time. The openings! I don’t want no stinkin’ pansies. I want a guy who’s got some bloodlust!”
Four of the job openings that I’ve been asked to help with involve site work, roads, and bridges—two of them are for commercial capital improvements.
Also worth mentioning is that a lot of these companies have asked for strong support people for their Estimating and Project Management departments. If you’re truly hungry and don’t mind doing the admin work for a few years, now is a great time to get your foot in the door.
If you (or someone you know) want to see if the grass is greener… these companies aren’t afraid to pay for top talent.
Let me know…