When is The Right Time to Use an Expert QS?

We are living in the trickiest of times – material costs are volatile, labour and skills are in short supply, contracts are unfair, and clients can be relentless. Contractors are suffering and trying to adjust to the shifting conditions.

Tendering new work is time-consuming and uncertain at the best of times now it’s a nightmare. Using an estimating service helps with the time commitment but not with certainty, and it comes at a cost. For contractors, it’s important to focus resources and get as much bang for your buck as you can.

Having a clear strategy for acquiring new work and an understanding of the support options available and crucially when to use them really helps. The scattergun approach is high risk and stressful. Often using an online estimating platform is cost-effective and quick, it works best when you have a simple project with a less than 30% chance of winning the work. You may want to get a ballpark price to an architect quickly who sends you work regularly but you know that there are others in the frame – the risk is managed, that makes sense!

Using an expert professional cost management firm is more expensive but when is the time right to make this investment? The answer is when you need Advice and not just numbers…when you need a Wingman, not a pdf! A professional firm will look after your business in the round, ask you the questions – Do you want to grow? Do you want to maximise profit? How do you control your business? How are your stress levels? What are you signing? – getting the right advice should set you free to run your business with confidence and get you where you need to be with the angles covered. It’s all about the knowledge, the trust and the personal relationships – they should grow and develop with you.

So, if you just want just numbers then use an online platform – it’s the right decision if you want a team of well-connected industry specialists, experienced and capable of systematically taking your business from project acquisition to regular, dependable and successful completion then use an expert firm.