What actually changes between a Class 5 and a Class 3 estimate
Maturity of definition, not effort, separates the classes. What moves between Class 5 and Class 3, what must not, and the two questions that expose the real class.
Contingency is not padding
Contingency is the expected cost of known uncertainties, priced. Where the number comes from, who owns it, and how to defend it in front of a board.
Price from a construction plan, not a drawing
Why crews, durations and access set the estimate on heavy civil and marine work, and how to build the plan before pricing a single quantity.
The productivity factor on live plants
Shutdown windows, permits and congestion. What a brownfield tie-in does to installation norms, and how to build the factor area by area.
Reading a vendor quote like an estimator
Scope splits, exclusions and validity. The checklist we run before a quote is allowed to carry an estimate, and the sheet that makes quotes comparable.
Benchmarks that help and benchmarks that mislead
Normalising for location, year and scope before a cost-per-unit number is allowed anywhere near a decision.
What a peer review actually checks
An independent review is not a second estimate. The eleven questions we ask of someone else's number, and the two that find most of the problems.
A Class 5 estimate is a screening tool, not a budget
Minus 50 to plus 100 percent is not a failure of the estimator. It is what concept-stage information supports, and it has a job to do.
Presenting a range without losing the room
Owners want one number. The estimate is a distribution. How to show P10, P50 and P90 so decision-makers use them instead of ignoring them.
Building a labour rate from the ground up
Base wage, burdens, premium time, small tools and supervision. Why an all-in rate borrowed from another project is the most common pricing error.