As the economy continues to put the squeeze on budgets, the role of the construction estimator is only increasing in importance. The pressure is on those men and women to generate estimates quickly and accurately, for even one lost job can make all the difference.

It is with that in mind that the AACE International's recent annual meeting in Toronto offered a session entitled "The Role of the Estimator in Today's Construction Industry." (The session abstract is the 12^th entry in the Technical Abstracts: Professional Development category.)

Steve J. Rajpatty, chairman and CEO of Associated Services Limited in Trinidad and Tobago, surveyed construction firms in that country to learn more about the challenges faced by today's construction estimator.

Among Rajpatty's findings and conclusions:

• Construction estimators increasingly need to be "team players," working with architects, subcontractors, project managers, suppliers, engineers and others to ensure that their figures are as accurate as can be. Being able to craft a strategy and communicate that strategy to others is therefore important, Rajpatty found.
• Keeping key decision makers informed on the progress of a construction project increasingly involves making site visits, taking lots of notes and then presenting those findings to colleagues and managers. Put another way, public speaking skills are a plus.
• Support and training for construction estimators -- on using software, on industry trends and on professional development in general -- is in short supply.
• Finally, there's a heck of a difference between a winning estimate and what can be described as a placeholder estimate -- you know, the type of estimate that, for a variety of reasons, is completed hastily but can end up being incomplete, if not downright inaccurate.

Honestly, none of what Rajpatty presented was all that surprising -- but that doesn't mean it's not valuable information, though. Rather, it reaffirms, with statistical and anecdotal evidence, the notion that the job of the construction estimator is a complex and crucial one -- and one that can be helped by a good construction estimating software package.

Are Rajpatty's findings consistent with your experiences as a construction estimator? Have you found yourself devoting more time and attention to being the consummate "team player"? Have you ever filed a placeholder estimate -- and were you proud of it? Finally, has construction software made your job less stressful? We'd appreciate it if you added your thoughts to the discussion.