Development of Cost Estimate Plans — Building

What a cost estimate plan is

Note the subtle but important distinction: the estimate plan is not the project's cost plan, and not the estimate itself — it's the plan for the work of estimating. It takes the requirements (the ERD, Lesson 15) and lays out how the team will satisfy them, ending in the estimate and its basis (Lesson 14).

Why plan the estimate

1. Avoid gaps & overlaps — clear task ownership across trades and systems ensures nothing is missed and no work is duplicated.
2. Hit the deadline — an estimate has a due date tied to a decision; planning the effort backward from it keeps it achievable.
3. Marshal the right data — identifying which cost data, drawings, and rates are needed, and securing them early, prevents mid-estimate stalls.
4. Build in quality checks — planning review and validation steps (Module 2D) into the schedule, rather than skipping them under time pressure.

What goes into an estimate plan

A building estimate plan typically covers:

Using the estimate plan well

For any significant building estimate, draft the plan once the requirements (ERD) are agreed: lay out the breakdown, assign the trades, schedule backward from the deadline with review steps protected, and confirm the data and tools are in hand before starting. The plan turns a daunting estimate into a managed sequence of tasks — and makes the eventual basis of estimate easier to assemble, because the process was organized from the start.

Nine things to remember

1. A cost estimate plan organizes how a specific estimate will be produced.
2. Producing an estimate is itself a mini-project — scope, schedule, resource it.
3. It's not the project's cost plan, nor the estimate — it's the plan for the estimating work.
4. Planning avoids gaps/overlaps, hits deadlines, marshals data, protects checks.
5. Time pressure kills quality checks first — plan them in so they survive.
6. Cover scope/structure, tasks, schedule, data/methods, tools, review.
7. Schedule backward from the due date with review steps protected.
8. Tune the plan to the building's design phase and target estimate class.
9. It connects ERD → plan → BOE — the preparation backbone of a good estimate.