Not at all.
When you actually stop and think about it, that sort of “logic” doesn’t apply anywhere else in your business. And that usually leads to expensive mistake builders make.
- You don’t do your own tiling if you’re not a tiler
- You don’t do your own roofing if you’re not a roofer
- You don’t do your own plastering if you’re not a plasterer
So why would you do your own estimating?
Builders aren’t estimators. Builders are builders.
And I see them pay the price for DIY estimating all the time.
Let’s break down the three biggest consequences of this decision.
Consequence #1: Project Cost
When a builder “DIYs it,” estimating usually becomes an “admin” job that gets pushed to the edges of the day.
It’s done late at night after a full day on site, when you’re tired and just want to get the quote out the door, so your client isn’t waiting any longer.
That’s when mistakes happen:
- Wrong material chosen.
- Wrong installation type.
- Wrong system entirely.
Those mistakes have flow-on effects. You’re reordering materials. You’re rebooking trades. You’ve got delays in the project. You’ve got a disappointed client because things aren’t running as expected.
And suddenly, you’re spending more time justifying yourself and explaining things than actually doing what you’re good at: building.
This doesn’t happen because you don’t care. On the contrary, it’s because you care that you’re sacrificing time with your family to stay up pulling things together at all hours of the night. But you’re doing a task you haven’t been trained to do, in conditions that make it harder to do well, which means mistakes are almost bound to happen.
Consequence #2: Opportunity Cost
A lot of builders do their own estimating because they think they’re saving money. You think, “Oh, it’s just my time I’m losing here.”
This might sound a bit harsh, but I don’t think builders value their time properly. They don’t calculate what their hourly rate should be. They don’t calculate what they haven’t done because they’ve been spending time estimating instead.
- What phone calls did you miss?
- What site issues didn’t get picked up early?
- What follow-ups didn’t happen?
- What opportunities got stolen by your competitors?
These costs don’t show up in your job report. They sit outside of the spreadsheets, building up over time. And when you finally notice them, the damage is already done.
Consequence #3: Sanity Cost
On top of that, you carry the stress of doing your own estimating onto the job with you.
You’re constantly second-guessing your numbers, wondering if you’ve missed something, and hoping nothing pops up that you didn’t allow for.
That stress sits there from the moment the quote goes out until the job’s finished.
That’s a heavy load to bear for something that’s supposed to set the project up for success.
Bottom Line: Yes, You Can Do Your Own Estimating
The question is whether it’s actually worth it, when you look at how much time and energy it takes, and how often you’re still revising numbers anyway.
Most builders aren’t short on work. They’re short on time. And spending your nights buried in spreadsheets and emails isn’t why you got into building in the first place.
A good estimating process takes that weight off before the job even starts. You’re not guessing. You’re not second-guessing. And you’re not carrying that stress through the build.
It lets you focus on what you actually do best:
Building well. Finishing jobs properly. Protecting your margin.
If you’re reading this and thinking, “Yeah, that’s close to home…”
You Don’t Need to Change Everything Overnight
The first step is simply to understand what your current estimating process is actually costing you.
That’s why we put together the Small Mistakes, Big Money 3-Minute Quiz.
It’ll help you see:
- Where you’re most at risk of quoting from incomplete or conflicting plans
- How much time and money you could be losing without realising it
- What a more visual, integrated estimating system could change for you
At the end, you get a short report with practical insights and next steps, not a hard sell.
It’s a simple way to see whether estimating is working for you, or quietly working against you.
Learn more about Vision 2 Estimating (V2E). Vision 2 Estimating has strategic partnerships with leading building industry organisations such as APB, and HIA.
