THE INFLUENCE OF COMPUTERS ON ESTIMATING AND BIDDING

INTRODUCTION

Construction requires a subtly-balanced blending of theoretic data and pragmatic instruction. Construction educators must therefore, through the curriculum, ensure that graduating students are equipped with such knowledge and skills necessary for success in their chosen profession.

Consensus on the ideal construction curriculum is difficult to achieve because of the diversity of functions within the industry. Certain courses provide the nucleus around which most construction degree programs revolve, namely, Construction Methods, Plans and Specifications, Surveying, Estimating and Bidding and Construction Management. Successful construction industry participants at all management levels require a sound problem-solving ability. This requirement demands that construction educators provide base knowledge of a wide range of construction, engineering and interdisciplinary topics.

Industry advisory committees and construction faculty charged with curriculum development negotiate and compromise to achieve a mutually-acceptable program outline. The employer wants graduating students with specific, self-serving practical construction knowledge and skills while the educators want to retain academic freedom and intellectual integrity to teach subjects which provide broad-based insightful knowledge and skills.

Courses such as Estimating and Bidding may be considered "industry critical" because of their time/money/cost components and as such, industry guidance should be solicited to ensure training compliance. Faculty must be cognizant of this aspect of construction education.

Utilization of emerging computer technology has progressed with optimistic abandon, a practice uncharacteristic of a traditionally staid industry. This technology, first viewed as the industries panacea of all ills is now recognized realistically as a tremendous potential benefit if it is applied in a prudent, controlled manner.

Construction faculty shoulders the responsibility of phasing into the curriculum diverse computer programs to ensure that all graduating students are, at least, computer literate. Some topics such as accounting and scheduling, for instance, lend themselves easily to computer application. Other courses such as Estimating and Bidding present unique implementation problems primarily due to the lack of industry-approved software packages. Industry opinion, experience, and perception of computer applications applied to the estimating and bidding process should prove invaluable to academics bent on a higher level than computer literacy. Without question, computer technology is a vitally important advance to both industry and the academic environment, but indiscriminate, inappropriate incorporation into academic courses of inadequate software may create more problems for future construction graduates.

In the spirit of continuing industry and academic cooperation, a review of the impact of computer application on the industry at both the national and regional levels may prove useful.

The National Construction Industry

In 1987, the American General Contractors Association (A.G.C.) conducted a survey of its members to determine their use of computers. With a usable response rate of about twenty-five percentage (25%) (1200 respondents from 8000 survey mailings), some interesting data was collected and published (1).

Of all the respondents fifty-eight percent (58%) had an annual volume of work in the range of one to ten million dollars with almost fifty percent (50%) being general contractors. Computers were utilized to some extent by eighty percent (80%) of the respondents and the most popular applications, by a wide margin, were accounting functions such as accounts payable/receivable, payroll, general ledger and job costs. Seventh on the list of seventeen items of the most popular applications for mainframe, mini and micro computers, was the term "Estimating" with spreadsheets, estimating and database being the top three most common applications for personal computers (p.c.)

The survey revealed that A.G.C. members felt a real need for software developers to produce software programs in (1) estimating, (2) job cost, (3) other accounting and (4) scheduling. Summarized by Faulkner [1] the trend of computer use in the construction industry seemed to be towards p.c.'s and the software to run them. Although accounting applications were the most popular, satisfaction with the available software packages was questioned. Faulkner succinctly summarized the survey information by stating "Obviously, estimating software that is usable would be welcomed by the majority of the contractors." [1] This opinion, generally supported by industry practitioners at large identifies a major problem to construction academe, that of selecting a dedicated estimating and^- bidding software package to be taught to construction students. Dedicated software meaning software which is specifically created and marketed solely for use by constructors [2] such as Estimating Plus, Ice, G2 Estimator and Profit bid, to name a few. Since most Associated Schools of Construction (A.S.C.) serve a regional rather than a national group of prospective construction employers, review of regional industry conditions and construction student preparation should be considered.

The Regional Construction Industry

A survey of twenty general contractors in the mid-west, particularly in the St. Louis Metropolitan Area and Southern Illinois, conducted by Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville construction faculty, provided data which must influence particularly the teaching of estimating and bidding by both the traditional manual method and by computer software application.

When the general contractors were asked specifically to list the desirable attributes, knowledge or skills which industry entry level estimators should possess to provide them with a reasonable chance of success, the top eight answers were:

Preview of the list indicated what could be classified as "anticipated responses" from practitioners in the estimating and bidding process. What is surprising is the apparently low priority that knowledge of computers holds.

In reply to a question "Does your company estimate by computer"?, the unequivocal answer was "Yes." Further interrogation reveals that, in fact, the estimate process is, at best, computer-aided.

There are many interpretations of the term "computer-aided estimates" but the following process describes, at least in regional general contractors' terms, what constitutes a computer-aided estimating systems, viz.

Adjustment of the total price for late submissions of materials, sub-trades, or other price changes, is completed simply by on-screen adjustment and recalculation.

This process, although simplistic in presentation to aid understanding, yields the perception that "computer estimating" equates in the regional construction industry to a "fast calculator syndrome."

Construction faculty are therefore confronted with another basic problem-­how to prepare graduating construction students for entry into the world of computer-aided estimating and simultaneously to encourage student research into the future of "complete" computer estimating. Complete meaning the process from material, labor, and equipment take-off to submission of the bid.'

Estimating - Traditional Academic Mode:

A review of the A.S.C. member schools course contents (•4] suggests that, with some exceptions, the following basic courses establish the path to the Estimating and Bidding module. They are:

The variations in title and content are in most cases superficial. At SIUE, Estimating and Bidding is one of three senior year capstone courses. Capstone being defined as "the crowning" or final stroke or culmination of a sequence [3]. The content and format of the course is unique for an academic application.

The Metcalf Experimental Theater building, a $600,000 structure is situated on campus close to the School of Engineering. Plans and specifications were obtained from the project architect and the student project consists of the preparation of a complete bid at the end of the ten-week quarter. The course provides six contact hours (three one hour lectures and one three hour laboratory). In the laboratory, an attempt is made to simulate an estimating office atmosphere and the students are totally responsible for pacing their progress. The

instructor serves as a student problem sounding board. The main elements of the laboratory are:

The pricing of all the "own work" take­offs are completed using the current Means Construction Cost Data Book giving the student classroom experience in the use of a real-life estimating tool. In the final two weeks, the students are provided with at least three "telephone quotations" for every section of the specifications to prepare "sub-trade comparisons" and "sub-trade analysis." The selection of subcontractors for the project is subject to the students' evaluations and judgments.

The final week of the quarter the students collect all the components of their estimate and submit their bids. This course format, which resulted in the faculty member receiving a Presidents' Excellence in Undergraduate Education Award, has been in use for two years and has been enthusiastically received by the students.

The course provides exceptional hands-on experience in estimating, in a classroom environment but also forces the students to recall and use knowledge and information from several prerequisite courses. A course structured similar to this should translate into a smooth transition into computer application.

Estimating-Computer Application:

No other technology has impacted the construction industry like computer technology. As estimating software is developed and refined, industry organizations will attempt to utilize it to improve their efficiency, competitiveness and profit margins. A.S.C. faculty, therefore, have an obligation to keep current with both hardware and software technological advance to ensure graduating students have knowledge and training at least in line with industry requirements.

Having accepted that responsibility, plans to implement a satisfactory program may create problems previously not encountered or considered.

Every A.S.C. member school does not teach computer . estimating in their construction degree curriculum. Early recognition of the implementation problems may alleviate some of the start-up difficulties when the decision is made.

Common to all universities is the inherent problem of changing a curriculum. Irrespective of how the addition of computer estimating and bidding course work is achieved, time to implement the change is necessary. Procurement of hardware, software, and faculty time to learn it in preparation to teaching it, requires at least one year. Department budget allocation for hardware, software, laboratory space and faculty time must be planned ahead.

Apart from those obvious university organizational problems, interesting philosophical questions arise. At what level between base knowledge and state of the art does the department wish to teach computer estimating? The answer to this basic question is probably linked to the amount of money available and the mission of the university, e.g., undergraduate excellence or research.

On the practical side, is it better to teach computer estimating with generic software such as Lotus 123 spreadsheet, or using a dedicated software package such as Timberline Estimating Plus? Is it more beneficial to the students if a full spectrum system (general contractor) or partial process (sub contractor/specialty contractor) system is taught? Each level of decision made evokes another level of questions which must be answered down to basics such as, data base assembly, work package assembly, line item---gut feeling. The decision to teach computer estimating demands a thorough researching of many such items, answers to which may never be totally adequate but the decision must still be made.

General consensus of implementation of computer estimating as an academic course is presented under conclusions and is the direct result of a random survey of various sectors of the industry.

Conclusion:

A.S.C. faculty accept the responsibility of teaching computer estimating recognizing its construction educational core status despite the associated problems. The following list provides a summary of the most constructive subjective opinions offered in a random survey.

The negative comments relate to:

Debate on the pros and cons of computer application to the teaching/learning process as applied to estimating and bidding will no doubt continue. Rapid advancement in computer hardware and software development will ultimately yield products of enormous potential. Educators and constructors must be alert to future technologies--the programmable calculator once was also "state of the art."

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

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