Estimating for NYC plumbing companies
Takeoffs and estimates from your drawings when the bids pile up, or your own estimating process built in your files and handed over. For plumbing companies based in New York City, on New York City jobs.
General contractor or owner? Estimating & takeoff from NYC drawings is the page for you.
Who it is for
- More bid invitations than estimators in bid week.
- No full-time estimator, and the owner prices at night.
- A company that wants its own estimating system instead of outside help.
Your plans and your numbers stay yours
- Conflict check first
- Before you send anything, tell us the project. If PlumbHub is bidding that project itself, the estimate is declined and you hear so before any plans move. If PlumbHub estimates a project for you, PlumbHub does not bid it and does not review bids on it for anyone else. One plumbing company per project.
- NDA before plans
- Both sides sign an NDA before any drawings are shared.
- Used for your job only
- Your drawings, quantities, labor units and prices are used for your estimate and nothing else. They never go into PlumbHub pricing or into another company’s estimate, and they are never shown, pooled or sold.
- Kept in-house
- The takeoff runs on our own program, on our own computers. The program sends nothing to outside AI services, it is not sold, and it is never installed at a client.
- Deleted when you ask
- Your files are deleted on request, with a written confirmation.
- No names
- Your company and your projects are never published.
- Yours to keep
- The workbook, the marked-up sheets and, for setup work, the price book, labor units and templates belong to you.
- If a quantity is wrong
- Tell us: it is corrected and the files are sent again at no charge. You review the estimate and submit your own number; the full terms are in the engagement letter.
What you get
By default: quantities and labor hours in your units, and you price your own bid. A priced estimate is available if you want one.
Excel workbook
By building, floor, riser, system and pipe size. Every quantity names the sheet it was taken from.
Marked-up sheets
Your issued drawings as PDF, marked by system, with position numbers that match the workbook.
Fixtures and equipment by position
Counted from the plans and checked against the schedules and the specs.
Labor hours in your units
When you give us your labor units. Union, open shop or prevailing wage: you apply your own rate.
A written question list
Anything the drawings do not show or size goes back to you as a question for the engineer or the GC. It is never guessed.
Scope notes
Inclusions, exclusions and assumptions, so the number you send says what it covers.
Addenda
The takeoff revised against each addendum, with the changes listed.
Your software
The source takeoff file on request, and the Excel laid out for import where your estimating software takes one.
See a sample
From the small building drawn on this site: the workbook and the sheet it counts from. Illustrative, not client work.
- Sample takeoff workbook XLSX · 15 KB
- Sample sheet P-001 PDF · 2 MB
Try it on a job you already priced
After the NDA, send a set you have already bid and keep your number. One floor or one system keeps it short. You compare the quantities, the labor hours and the scope notes with yours, line by line, and decide from that. Ask for a trial.
What NYC drawings leave out
- Plastic drain pipe
- The NYC code allows plastic drainage pipe only in residential buildings of five stories or less. Everything else is carried in no-hub cast iron, whatever the drawing legend shows.
- Backflow filing
- The drawing shows the device. The DEP backflow plan, the filing and the first test are not drawn, and they still cost money and time.
- Labor
- Union, open shop and prevailing wage are three different numbers for the same set. The takeoff carries labor hours, so your rate does the rest.
- The specs
- Insulation, hangers, sleeves, firestopping, trap primers and test fittings often live only in the specifications, never on the plumbing sheets.
- Addenda
- A riser or a fixture group added by addendum two days before the bid is where numbers go wrong. Each addendum is checked against the takeoff.
- Sprinklers
- Sprinkler pipe sizes come from the hydraulic calculation. When the set has none, that is a question, not an assumption.
In the order it happens
Conflict check
The project name and address, and the bid date. Nothing else yet.
NDA
Signed by both sides before any drawings move.
The set
By link: Drive, Dropbox, Procore or BuildingConnected. Specs and addenda with it.
Scope, fee and date
In writing, before any work starts: what is counted, quantities only or labor too, and the delivery date.
The takeoff
Every sheet opened, every quantity tied to its sheet, open items written up as questions.
Checked and delivered
Each quantity checked against the drawing by a person before it reaches you. Then a walk-through call.
Addenda
Revised as they come in, until bid day.
Who does the work: an estimator with more than ten years on New York commercial plumbing jobs, from the field to project management. Every estimate is prepared and checked in-house and never passed on to another estimating company.
Set up your own estimating process
For a company that wants to price its own bids without outside help: built in your files, with your numbers, and handed over.
- A review of 5 to 10 of your past bids against what the jobs actually cost
- Labor units set from your own crews, with union, open shop and prevailing wage columns
- A dated price book built from your supplier quotes and invoices
- NYC assemblies: no-hub stacks, backflow packages with their filing items, booster and pressure-reducing stations, sleeves and firestopping
- A takeoff standard: how a set is broken down by floor, riser, system and size
- A scope and exclusions sheet driven by the spec sections
- A bid-day checklist and an addenda log
- Your estimating software set up, or Excel with Bluebeam if you have none
- Training for the person who will run it, written into the files
Everything is built in your files and is yours. Our takeoff program is not installed at your company. Ask about a setup
What plumbing companies ask first
Who prepares the estimate?
PlumbHub, in-house: an estimator with more than ten years on New York commercial plumbing jobs, from the field to project management. Nothing is passed on to another estimating company or sent overseas.
Do you bid the projects you estimate?
No. If PlumbHub estimates a project for you, PlumbHub does not bid it and does not review bids on it for anyone else. If PlumbHub is already bidding the project, the estimate is declined before any plans move. One plumbing company per project.
Whose prices and labor units are used?
Yours. By default you get quantities and labor hours in your own labor units, and you price your own bid, so your price book never leaves your office. A priced estimate is available if you ask for one.
Do you use AI?
The first count runs on our own takeoff program, which reads the drawing set. It runs on our own computers and sends nothing to outside AI services. Every quantity is checked against the drawing by a person before it reaches you.
What if a quantity is wrong?
Tell us. It is corrected and the files are sent again at no charge. You review the estimate and submit your own number; the engagement letter has the full terms.
Do you size or redesign the piping?
No. Quantities follow the engineer’s drawings as issued. Anything not sized or not shown goes back to you as a written question. Engineering and design stay with the engineer.
What do I send first?
Only the project name and address, and the bid date, for the conflict check. The plans come after the NDA.
Can we get access to your takeoff program?
No. It is used in-house only. You get the workbook, the marked-up sheets and, for setup work, everything built in your own files.
Start with a conflict check
Tell us the project, the address and the bid date. No plans yet: the NDA comes first.