Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a lead estimator and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.

A Lead Estimator has the role of undertaking detailed research and data collection and then predicting the overall project cost. He or she will consult widely with all the players to get all the data and information required then estimates, comes up with the final cost projections, and submits the details to the senior estimator.

Besides that, he or she will perform the following roles; soliciting and negotiating for the best prices, perform a cost analysis of the project, build relationships with contractors and sub-contractors, evaluate all project risks and opportunities, source for the best suppliers for the project and present cost estimates to the senior estimator for review.

Core Skills Required to be a Lead Estimator

Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.

Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.

A lead estimator should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.

Knowledge of Job:

Knowledge of Job is essential to every employee who needs to have a clear understanding of how their jobs fit into the overall organization to eliminate carelessness and laxity.

A Lead Estimator must be able to evaluate this criterion when selecting an employee and know the common descriptions of a person with either right or inadequate knowledge of the job early enough to either keep them or let them go.

Managing at team:

Managing is the administration of an organization which includes activities of setting the strategy of an organization and coordinating the efforts of the employees to accomplish its objectives.

A Lead Estimator must learn the art of creating corporate policy, organizing, planning, controlling and directing organization resources to achieve the aims of the policies formed while making decisions to oversee the enterprise.

Initiative:

An initiative is the ability to assess and initiate things independently often done without any managerial influence offered.

A Lead Estimator must train his workers to take up tasks without being asked to and work on them without being supervised to a quality that is accepted by the company, therefore nurturing a skill that grows the individual and the group as well.

Self Awareness:

Self Awareness is the ability to have a sound understanding of who you are as a person and how to relate to the world in which you live by understanding your strengths and weaknesses and how to manage them in the workplace.

A Lead Estimator must creatively know how to administer the workforce diversity by understanding the culture identity, biases, and stereotypes and become more aware on how he reflects his thoughts, feelings, and behavior towards the staff.

Commitment to the Job:

Commitment to the Job is the feeling of responsibility that a person has towards a mission and goals of an organization.

A Lead Estimator should be diligent in helping the employees connect and commit to their job by creating proper communication channels that make the employees feel listened to and encouraged to provide feedback thus creating mutual trust and respect in the workplace.

Role Awareness:

Role Awareness is the ability to be informed of your role in a given environment as well as understand the expectations placed on a position and to see how they are met apparently.

A Lead Estimator must assess, measure and quantify his employee's awareness of their roles to see if they are transparent about what is required of each of them and review what kind of results they are delivering from their understanding.

Deadlines - On time:

Deadlines - On time is the ability to prioritize the important tasks and setting up a plan on how to work on them first to deliver within the set period.

A Lead Estimator must have the art of managing deadlines by being able to prioritize the work that is set for scheduling to the workers according to how vital the projects are and how soon they need to be executed and submitted.

Long Range Planning:

Long Range Planning is setting long-term goals and objectives for your business or project to ensure its growth and sustainability is reached by all the employees.

A Lead Estimator needs creativity in defining long-term goals that ought to be proactive, putting together a full employee focused management strategy that analyzes the major initiatives and translates them into functional goals that employees handle.

Resource Use:

Resource Use is the ability to utilize the office supplies effectively while avoiding any wastage and ensuring everything is used correctly.

A Lead Estimator needs to educate his employees on the rising threat of global warming and the business's risk of high expenses to avoid wastage of any kind from copiers, computers, old filing processes and data backing disks that are sometimes misused by the employees.

Intercultural Competence:

Intercultural Competence is the knowledge and skills to successfully interact with people from other ethnic, religious, cultural, national and geographic groups.

A Lead Estimator should have a high degree of intercultural competence that enables him to have successful interactions with people from different groups as well as train his employees to be sensitive to the cultural differences and be willing to modify their behavior as a sign of respect for each other.

Hard Skills Required to be a Lead Estimator

Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.

Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.

A lead estimator should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.

Lead Estimator: Hard skills list

Accounting
Administration and Management
Algebra
Analyze and Interpret Data and Budgets
Apply statistical process control (spc)
Apply understanding of manufacturing concepts to cost estimation
Bid engineering, construction or extraction projects
Billing Statements (Prepare billing statements)
Blueprints and Technical Drawings
Bookkeeping
Budgeting
Building and Construction
Computers and Electronics (use computers to enter, access and retrieve data)
Customer Service
Cost Analysis Theory (Apply Cost Analysis Theory)
Cost control, Budgets and Forecasts
Cost Estimation Software
Data Analysis & Benchmarking
Defining of scope
Design
Determine production factors
Develop and maintain cost estimation data bases
Economics
Engineering
Equipment factored and capacity factored estimating
Estimating
Estimate cost, time, and materials needed for repairs
Estimate damage
Estimate time needed for project
General Factors and Ratios
Instructing
Labor Productivity Analysis
Normalization (inflation, metallurgy, location, etc.)
Mathematics Principles
Management of Financial Resources
Management of Material Resources
Obtain information from clients, customers, patients or others
Operations Analysis
Order parts
Planning / scheduling
Prepare cost estimates for construction related projects
Prepare cost estimates for management information
Process records and maintain forms and files
Reading of and quantification from engineering document
Reporting (Prepare reports in timely manner)
Schematics and Specifications
Statistical Data (Analyze statistical data)
Statistical cost estimation methods
Systems Analysis
Technical
Technology
Translate design specifications to cost estimates
Usage of breakdown structures
Writing
Write project or bid proposals
Write vehicle damage repair estimates

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