About Prime Estimation

Estimators Who Price What They've Built

Higher standards. Smarter estimates. A number you can defend.

Prime Estimation is a construction estimating firm for the people who put a number on a bid: general contractors, subcontractors, developers and builders. We turn drawings into itemised, location-priced estimates and quantity takeoffs, usually within 24 to 48 hours.

We're a US-registered company with an office in Plano, Texas, and we've priced more than 1,500 projects across federal, institutional, commercial and residential work.

Work With Us → See Our Work

Construction crew working on a large concrete pour — **Two estimators**On every estimate we deliver

1,500+Projects priced

50 statesPriced to each project's ZIP code

24 to 48 hrsTypical turnaround

AACE Class 1 to 5Accuracy stated on every estimate

Estimator marking up construction drawings

Why We Exist

Good Contractors Lose Margin on Rushed Numbers

Most contractors don't lose money because they build badly. They lose it in the estimate: a takeoff done at midnight before a deadline, a national average used where a local price was needed, an exclusion nobody wrote down.

Prime Estimation was set up to fix that. We give contractors an estimating department they can call on when they need it: experienced estimators, professional takeoff software and maintained cost data, without the salary, the licences or the overhead of keeping it all in-house.

Measured, not guessed. Quantities come straight from your drawings, organised by CSI MasterFormat division.
Priced where you build. Material and labor are adjusted to the project's ZIP code, every time.
Written down. Every estimate carries an assumptions and exclusions page you can defend in a scope review.

How We Work

The Standards Behind Every Estimate

These don't change with the size of the project or the size of the fee.

A second set of eyes

Every estimate is audited by a second estimator: quantities, formulas and totals. Any material variance between the two triggers a full re-check.

Honest about accuracy

We classify every estimate against the AACE International system and tell you the range, instead of promising a precision your drawings can't support.

Fixed fee, agreed first

You get a firm price and a delivery date before work starts. No hourly billing, no invoice larger than the quote.

Your format, not ours

Excel and PDF as standard, or populated straight into your own bid template so it drops into your process.

Confidential by default

Drawings, pricing and client details stay private. We sign NDAs on request, before you share documents.

Straight answers on time

If we can't hit your deadline we say so up front, rather than accepting the job and delivering late.

Our Team

Who Works on Your Estimate

Each project passes through people with a specific job, so nothing depends on one person catching everything.

Scope review

Reads your plans and specs first, flags gaps and conflicts, and quotes a fixed fee and delivery date.

Trade estimators

Field-experienced estimators who take off and price the divisions they specialise in: concrete, MEP, finishes and more.

Reviewing estimator

A second estimator who audits every quantity, formula and total before anything is sent to you.

Your account estimator

Repeat clients keep the same estimator, who learns your bid format, markups and preferences.

Tower cranes over a commercial building site

What We Bring

An Estimating Department, Without the Overhead

Takeoffs are produced in PlanSwift, Bluebeam Revu and On-Screen Takeoff. Pricing draws on RSMeans, Craftsman cost data and our own regional databases, kept current against live supplier pricing.

You don't buy the software, maintain the cost data or carry an estimator's salary through quiet months. You pay per project, only when you have work to bid.