This is my third monthly blog post of 2021. As I was preparing the post, I realized that I haven’t explained where I am getting my inspiration for these posts, so I thought I would share with you now. As some of you may know, Candels has advertised in Electrical Contractor Magazine since 2005. It’s […]
The Workforce – Essential Workers, The Trades, and COVID
A meme I recently saw on Facebook prompted me to write about essential and non-essential workers which will eventually lead me to talk about the trades. Further, I felt a need to discuss what’s really happening and where I believe we are headed. Define Essential During this pandemic, we have learned that Hollywood starlets, professional […]
Best Practices to Succeed in the New Year
It’s a new year. The calendar has been turned and everything is fresh and new, right? We all know that after 2020, as much as we want it to be true, the world is still exactly as it was “last year” and many of you are scratching your heads wondering how you are going to […]
Does knowing software make me an electrical estimator?
You took the electrical estimating software training. Are you now an estimator? One of the biggest fallacies in the electrical industry is that knowing how to operate an electrical estimating software package automatically “makes you an estimator.” While knowing software is very important to the estimator’s role, this is only a piece of the estimating […]
Women in Electrical Estimating
The best students have a combination of aptitude and attitude! When we teach our electrical estimating apprenticeship, we often say that the best students have a combination of aptitude and attitude. To our delight, some of our most successful students have indeed been women, women without any electrical experience. How can a woman with no […]
Construction Labor: Unforeseen Job Factors and How They Influence Job Performance
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds,” or so goes the saying engraved in the front of the US Postal Service Building in New York City. Unforeseen circumstances can affect your job labor costs! Just as snow or rain will not […]
Win the Bid: Key Points
Win the Bid: Key Points for the Bidding Process Win the Bid: You know by now that the estimating process involves much more than the take-off. The process starts before you even look at a set of plans, and the process never really ends. This process involves an almost endless loop of deciding which projects […]
Specification Review Checklist
When completing a construction specification review, an estimator should follow a systematic approach. The specifications, include information for each CSI division, however, none should be reviewed in isolation. Even though our focus is electrical, also known as CSI Division 26 (and previously Division 16), information related to the electrical specs will be shown in […]