Senior Residential Construction Estimator

Job Summary

The Senior Residential Construction Estimator prepares accurate project costings, quotations, and detailed Scopes of Work (SoW) for insurance repairs and building restoration initiatives. Core daily tasks include analyzing architectural plans, engineering drawings, and structural damage reports; negotiating and extracting competitive pricing configurations from subcontractors and material vendors; structuring major loss tenders; and actively mentoring junior estimators via rigorous document reviews and procedure training.

Foundational Capabilities & Prerequisites

• Professional Longevity: Proven, substantial experience operating as a dedicated Estimator within the residential construction, insurance repair, property restoration, or related structural engineering sectors.
• Blueprint Literacy: Exceptional mastery in interpreting complex architectural schematics, engineering plans, structural drawings, and technical building specifications.
• Industry Mechanics: Deep operational understanding of residential construction methodologies, materials engineering, labor metrics, and subcontractor pricing landscapes.
• Document Production: Extensive background preparing clear, highly competitive, and detailed project quotations alongside formal Scopes of Work (SoW).
• Cognitive Matrix: High-level commercial awareness, strict analytical problem-solving skills, and a meticulous, uncompromising attention to structural and financial detail.
• Time & Scale Management: Demonstrated capability to manage multiple complex cost estimates, project tenders, and tight operational deadlines simultaneously.
• Communication Fluency: Superior written and verbal English communication mechanics, with a clear capacity to interface cleanly with executive leadership and cross-functional teams.

Preferred Technical Multipliers

• Sector Specificity: Specialized, hands-on experience navigating insurance repairs, major loss estimations, or large-scale catastrophe property restoration frameworks.
• Leadership Footprint: Prior experience supervising, coaching, or systematically mentoring junior estimators and quantity surveyors.
• Regulatory Frameworks: Strong working knowledge of Australian construction standards, localized building practices, and state-level compliance rules.
• Software Prowess: Advanced proficiency utilizing industry-standard estimating platforms and complex data functions within Microsoft Excel.

Technical Workflow Architecture

The Senior Estimator's operating routine balances highly technical document translation with commercial risk auditing:

• Document Triangulation: Breaking down incoming field site photographs, insurance loss adjuster reports, and engineering data to capture a 360-degree view of structural damage before assigning monetary values.
• Parametric Cost Layering: Isolating necessary line items for demolition, hazardous material remediation, structural stabilization, and finishing trades, accounting for location-based labor rates and supply chain premiums.
• Adversarial Pricing Audits: Cross-checking incoming subcontractor bids against local historical databases and market benchmarks to eliminate margin inflation and verify scope alignment.
• Peer QA Iterations: Conducting systematic, point-by-point audits on cost plans generated by junior staff members, identifying missing inclusions, logic gaps, or calculation errors prior to executive sign-off.

Key Responsibilities

1. Advanced Cost Planning & Estimating

• Prepare accurate, defensible cost estimates, project quotations, and highly detailed Scopes of Work for residential builds and complex property restoration initiatives.
• Analyze architectural plans, structural engineering documentation, site photographs, and specialized forensic damage reports to construct holistic project cost models.
• Assess all operational cost layers—including labor variables, material quantities, specialty trade requirements, general inclusions, exclusions, and financial contingency pools—to generate competitive estimates.
• Direct the formulation, formatting, and submission of structured commercial tenders for residential, insurance-backed, and small-scale commercial project queues.
• Support major loss estimating frameworks, actively adopting company training to manage large-scale property destruction profiles.

2. Commercial Auditing & Pre-Construction Support

• Author formal pricing quotations, itemized job costings, and binding contract documentation in compliance with company risk parameters.
• Manage proactive scope reviews and negotiate directly with suppliers and subcontractors to secure competitive material and labor rates.
• Maintain, update, and manage precise project records, historical estimating documentation, and regional pricing master databases.
• Provide clean administrative and analytical backup throughout the pre-construction loop to facilitate frictionless handoffs to active Project Managers.

3. Team Leadership, Mentorship & Quality Assurance

• Collaborate dynamically across Pre-Construction, Project Management, and Senior Leadership echelons to refine initial project scopes and protect budget accuracy.
• Actively mentor junior estimators by running detailed script reviews, providing constructive performance coaching, and distributing industry best practices.
• Promote total process consistency, continuous operational improvement, and rigid quality assurance strategies across the entire decentralized estimating division.
• Act as the technical authority on company-specific estimating protocols, methodologies, and architectural standards.

Core Competencies & Success Indicators

Operational Milestones for Evaluation

• Consistently delivers highly precise, commercially sound, and competitive cost models within designated timeline constraints.
• Generates clear, unambiguous scopes of work that eliminate contract variations and downstream operational disputes.
• Empowers and protects corporate profit margins through strategic, proactive cost planning and vendor negotiation loops.
• Elevates the collective capability of the group, translating junior oversight into a high-performing, self-sufficient estimating unit.
• Maintains absolute, error-free data alignment across all estimating spreadsheets, software modules, and documentation databases.

Skills Required:

• Civil / Engineering / Cotm