Ballpark a bid for a defined scope of construction work using user-provided unit costs, crew rates, and overhead targets. Sanity check, not a substitute for a real estimate.

Bid Estimator

Ballpark a construction bid in the right order of magnitude, before you commit a real estimator's day.

What it does

You give the AI a scope and your own unit costs (labor rates, material prices, sub quotes). It returns a 7-section structured bid:

Bid summary (total + range + confidence)
Line items table
Subtotals (direct → OH → profit → contingency → bond)
Key assumptions
Risks that could blow the number
What's missing (items it couldn't price)
Recommendation (bid / qualify / pass / need more info)

When to use it

Pre-bid go/no-go: is this in the ballpark?
Sanity-checking a gut number before committing to a bid.
Teaching a new estimator the structure.

When NOT to use it

For final bids — get a real estimator with real quotes.
When you don't have unit costs — the AI won't invent them (deliberately; construction pricing is too local).

Setup

None. Pure prompt.

Invocation

@bid-estimator
SCOPE: [paste or describe]
UNIT COSTS: [paste from your rate sheet, or attach a Sheets link]
OH/PROFIT/CONTINGENCY: 10/5/5  (optional — defaults apply)

What it won't do

Invent unit costs from training data.
Price subcontractor work (it'll tell you to get a sub quote).
Recommend a bid strategy — your call.