And put on your hardhat!

Or, take off your sunglasses, take on a truly remorseful look, move your gaze to the wife and say “I’m sorry you married this (insert preferred insult here)”.

Don’t mention you are looking for another job again. Apply for new jobs, interview, and get offers. Only then tip your hand that you are looking and maybe ask again (if you like the job other than the pay). If they say no then that is when you give your 2 week notice and slide a piece of paper across the table with a letter of intent to quit in 2 week time. Bring 2 copies and insist they sign both, keep one. Don’t be surprised if they say to not bother with the 2 weeks and tell you to leave immediately. Then call the company with the job offer and accept. If you suspect the company won’t give you what you are asking for, consider just accepting the job before your final meeting with your current employer.

Most jobs in the US the employer can terminate you immediately, so it’s always a risk tipping your hand before you have another job lined up. Always have something lined up before you make a move. Good luck… I went through the same thing about a year ago and I’m so much happier where I work now.

That’s a weird way to say “some people are just people”.

Division 26/27/28 is the same. Everybody front loads their Schedule of Values.

Sub quotes get the same markup as any other cost associated with the job, plus bonding costs if applicable. I also might bump up PM time Tom manage difficult subs or add some non-productive labor for in-field coordination for some subs or specific projects.

Im pretty sure most DC trolleys with overhead cables are designed to arc with minimal damage and without interruption of service. That’s the whole reason they use DC over AC.

What is the overall goal? Even though replacing the head unit of the stereo might be more trouble than it’s worth, you can probably still upgrade the speakers etc. Are you trying to do something specific or just looking for projects to do with your son?

Well I was going to say check out the Crutchfield website to see what fits but I took a look and even it’s saying replacing that radio isn’t recommended.

I second upping the coverage. Sure an extra $50/mo is tough, but the last thing you want is to get hit with a huge bill for an accident when you are trying to replace your car at the same time. Best advise I’ve ever been given: you can never carry too much insurance. I just wish I hadn’t also learned that lesson the hard way.

Maybe try a small outing on a weekend somewhere close to home, or with your wife (or someone who can support you) just a few minutes away. Like maybe go to the zoo with your kid, and your wife and a friend can go too but go their separate ways. If you get into a jam they are just a short walk away.

You will figure it out quickly though. If I can do it you can do it. At the end of the day it comes down to food/drink, sleep, diaper duty, and keeping them out of the sun.

That just seems like a weird place to go on fire…

I could be wrong but it’s based on gross weight and so even Tacomas are getting hit with this.

If it’s for a school district, or a high end defense contractor or pharmaceutical company then I’ll normally provide it as it’s pretty typical. But other than that I’ll probably have a few questions. I’m in electrical though so we typically have a a lot of quoted and commodity materials in our bid… not sure if it’s the same for you.

He’s right. If showing up 5 mins late occasionally then he’s being petty. But if the whole team is consistently late then it might be issue enough for him to take action. I’m not saying he should, but he might.

Take the free lessons and save that money for the inevitable follow up lessons.

I wouldn’t let the 3-5 years experience and a bachelors degree things stop you from applying. At the end of the day it’s a judgement call by the boss. You have experience (limited but still something), you have knowledge about the industry, and it sounds like you are a hard worker. That could be enough to get your foot back in the door.

Check out project management roles. Most companies I have worked for split up big construction and service/smaller-jobs (smaller being $2m and below). Being a service PM will teach you sooooo much in a very short time simply because of the amount of jobs you will manage at once. Even if project management isn’t for you, it will make you a better estimator (if you want to go back eventually).

Who’s at fault aside, that scooter rider doesn’t look confident enough to be on the road in the first place.

My wife and I went through a very similar situation. Her car was 1 of 2 cars hit while waiting at a stoplight. We only had liability in that car. They guy who was at fault only had $25k limit and the other car hit was almost brand new. It took 2 years to finally get paid out and we got super lucky we got as much as we did.

Harsh, but 1000% true. The more detailed you can be on a bid, and communicative after the bid, the better. If your bid is what the GC is using to level out the rest of the bidders you have the edge. The trick is finding the time for all the phone calls which inevitably come at bid time for another job.

I don’t think it would be an immediate disqualification. If they ask on the resume be honest and talk about how you are ready to start a career and move on from your past. Even if you bid military or prison jobs and win, you won’t be involved in the job and won’t visit the job site so I don’t think it would be an issue.

Sometimes it helps to take a step back and realize the bigger picture. Even if you bring it a killer job at a 25% markup, the project could go bad because of mistakes by the PM, Super, or just plain bad luck. In the same way, a good PM and Super can provide guidance in the construction phase to “make up ground” on a big miss. We estimators have the burden of bringing in revenue for our companies, but we are not the whole show. There is a whole team of people that will have weeks, months, or even years to cut hours, costs, and utilize change orders effectively to get the project back on target.

Lessons learned are important. But after that, take a deep breath, realize your boss is probably/hopefully banking on your long term overall performance, and simply move on to the next opportunity.

The “Goal Seek” tool is great when you need a cell that is dependent on another cell to be an exact number.

Can you expand on “BlueBeam Integrated Excel Sheet”? It sounds useful.

Commercial electrical. If I’m being honest my issue is more with my computers limitations and not the program itself. But I’ve always been better at wrapping my head around a project with physical prints. So unusually I take off counts with Bluebeam, but lengths by hand. Then enter it all into accubid.