Support network

John Johnson is someone who is certainly looking forward to the New Year. The former deputy managing director of m&e contractor Farebrother has left the award-winning firm to set up on his own as UK Estimating Support.

Johnson has fulfilled a lifelong ambition to strike out on his own. His new firm will offer contractors a comprehensive estimating service, as well as value engineering, tender review and in-house training, drawing on his 25 years of experience in the industry.

Following an electrical apprenticeship, Johnson was an estimator with contractor Copeland before joining Farebrother, also as an estimator. There he worked up the ranks, managing the department, becoming sales and marketing director and finally deputy managing director.

Johnson has formed his new company with personal funds and a bank loan from NatWest Bank. He is confident that the venture will be a success. “The m&e sector is worth £13 billion annually and 70% of that is tendered competitively. Outsourcing of estimation services is growing apace.”

Johnson feels that m&e contractors no longer have sufficient estimating capacity in-house and the time is right for his venture. “Good estimators are thin on the ground at the moment. If I’d had that opportunity to bring somebody in when I was at Farebrother I would have done – to overcome the peaks in workloads.”

Outsourcing of estimating services is growing apace as contractors struggle to cope with peaks in their workload

Initially, Johnson is targeting contractors in the £2-10 million bracket. “I’m looking for about 20 customers and would probably work for each of them three or four times a year.” He already boasts three clients so far.

Johnson’s electrical background means that this is where he is concentrating efforts at the moment and the firm has joined the ECA as a commercial member. He also thinks that the electrical side of the industry lends itself more to what he has to offer: “The mechanical side is about 75% subcontract – the ductwork, refrigeration, pipework and so on – whereas the electrical side is only about 25% subcontract.” Saying that, he has already taken on a part-time mechanical estimator; he is also looking to take on a trainee on the electrical side and a senior mechanical estimator.

The firm uses SEC Solutions’ software with a 275 000 item database updated weekly, supplying a full, “take off” printout, schedule of rates, and quotations on CD-Rom in PDF format. After the estimate is submitted, the contractor applies its uplifts to determine tender value. UK Estimating Support can also use your prime cost of labour and preliminary costs.

“Post award, we can help with contract changes by pricing variations to submit up to date final account values,” explains Johnson. “At the heart of our service is careful document management, to ensure a contractor has records from initial tender drawings and specifications and that these are date-stamped and logged, helping to minimise the risk of missing variations.”