Not a content farm. We publish when there's something worth saying. The PDF reference below we send by email so we know where it landed; the articles are open.
A one-page cheat sheet of the most-used SMACNA labor factor adjustments - pressure class, duct shape, height, and material handling. Print it and tape it to your monitor.
A GC's estimator and a sheet metal contractor's estimator are doing two different jobs. The GC stacks trade numbers, runs gap analysis, and submits in the last hour. The sheet metal estimator is the one generating a number - from drawings, to takeoff, to assemblies, to labor units, to the recap. If we tried to build one tool for both, we'd be worse at both.
Continue reading →The 2024 edition tightens minimum equipment efficiencies across several categories that land on air-side bids - packaged rooftop units at certain capacity bands, unitary heat pumps, and air handlers with built-up cooling coils. The practical result on a bid is that the baseline equipment selection moves up a tier or two in most owner specs that reference the latest code.
Continue reading →A leveling sheet fails when its structure hides exclusions. You've seen it: three vendors quote an RTU package and two of them quietly exclude freight, rigging, startup, and the curb adapter. The leveled number reads $180K, $182K, $211K and you pick the cheapest - and eat $14K in scope six weeks later. The fix is structural, not cosmetic.
Continue reading →That's the whole library right now. We'd rather write three things people read than thirty no one does.