Genuinely curious how other people are handling flooring estimation because it has been one of the most frustrating parts of bidding for us lately. On paper it seems like one of the simpler scopes to estimate but we keep running into situations where the final numbers are nowhere close to what we put in the bid.

Part of the problem is material waste calculations. Different installers seem to use completely different waste factors for the same material and there is no real standard that everyone agrees on. Tile, LVP, hardwood, carpet, they all behave differently and if you are not deeply familiar with each one the estimate ends up either too tight or way over.

The other issue is subfloor conditions. You never really know what you are dealing with until demo happens and by then the bid is already submitted and the client is holding you to those numbers.

I have been thinking about whether it makes more sense to bring in comprehensive flooring estimating services for this part of the bid rather than handling it in house. Has anyone done this and actually seen a difference in accuracy? Or does outsourcing just create more back and forth with the estimating team?

Would love to know what others are doing, especially on projects where multiple flooring types are running across different zones of the same building.