One of the keys to accurate and consistent estimating is to record the details clearly and in a way which is easy to understand. I work on the basis that if I write notes that anyone else could make sense of and work from, then I’ll also be able to find everything I need to be able to work out prices through to preparing cutting plans and briefing the fitters so they know all the essentials before they go out to do the fitting.
Let’s imagine we’ve arrived at a potential customer’s home and we’ve been shown into the lounge which is the area where the customer would like to have a new carpet. We’re there simply to take the measurements that will be needed so we can work out how much carpet, underlay and gripper will be needed for the job. Of course, there’s much more information we would be looking for in real life, but we’ll keep things simple and consider other issues in later articles.
The easiest way to record the measurements is to start by drawing a simple sketch plan of the room. It doesn’t need to be a scale drawing at this stage, simply an outline that will help us to record any relevant measurement and to ensure we don’t muddle them up.
If the room’s rectangular the drawing will be very simple. We’ll mark the position and width of any doors and make sure we measure into the doorway itself as doorbars are fitted underneath doors so they are not seen when the doors are closed, and this means there will be an extra couple of centimetres that we need to include. It’s also helpful to note where walls have windows as the fall of the light may be something we need to consider later.
If the room is a less regular shape, the drawing should include a measurement for every section of wall and any doorways, and it is good practice to take an overall length and width so you can check that the individual measurements add up correctly.
Within any room, it is worth noting any feature 20 cm or larger as these may be big enough to allow you to economise on materials (for example, a hearth offcut might provide the material for the back of another recess, or a bullnose if there are stairs in the project).
It’s very helpful to note other features that may become relevant. Are there pipes, sockets, vents, or other features the fitter will need to cut round? Is there fitted furniture? Are there structural features such as pillars or stand-alone walls that have been left where rooms have been knocked through and so the fitter will need to cut the materials, or plan the design, around these features? Where a measure includes a staircase, how does each room’s orientation lie in relation to the stairs?
There are some useful tools available to help with drawing sketch plans. I have a grid sheet which sits behind the paper I’m drawing on and guides my pen in straight lines vertically and horizontally. It’s amazing how many customers notice this and comment, as if it’s due to my skill and experience. iPads and other tablets, such as the ReMarkable notepads, usually have the ability to straighten up your lines as you draw if you hold the pen at the end of the line before you lift it off the screen and I know a number of estimators who find this really useful.
Keep it neat so that anyone could work from what you’ve drawn, but beware of customers who might try to take a snapshot so they can try and obtain lower prices from other companies without them needing to come and measure for themselves.
A final note about your measurements: Metres? Centimetres? Millimetres? or even feet and inches? There’s no rule (imperial measurements are legal again since Brexit). Just don’t mix different measurements on the same drawing. If most measurements are in centimetres but one wall is written ‘4.2’, you could end up with an error 100 times too small, or lots of errors 100 times too big. It happens more often than estimators would prefer to admit.
In next months article we’ll consider awkward rooms and shapes.
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