Estimating and Bidding an Electrical Job
Takeoff, Labor Units, Burden, Overhead and Profit, Contingency and the Bid Package
NFPA 70 National Electrical Code, 2023 edition · Reviewed 2026-09-21
"Estimating and Bidding a Job" sits in Part 1 of both Georgia exams, under "Comply with Administrative Requirements" (4 percent of the exam). The questions are about method (what kind of estimate, in what order), arithmetic (labor units, burden, markup and margin, unit prices, waste) and the bid package (what a responsive bid contains, bid guarantees, site investigation, documents that must be in the contract).
1. Three kinds of estimates (FHWA / AASHTO)
| Type | Built from | When | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conceptual / parametric (square-foot, per-unit) | A parameter × a historical rate | Planning and early scoping, before plans exist | Budget only — never a firm bid |
| Historical bid-based | Plan quantities × historical unit prices, adjusted for location, size, quantity and market | Budgeting, bid review, unit-price work | Adequate if the history is competitive and recent |
| Cost-based (detailed) | Actual performance of the work: current labor, equipment and material prices, the sequence of operations, production rates, plus a reasonable overhead and profit | The firm bid | Most accurate, most work |
- A firm bid is a committed price offer the contractor is prepared to sign; a budget estimate is not. Most jobs combine methods — cost-based for the few items that make up most of the money.
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