A WSE estimate isn’t a guess and it isn’t a copy-paste. It’s a structured build, line by line, from first principles. Receive → Build → Deliver, with an audit step before any estimate leaves our office.
We confirm receipt of every brief on the same day. That confirmation isn’t a polite acknowledgment — it’s the start of the work.
The first thing we do is review what’s in the package. Drawings are essential, but they’re rarely the whole story. We look for the supporting documents: pricing schedule, tender documents, geotechnical reports, site photos, authority correspondence, any side reports that might affect cost. Missing documents are flagged immediately. We ask for them before we commit to a delivery window.
Then we open the drawings and read them carefully — including the fine print and the notes pages. We agree the deadline with the client and quote a fee for the estimating work. Once the fee is approved, we ask for the technical information we need to build genuinely client-specific rates: your supplier rates, your plant rates, your preferred markup approach. Without that, we’d be applying generic numbers to a job that deserves better.
This is the work. Every rate is built from first principles — never copied from a previous job.
For each line item, we work out:
Each input is sourced specifically — not generalised. The rate that comes out the other end has lineage. If you ask why a particular line is priced the way it is, we can show you.
This is also where we read what the drawings don’t say. Where the design is ambiguous, we raise it — either as an RFI or as a documented qualification. Either way, the assumption appears clearly in our summation. We never bury an assumption inside a rate.
Complex water and sewer projects can’t be priced in a glance. The drawings need to be read carefully — including the fine print and the notes pages. The site conditions need to be understood. The authority specifications need to be checked. Plant and supplier rates need to be confirmed — our cost calculator shows how depth and pipe size shift the per-metre price. The real estimate is more nuanced, but the calculator gives a starting indication. Often we’re following up RFIs or waiting on geotech detail.
A quick price on a complex job is a guess. We don’t deliver guesses. So if turnaround feels slow on a particular brief, it usually means the brief deserves the slow turnaround. We’ll always come back to you with a clear delivery window upfront — no work runs longer than agreed without a conversation.
You receive the estimate in two formats: PDF and Excel. Inside, a detailed bill of quantities with plant, labour, and materials broken down separately. Enough information to understand the job; nothing buried, nothing hidden in a rate.
Every estimate runs through an internal audit step before it’s delivered. If anything looks off, it gets a second look. Nothing goes out until it’s right.
Looking at plans without reading them. Skipping the fine print. Missing the notes. Pricing what’s drawn rather than what’s specified.
We work the opposite way. Sometimes we just sit with the plans and stare. Letting a project reveal itself takes time. The detail that’s easy to miss on a fast read is what separates a defensible estimate from a guess.
Every estimate starts with a handwritten checklist of items to verify before delivery. Quiet, slow, and physical. Built up over years of seeing what gets missed when estimators rely on the screen alone. By the time the estimate is built, we cross-reference against that checklist line by line. Anything missing gets added back in.
It’s a slow habit. It’s also why we don’t miss things.
Whether you don’t have an in-house estimator or you do and you want a second perspective on a complex job, our method works either way. The method applies across all five disciplines we estimate — water, sewer, pump stations, stormwater, and variations. See the cost of in-house estimating compared with working through us →
2-hour acknowledgment during AEST business. Scope-matched delivery agreed before any work starts. No silent queues, no surprises.