timothystone Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 How do most of you go about estimating your project time? im only asking because it seems i keep coming in way under my estimated time; ie. i will estimate 16 hrs to model a 36 unit apartment building with minimal site work in sketchup, render in maxwell, and composite in Photoshop, & in actuality it typically takes me 31hrs form start to finish. Once i estimated 20hrs for a 10,000 sqft office bldg. and it actually took me 38 hours!! obviously this cant continue, so what is a good method for estimating my time Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Schroeder Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 It's easy. Take your estimate, then add on 40-50% extra. You need to be real about your ability when estimating things. If you think it will take you 8 hours, you should estimate 12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris MacDonald Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 One of the hardest things to do in my opinion, because you never truly know until you get started on a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliveG Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 The problem I find is that I often end up stretching my work to my estimate even if I'm vaguely realistic or generous with that estimate, so my equation would be more like: Take your estimate x 2 - inform client of resulting figure. Then try and forget what you told the client and work towards your original estimate! In my case I might get close to making money then, as I usually blow my estimates even if I give myself plenty of time! Darn it if only what we produced was finite and couldn't always be improved by just spending a bit more time here or tweaking that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heni30 Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 (edited) Work is sort of like expanding gas - it will fill whatever the size of time you have available. That's why I don't mind being told a deadline is sooner that it actually is. Edited May 15, 2015 by heni30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timothystone Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 There have been times were I overestimated time by 15-20% & but it seems there are more times were Im under by 9-18hours, in addition to what C.G. Said, i could have easily burnt another 2-3hrs tweaking. My goal is to get in dialed in or either charge a flat fee of $1200 no matter what Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meherthakker Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I would generally double my estimated time...$1200 is kool !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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