Senior Estimator

Job Overview

SUMMARY

The Senior Estimator is the senior technical estimator on the preconstruction team. This is the person the group goes to when a pursuit is large, complicated, or unlike anything we have priced before.

The role reports to the Estimating Manager and leads capital cost estimates on its own, from bid kickoff through executive approval. Lump sum, unit rate, reimbursable, force account, EPC and EPCM. Scopes cover piping, mechanical, civil, structural, storage tanks and pipeline facilities. Cost risk analysis is part of the job.

It is not only a pricing role. The Senior Estimator sets the schedule before the price, splits scope into engineering, procurement and construction, decides where risk gets priced and where it gets pushed back through contract language, and mentors the intermediate and junior estimators.

We are hiring this position with succession in mind. The right person will be given room to take over the day-to-day running of the estimating desk as the current lead moves up and should want that path.

JOB DUTIES

• Lead estimates end to end. Own capital cost estimates from bid kickoff through executive review and award. Lump sum, unit rate, reimbursable, force account, EPC and EPCM, including alternative pricing and cost risk analysis.
• Split the scope. Break every pursuit into engineering, procurement and construction. Define the engineering needed to price the bid separately from the engineering needed to build the job.
• Schedule before price. Build or direct the bid schedule in Primavera P6 or MS Project and back-solve cost from it. Material and equipment lead times, production rates, engineering and client review cycles, seasonal and shift-work productivity losses.
• Own the takeoff. Perform, direct and check discipline takeoffs, both material and labour activities, and apply unit norms to develop man-hours. Sequence the takeoff so dependent scopes like scaffold, shop fabrication and coating price off the same basis.
• Own the rate methodology. Maintain the labour and equipment rate build-up. Fleet cost basis, monthly hour bases, fuel, repair and maintenance, markup, wet versus dry selection, and utilization adjustments. Pick the correct client agreement and rate schedule for each pursuit, keep the rate libraries current, and escalate older rates to today’s dollars.
• Scrub the indirects. Build and challenge indirect and site-support costs. Supervision, temporary facilities, lighting and temporary power, dewatering, heating and hoarding, camp and travel. Decide what gets carried on its own and what gets spread into the unit rates.
• Drive subcontractor and vendor pricing. Package and issue RFQs, chase vendors by phone instead of waiting on the bid platform, level the quotes, and reconcile subcontract unit rates back to our own build-up. Work alongside procurement throughout.
• Place risk and contingency on purpose. Build the risk register, set the risk level the estimate carries, and put contingency where the exposure sits instead of spreading it evenly. Fence real unknowns to change management.
• Write the commercial language. Author the clarifications, qualifications, assumptions and exclusions that put risk with the right party through wording rather than a padded number. Defend that language through client review and negotiation.
• Document the basis of estimate. Record method, rationale and source data while the estimate is being built. The standard is that an estimator who was not involved can rebuild how every rate was developed.
• Read the pursuit. Interpret client intent, contract structure, and where we sit against the competition. Contribute to bid / no-bid, win strategy, strategy and margin reviews, page turners, final bid review, and delegation of authority approval.
• Present the number. Walk leadership and clients through estimates and margin summaries, including revenue by bucket. Indirect hours, direct hours, direct labour, material, subcontract and equipment.
• Support execution planning and handover. Contribute to Construction Execution Plans, path of construction, workface planning, and constructability reviews with operations and field leadership. Turn the estimate over to the project team after award and support cost reporting, change orders and claims from the estimate basis.
• Develop the team. Supervise, coach and check the work of the intermediate and junior estimators. Build and deliver internal training on estimating standards, takeoff methods and tools.
• Improve the department. Keep the estimating KPIs and historical cost data current. Contribute to better templates, tools, and digital or AI-assisted workflows.
• Lead on safety. Set the tone on safety and Primoris values in every meeting, site visit and subcontractor conversation.
• Various other duties as requested by management.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 10+ years of estimating experience in heavy industrial, oil and gas, or energy construction, with at least five (5) years leading estimates on your own.
• Two backgrounds carry equal weight here. A journeyman ticket (pipefitter, welder, boilermaker, millwright, heavy equipment or civil) with time as a foreman, general foreman or superintendent before moving into estimating. Or a degree or diploma in Engineering, Construction Management or a related field. Field credibility counts as much as the paper.
• P.Eng. with APEGA, or eligibility to register, is an asset. It is not a requirement.
• Real depth in at least two of: process and utility piping, mechanical and equipment installation, civil earthworks and watercourse work, structural steel, storage tanks, pipeline facilities and tie-ins.
• Experience across lump sum, unit rate, and reimbursable or time-and-material models. EPC or EPCM estimating is a strong asset.
• Working knowledge of owner master service agreements, framework agreements and contract rate schedules, and the discipline to price to the right table.
• Experience preparing and defending estimates through a formal stage-gate or delegation of authority process.
• Experience supervising, mentoring or formally training estimators.
• Alberta oil sands, SAGD, or northern and remote site experience is an asset. Winter execution, shift work and camp-based projects included.
• Cost control or project controls exposure preferred.
• Familiarity with ASME B31.3, CSA Z662, API 650 and 653, and CSA S6 is an asset.
• Valid driver’s license and able to travel to site when needed.

SKILLS

• Can read a client package and separate what must be engineered, what must be bought, and what we self-perform.
• Can build a bid schedule, not only read one, and understand how duration drives indirect cost.
• Knows what a crew produces in a day, and how winter, night shift, remote work and congestion change that number.
• Writes clarifications and exclusions a client will accept, and a project manager can enforce.
• Strong with numbers. Able to work from detailed but poorly defined information and still make a call that holds up.
• Detail focused without losing the bigger problem. Accuracy is the whole job. An inaccurate estimate either loses the bid or loses money on the work.
• Comfortable presenting and defending conclusions to executives, clients and operations. Strong written and verbal communication.
• Work breakdown structure discipline and general project management competence.
• Advanced Excel. Proficient with estimating software, Primavera P6 or MS Project, Bluebeam or similar takeoff tools, document management systems, and online bid platforms.
• Comfortable with digital and AI-assisted estimating tools and interested in improving how the work gets done.
• Organized enough to run several pursuits at once and hold up under bid deadlines.
• Collaborative and willing to teach. What the estimating team knows is a shared asset, and this role is expected to add to it.
• Real commitment to safety leadership. “No business objective is so important that it will be pursued at the sacrifice of safety.”

BENEFITS

• Healthcare
• Dentalcare
• Visioncare
• Health Spending Account
• Life Insurance
• Weekly pay schedule
• RRSP matching
• Hybrid WFH

Primoris embraces the belief that our employees are our greatest asset and most valuable resource. We realize that a successful company depends on skilled, happy workers. Because of this belief, we put forth every effort to make Primoris the employer of choice for our employees. Our comprehensive benefits package is among the best in the industry; and company-paid career training contributes to employees’ professional development and advancement.

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