There is a version of this conversation that every contractor has had at least once. A bid comes in hot. The timeline is tight. The estimating team drops everything, works late, pulls numbers, coordinates with subs, and puts together a proposal that is thorough, competitive, and delivered on time.
Then they do it again the next day. And the day after that.
Nobody questions whether the process itself is costing more than it should, because the focus is always on the outcome. Did we get the number in? Did we win? But underneath that urgency, there is a slower, quieter problem eating into profitability that most firms never stop long enough to measure.
The Hidden Tax on Every Bid
Estimating is one of the most labor-intensive functions in any contracting firm, and also one of the least examined in terms of efficiency. Teams spend enormous amounts of time on tasks that are repetitive, manual, and prone to error. Pulling historical pricing. Reformatting takeoffs. Chasing vendor quotes. Manually transferring data between systems that do not talk to each other. Writing scope narratives from scratch on projects that are 80 percent similar to something they bid six months ago.
None of that is estimating. That is administrative overhead disguised as estimating.
The actual value an estimator brings is judgment. It is knowing which numbers to trust, where the risk sits in a set of drawings, how to account for site conditions that are not on paper, and when a project is priced to win versus priced to lose. That is the work that wins jobs and protects margins. Everything else around it is process, and most of that process has not been meaningfully updated in years.
Where the Time Actually Goes
If you asked most estimators to break down their week, the split would be revealing. A significant portion of their time goes to gathering information, not analyzing it. Searching through old bids for comparable scope. Rebuilding templates. Formatting proposals to match a GC’s submission requirements. Following up with suppliers who have not returned calls.
Some firms have addressed pieces of this with estimating software, and that helps. But software alone does not solve the problem if the underlying workflow still depends on one person holding all the context in their head. When your senior estimator is the only person who knows where the historical data lives, how the spreadsheet formulas work, and what assumptions were made on a similar job two years ago, you do not have a system. You have a single point of failure with a salary.
This is where a lot of firms are more exposed than they realize. The estimating function works, but it works because specific people make it work despite the process, not because of it.
What Tighter Estimating Actually Looks Like
Improving estimating efficiency is not about replacing people or buying another piece of software. It is about looking honestly at where time is going and asking which parts of the workflow could be standardized, automated, or restructured so that experienced estimators spend more of their hours on the work that actually requires their expertise.
That might mean building a usable library of past bid data that anyone on the team can search without asking the senior estimator where to find it. It might mean using AI tools to generate first-draft scope narratives based on previous project language, then letting the estimator refine and approve rather than writing from a blank page every time. It might mean automating the formatting and assembly of proposals so the last two hours of every bid cycle are not spent on layout and compliance checklists.
None of these changes are radical. But together, they shift the estimating team from spending most of their time on low-value process work to spending most of their time on high-value decision-making. That shift has a direct impact on how many bids you can pursue, how accurate those bids are, and how much it costs your firm to compete for every opportunity.
The Margin Impact Most Firms Are Not Calculating
Here is a number worth thinking about. If your estimating team spends an average of 40 hours on a bid, and 15 of those hours are spent on tasks that could be streamlined or eliminated, that is more than a third of the effort going to process friction. Multiply that across every bid you submit in a year. Then think about what your estimators could do with that time back.
They could pursue more opportunities. They could spend more time on the bids that actually matter, the ones with higher margins or stronger win probability, instead of grinding through every RFP at the same pace regardless of strategic fit. They could review numbers more carefully, catch errors earlier, and reduce the kind of last-minute mistakes that either cost you the job or cost you money after you win it.
Estimating efficiency is not a back-office concern. It is a profitability lever. And in a market where margins are already under pressure from labor costs, material volatility, and increasingly competitive bid environments, the firms that figure out how to estimate smarter are going to outperform the ones that just keep estimating harder.
Where AI Fits Without Overcomplicating Things
AI is not going to replace your estimators. That conversation is overblown and unhelpful. What AI can do, right now, is take on the repetitive, time-consuming parts of the estimating workflow that do not require human judgment.
Drafting scope language from templates and past projects. Organizing and surfacing historical bid data so it is searchable and usable. Flagging inconsistencies in a takeoff before they become change orders. Summarizing spec documents so the estimator can get to the relevant sections faster. Formatting proposals to meet submission requirements without manual rework.
These are not futuristic applications. They are practical, available, and already being used by firms that have started treating AI as a workflow tool rather than a buzzword. The firms that are doing this well are not trying to automate estimating. They are trying to remove the friction around estimating so their people can focus on what they are actually good at.
That is the difference between using AI as a gimmick and using it as an operational advantage. One sounds impressive in a meeting. The other shows up in your margins.
The Question Worth Asking
The next time your estimating team is deep in a bid cycle, working late and pushing to hit a deadline, take a step back and ask a simple question. Of all the hours going into this bid, how many are spent on work that only a skilled estimator can do, and how many are spent on everything else?
If the answer is uncomfortable, that is not a failure. It is an opportunity. And the firms that act on it now are going to be in a much stronger position than the ones that wait until the market forces their hand.
People Say
We recently had Chris Carr present to our members on behalf of Dynaimix, and it was an overwhelming success. We had a full classroom, and the engagement throughout the session was outstanding. Many attendees who initially felt intimidated by AI left feeling empowered and confident in how they can begin applying it in their work.
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Brubacher engaged Chris , founder of Dynaimix, in a two-day mind-stretching exploration of current AI capabilities, future direction, and most importantly he outlined the likely impacts to our business. He introduced us to a variety of AI tools to explore using to increase efficiency. Some participants immediately identified ways to save hours per week while others began using AI-enabled tools to offset areas in which they lack skills. Chris is high-energy, kept our attention, and has been attentive in follow-up.
We had the pleasure of having Chris Carr present at our annual planning meeting at Oliver Fire Protection & Security, which is a critical event for setting the direction of our year. Our goal was to give our strategic leadership team a stronger understanding of artificial intelligence and how it will impact our business. Chris delivered his state of AI presentation and completely blew our team away. His depth of knowledge, paired with practical, real-world examples, made the topic both clear and compelling.
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I had the opportunity to bring Chris Carr to the NECA Districts 6 and 9 Summer Conferences on the North Shore of Hawaii, where he came in locked and loaded and delivered two impactful sessions—one for each district. What I appreciate most about Chris and the Dynaimix team is his genuine passion for what he presents and his constant focus on applying AI in practical, meaningful ways for the electrical contracting industry.
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I’ve had the opportunity to see Chris’s State of AI presentation multiple times, and each experience reinforced his strong grasp of AI—where it’s going, how quickly the landscape is changing, and what that means for electrical contractors. What sets Chris apart is his ability to take an incredibly complex topic and make it both approachable and immediately relevant to our industry.
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At the 2025 WICA Annual Convention in beautiful Lake Tahoe, Chris Carr presented on the State of AI for our Insulation Contractor and Associate members. He emphasized the importance of AI literacy, the role of AI governance through an AI council, and how to effectively pair AI with custom code to drive real business impact. Chris has a gift for explaining complex topics in a way everyone can understand, and the session was engaging and highly relevant. Our members found it captivating, the feedback was excellent, and I would highly recommend Chris and the Dynaimix team.
We were extremely pleased with the Program that Dynaimix provided for our Members. From the feedback I received from our Members, it was easy to understand and provided practical grass roots education on understanding how AI could increase time saving skills and knowledge about subject matter. The process of booking the presentation was seamless and the communication with dynAimix leading up to the event was outstanding. We look forward to hosting another presentation with them in the near future.
We had the privilege of having Chris Carr present to our leadership team after first seeing him speak at a peer group event. That experience led us to bring him in for a two-day Intro to AI training where he covered the foundational elements of artificial intelligence. Prior to the training, Chris met with us to understand our business, which allowed him to tailor the content specifically to our needs. What impressed us most was his ability to explain complex concepts in a clear and easy-to-understand way.
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Partnering with Dynaimix AI has been a tremendous step forward for our organization. Their customized, in-person training reached more than 300 of our employees and consistently exceeded expectations. The sessions were engaging, practical, and highly relevant, and many team members shared that they learned far more about AI than they anticipated.
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Chris presented at our Annual Summer Membership Meeting for the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), Northeastern Illinois Chapter, and our members were absolutely blown away. The response was so strong that his team followed up with a two-day Intro to AI training for our members, hosted at our location in Illinois. The training was led by Todd Smith, and it was incredibly powerful, highly digestible, and easy to understand.
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Chris Carr
Mark Oestreicher
Todd Smith
Dan Callahan
Erin Larkin
Andrew Pilato
Dynaimix AI Public Speaking Schedule
One of the missions of Dynaimix AI is to educate businesses, industries, and professionals about the transformative impact of the coming wave of artificial intelligence. We aim to share insights into how AI will shape the future of work and provide practical lessons, techniques, and tactics to enhance AI literacy.
Below is our public speaking schedule. Please check back regularly, as new dates and events are added each week.