TRUSTED BY 3,500+ CONTRACTORS & DEVELOPERS
We work with:
General Contractors
- Subcontractors
- Remodeling Contractors
Homebuilders
- Developers
Architects
“Most contractors are missing out on over $200,000 per month in project contracts and they don’t even know it. They are busy, have no time for takeoffs, and they are leaving money on the table. A lot of money.
We designed our construction takeoff service with the goal of helping our clients win projects and ultimately be successful.”
-Daniel Quindemil
Founder, I AM Builders
WHO IS I AM BUILDERS?
I AM Builders is a National Construction Estimating Firm in the business of helping contractors win projects.
With our construction estimating and takeoff services, we’ll help you prepare a budget for your new project.
Most contractors are so busy running their job sites that they NEGLECT their bidding. You’re supervising jobs, making deliveries, going to jobsite meetings, and the only time to work on bidding is NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS.
It doesn’t have to be that way!
HOW CAN WE HELP YOU WIN MORE PROJECTS?
“I have NO TIME to estimate projects”
– Every Contractor in America
The enemy of every contractor is the lack of time. Most contractors are busy working IN the business rather than working ON the business. If that’s the case, you’re not alone. We’ve worked with over 1,400 contractors nationwide estimating and consulting, and that’s normal.
But you’ve probably tried doing it yourself, working at night after work…. probably even on the weekends on the kitchen table. We’ll find your leads for you and can even takeoff your complete construction project after so you can focus on running your business and getting your nights and weekends back.
Stop missing out on bids because of time.
You’re probably MISSING OUT on $200,000 per month because you’re busy
We did an analysis and more contractors are missing out on several projects per month that they can actually win because they are so busy they just pass them up.
Depending on what your average contract value is, most contractors are missing between $200-500K per month in sales because of being busy.
We’ll prepare your entire estimate for you so can keep bidding those jobs.
We can estimate your entire project for you based on your LOCAL PRICING so the numbers will be accurate
I AM Builders is US Based and a licensed General Contractor, so we have actual building experience.
We use a combination of a cost database and our experience to price your projects based on the zip code of your project (Note: Everyone at I AM Builders has actual field experience in construction, not just theory or “paper estimating”).
Pricing for labor and material varies by area and zip code, so we make adjustments for local labor rates, material pricing, and even look at the area’s property value to determine accurate pricing. That’s what makes our construction estimating service a great option for busy contractors.
We even back our estimates with a $1 MILLION ACCURACY GUARANTEE which covers all of our clients by our Errors and Omissions Insurance.
We can help you NEGOTIATE AND CLOSE based on proven strategies
Estimating is only a small part of what it takes to win a job. We like to see this as a TEAM EFFORT.
What do you do after the estimate to give yourself the best chance of winning? We can help you work the numbers when you’re negotiating, and even jump on a conference call with your client (as your estimating team) to help you close.
We can even advise you on EXACTLY WHAT TO DO to have them wanting to USE YOU instead of your competitor.
Over the last 10 years, and after speaking and working with THOUSANDS of Contractors, we get to see what WORKS and what DOESN’T. We have some clients landing 50% of their bids by implementing some of the strategies we can easily show you.
These aren’t strategies we made up – we listened to our clients and created our blueprint based on what they are doing right, and avoiding what they were doing wrong. Best of all….. it works for ANY CONSTRUCTION BUSINESS.
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
You Send in Your Plans
You can upload your plans here or email us at info@iambuilders.com. Whichever is more convenient for you.
Be sure to let us know your scope of work and any details regarding your project.
We Send you a Quote for Our Services
Before starting, we’ll send you a detailed quote for our services. Every client is unique so we take the time to review each situation individually. We’ll factor in things like project range, difficulty, trades, and more.
We Estimate and Deliver Your Cost Estimate
Our team will takeoff and estimate your project. When we deliver you’ll receive a PDF and an Excel file of your estimate. We can also offer construction lead generation services for the jobs you’d like to pursue further.
What makes an Alaska bid different
Alaska has a statewide building code. It just doesn’t cover as much as you’d think.
The state adopts the 2021 IBC by regulation, under 13 AAC 50.020, along with the 2021 International Fire Code. But electrical and plumbing get pulled out and run under their own chapters, so the IBC’s own references to those don’t govern here. And the residential code and the energy code aren’t statewide at all. Those are local option. Plenty of Alaska hasn’t adopted either one.
Then there’s the part that catches people. The State Fire Marshal’s plan review doesn’t cover structure. The Division of Fire and Life Safety says plainly that it does not review for conformance with IBC Chapter 16 — that’s seismic, snow and flood design. Those stay with the owner and the design professional. So a set approved by the state is a life-safety approval. It is not somebody signing off on your snow load.
Anchorage runs its own code, and on the commercial side it’s older than the state’s. Anchorage adopted the 2018 IBC, IEBC, IFC, IFGC, IECC and IMC in August 2020, plus the Uniform Plumbing Code. Three editions behind the 2021 IBC the state enforces. Same state, different envelope, different sprinkler triggers, different energy math.
And underneath all of it is the freight. We priced a community building in Akutan, out in the Aleutians East Borough. There’s no road to Akutan. Every stick of that job arrives by barge or by air on a schedule the weather controls. Mobilization there isn’t a percentage you tack on at the end. It’s a line item you build from the barge schedule up.
Four things that get missed on an Alaska construction estimate
1. Anchorage changed its code in May. AO 2026-33 As Amended passed the Assembly on 14 April 2026 and took effect 18 May 2026. Three changes move real money: single-stair egress is now allowed for apartment and condo buildings; the permit exemption for non-structural repair like siding and roofing doubled from $5,000 to $10,000; and an attached ADU of 1,200 square feet or less inside an existing house footprint no longer needs fire separation. If you’re pricing an Anchorage multifamily job off last year’s assumptions, you’re going to carry a second stair nobody has to build anymore.
2. Title 36 starts at $25,000. Alaska’s prevailing wage law applies to public construction over $25,000. The contracting agency files a Notice of Award within 20 days through myAlaska, change orders over $10,000 get reported, and certified payroll runs for the life of the job. That’s not just a wage rate on your labor lines. It’s an administrative load, and it belongs in General Conditions with hours against it.
3. Alaska hire is not enforceable. The 90% resident preference in AS 36.10.150 was declared unconstitutional in a formal Attorney General opinion in October 2019, and the Department of Labor stopped enforcing it. Price the crew you can actually get to the site, and the travel and per diem to get them there. Don’t price a preference the state no longer enforces.
4. Registration, bond and insurance all come due at once. A general contractor registers with the Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development. The bond is $25,000, or $20,000 with the residential endorsement. Liability minimums are $20,000 property damage, $50,000 injury to one person, $100,000 injury to more than one. Fees are $100 to apply plus $250 to register. Registration runs two years and expires 31 December of an even-numbered year — this year. Every registered GC in the state renews on the same date.
One more, and it’s a subtraction. Alaska has no state sales tax. Tax is borough and city only, so the tax line is a jurisdiction lookup, not a state rate. Anchorage has no general sales tax. Several southeast communities do.
Alaska projects we’ve actually priced
Straight answer first: four of the sixteen estimates on this page are Alaska jobs. The other twelve are Washington. Four is what our verified Alaska file holds, and we’d rather show the real thing and say where it came from than dress up somebody else’s work as Alaskan.
Washington is the nearest state we have real depth in, and the two have more in common than most pairs. Cold-climate detailing. Marine exposure. Seismic country. Wood-frame multifamily. A lot of public work carrying prevailing wage. Read the Alaska four for local proof. Read the Washington twelve for how deep the takeoff goes.
$122.5M of construction value across 132 pages of takeoff and pricing. Open them. Read the line items. See exactly what you get before you send a single sheet.
Commercial Buildings — ground-up institutional, hospitality and light industrial.
- Newport High School (Prevailing Wage), Bellevue WA – $99.5M (98006)
- Morck Hotel, Aberdeen WA – $9.6M (98520)
- City of Akutan Community Building – $935K (Akutan 99553)
- Manufacturing and Cultivation, Anchorage – $383K (99518)
Multi Family and Apartments — apartments, triplexes, townhomes and multi-unit housing.
- E James St Apartments, Seattle WA – $4.1M (98122)
- Three homes Type E, Olympia WA – $1.9M (98513)
- HH Triplex, Walla Walla WA – $1.2M (99362)
- Queen Ann Townhomes, Seattle WA – $132K (98109)
Residential — custom homes, additions and whole-house remodels.
- 2770 Project, Seattle WA – $866K (98101)
- 5272 Project, Seattle WA – $826K (98101)
- 423 Bellevue, WA – $662K (Bellevue 98008)
- Bayview Project, Port Townsend WA – $250K (98368)
Tenant Buildouts — interior fit-outs in existing buildings.
- Lake Lorriane Starbucks, Seattle WA – $1M (98134)
- KTN Project, Ketchikan – $590K (99901)
- Woods Coffee Kent, WA – $430K (Kent 98032)
- Aaron’s, Anchorage – $155K (99503)
Two of the four Alaska jobs are interior work, and that isn’t an accident. The KTN Project in Ketchikan is retail and lobby build-out inside an existing shell — metal framing, ceilings, finishes, electrical. The Aaron’s store in Anchorage is a demo-and-rebuild of a tenant space, down to the mezzanine joists and the exterior metal panel. Between the big public jobs, interior work is a large share of what actually gets built in Alaska.
Look at Newport High School at the other end. $99.5M, 36 pages, concrete through elevators, priced at prevailing wage. That’s the format an Alaska public job needs: quantities shown, wage assumption stated, every division broken out so an owner can argue with a number instead of a lump sum.
Then the Akutan community building: $935K and eight pages, because a small building at the end of a barge run is not a small estimate.
Where we work in Alaska
We estimate statewide, and statewide means something different up here.
Anchorage and the Mat-Su. Anchorage, Eagle River, Girdwood, Wasilla and Palmer. The 2018 code set, the May 2026 amendments, and most of the state’s commercial and multifamily volume. Two of our four Alaska estimates are Anchorage jobs.
Fairbanks and the Interior. Fairbanks, North Pole, Delta Junction and Nenana. Deep frost, short seasons. Schedule assumptions drive the number as much as material does.
Southeast. Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell and Haines. Marine exposure, barge logistics, borough sales tax that varies by community. The KTN Project on this page is a Ketchikan job.
Kenai Peninsula. Soldotna, Kenai, Homer and Seward.
Off the road system. Bethel, Nome, Kotzebue, Utqiagvik, Dutch Harbor and Akutan. Freight, weather windows, crew housing and demobilization are the estimate. The Akutan community building on this page is exactly that kind of job.
Washington. Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Olympia, Kent, Renton, Port Townsend, Aberdeen and Walla Walla. Twelve of the sixteen estimates here are Washington work, and plenty of Alaska jobs pull subs and materials out of Puget Sound anyway.
Who our Alaska estimating service is for
General contractors bidding public and private work. Subs who need a takeoff that survives a scope review. Developers who want a real number before they commit capital. Architects who’d rather price a design now than explain a surprise on bid day.
Alaska is a small market with long distances and thin sub coverage, and that punishes a slow bid worse than almost anywhere else. If you’re turning down invitations because you can’t get numbers out fast enough, you’re going to keep handing work to whoever answered first. That’s what our Alaska construction estimating services are built to fix. You send the plans. We send back a priced estimate with the quantities shown, in a format you can hand straight to a client or an owner.
We’re not a lead service and we’re not a software subscription. A person does the takeoff. Another person checks it. You can call and ask why a number is what it is, and get an answer.
What you’re hiring is a cost estimator who has already priced cold-climate work, barge-fed logistics, prevailing-wage public jobs and tenant fit-outs — and who will tell you which of those we’ve done in Alaska and which we’ve done next door. Not a national square-foot average with the word Alaska written on top.
Send us your plans. We’ll tell you what it costs.
