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 Anaheim bid different
Anaheim doesn’t buy its power from Edison.
It runs its own. Anaheim Public Utilities is a city-owned, not-for-profit electric and water utility. Water since 1879. Electric since 1894 — the first municipal electric utility in Southern California. So when you’re pricing commercial work here, you’re not calling SCE. You’re calling the city.
And that changes your schedule before it changes your number.
New or upgraded commercial electric service in Anaheim is a ten-step process. The city’s own checklist says the service plans “generally take 8-12 weeks to generate, depending upon current backlog.” Eight to twelve weeks. Before anybody trenches.
There’s more sitting under that. Your panel shop drawings have to be approved before you buy the panel, and the panel has to meet EUSERC standards. If the transformer lands on private property you need a Public Utility Easement with a surveyed legal description. You need ten business days’ notice for a planned outage, and you pay overtime if it falls outside business hours. Then three separate releases before anything gets energized — Building Inspector, Electric Meter Shop, Electric Utility Inspector.
That’s three sign-offs. Not one.
So if you bid an Anaheim build-out on a ninety-day schedule and you haven’t called Electrical Engineering at 714-765-5156 for the free feasibility study, you’re going to eat that delay out of your own margin. Nobody’s reimbursing you for a backlog.
The permit side is its own thing. Anaheim doesn’t charge a straight percentage of valuation. It charges a combined plan check and building permit fee off a lookup table, keyed to occupancy, square footage, and a construction-type tier. Tier 1 is Type IA and IB. Tier 2 is Type IIA, IIIA and VA. Tier 3 is Type IIB, IIIB, IV and VB.
Change the construction type, change the fee. Same building. Same square feet.
Four things that get missed on an Anaheim construction estimate
1. The utility clock. Eight to twelve weeks for service plans is general conditions, supervision and extended overhead — not a footnote. Most estimates carry zero for it.
2. Final Site Plan. If your job sits in the Anaheim Resort Specific Plan area — 581 acres around the Convention Center and the Commercial Recreation district — Anaheim Municipal Code 18.116.040 says the plan “shall be implemented through the processing and approval of Final Site Plans prior to the issuance of building permits.” The Planning Director approves it. The decision is appealable to the Planning Commission for ten days after. That’s an entitlement step ahead of plan check, and it’s not in your permit fee.
3. The fee table, read correctly. Assembly, Category 1, Tier 1 at 1,000 square feet runs $4,142 plus $134 for each additional 100 square feet up to 5,000. Business, Category 2, Tier 2 between 5,001 and 10,000 square feet runs $5,359 plus $72 for each additional 100. Those are real numbers off the city’s schedule. A percentage-of-cost guess doesn’t land near them. If you pull a Tier 3 fee line for a Tier 1 building, you’re going to be short before you break ground.
4. School fees. The State Allocation Board raised the statutory Level 1 fees 4.06% on 28 January 2026. Commercial and industrial went from $0.84 to $0.87 per square foot of chargeable covered and enclosed space. Residential went to $5.38. It’s small per foot and it isn’t small on a building.
And a fifth one you won’t see on any competitor’s page. There’s a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy process in Anaheim, and it “typically takes approximately five working days.” Plan the move-in around that, not around your final inspection.
Anaheim projects we’ve actually priced
Not a service-area list. Actual estimates, with the numbers on them.
Full Projects
- Road House Hotel, Anaheim — $2.3M (92802)
- Valencia Drive, Fullerton — $503K (92832)
- 2509 S Broadway, Santa Ana — $2.2M (92707)
- City of Irvine Project — $11.6M (92612)
Retail & Restaurant Build-Outs
- Anaheim Ulta — $137K (92808)
- Mango Brea Mall, Fullerton — $69K (92831)
- Boiling Crab, Brea — $1.4M (92821)
- Dutch Bros CA7301, Santa Ana — $238K (92705)
Tenant Improvements & Renovations
- AESD Loara, Anaheim — $106K (92802)
- Brea Mall Project — $13K (92821)
- Anaheim Medical Building, Orange — $111K (92866)
- Cypress Motel Reno — $99K (90630)
Thirteen thousand dollars at the bottom. Eleven point six million at the top. About $19.6M across the twelve.
Where we work in Anaheim and Orange County
Here’s the straight version. Four of those twelve are Anaheim proper. The other eight are elsewhere in Orange County — Fullerton, Santa Ana, Brea, Irvine, Orange, Cypress.
I’m not going to dress that up. But look at what it actually means.
Eight jobs, six other cities, six separate building departments. Santa Ana runs its own “PBx Same Day Express Permit Program” and its own e-plan check, and none of it talks to Anaheim’s Accela. Orange has the Old Towne Orange Historic District, on the National Register since 1997, where “any changes to the exterior of a property within Old Towne must comply with the Historic Preservation Design Standards.” Fullerton, Brea and Cypress each run their own shops. An Anaheim approval carries into exactly none of them.
So this isn’t one market. It’s seven. And eleven of the twelve sit inside about nine miles of each other, which means the guy pricing your Brea build-out is the same guy who priced the Anaheim one last month.
92802 is the Disneyland Resort and Anaheim Resort zip — 41,914 people packed into 4.55 square miles, and the zip where Final Site Plan review bites. Road House Hotel at $2.3M sits there. So does AESD Loara at $106K, off Loara Street, which runs through 92802 and 92801.
92808 is Anaheim Hills. The retail runs along Santa Ana Canyon Road at Weir Canyon, anchored by the Anaheim Hills Festival Center off the 91. That’s the zip on the Anaheim Ulta at $137K.
92832 is central and south Fullerton, 26,277 people in 2.895 square miles — the Valencia Drive job at $503K.
92831 is the Cal State Fullerton side, running along State College Boulevard and Yorba Linda Boulevard off the 57. That’s the zip printed on the Mango Brea Mall, Fullerton estimate at $69K. Brea Mall’s anchors are Nordstrom, Macy’s and JCPenney. The label carries both city names because the paperwork does.
92707 is south Santa Ana, the South Main side, 56,456 people in 5.22 square miles — 2509 S Broadway at $2.2M.
92705 covers Santa Ana, Cowan Heights and North Tustin across 11.79 square miles. Dutch Bros CA7301 at $238K.
92821 is Brea, 41,335 people over 14.13 square miles. Two jobs there — Boiling Crab at $1.4M and the Brea Mall Project at $13K.
92612 is Rancho San Joaquin in Irvine, next to UC Irvine. That’s the City of Irvine Project at $11.6M, and it’s the one that sits furthest out.
92866 is Old Towne Orange, 15,935 people in 1.91 square miles, where E Chapman Avenue addresses live. The Anaheim Medical Building at $111K is there — in Orange, not Anaheim. The name’s on the building, not the map.
90630 is Cypress, 49,965 people over 6.15 square miles. Cypress Motel Reno at $99K.
Who our Anaheim estimating service is for
You’re a general contractor, a developer, or a sub. You’ve got plans. You’ve got a bid date. And you don’t have a full-time estimator sitting in your office.
That’s who this is for.
Our Anaheim construction estimating services cover takeoff, CSI-divided pricing, and a bid-ready number you can hand to an owner. Hotels. Restaurants. Retail build-outs. Medical suites. School work. Motel renovations. Ground-up. From $13K to $11.6M, because we’ve priced both ends of that.
What you’re buying isn’t just arithmetic. Any cost estimator can count studs. The difference is whether the number carries the eight-to-twelve-week utility plan, the Final Site Plan step, the right fee tier, and the $0.87 per square foot. Miss those four and your bid looks great right up until it doesn’t.
If you’re bidding against somebody who priced Anaheim like it was Los Angeles, you’re going to win that job and lose money on it.
Since 2016 we’ve estimated over $12 billion in projects. We’ve worked with over 3,500 contractors nationwide. I run a coaching program of 400 contractors.
So you’re not the first person to hand us a set of Orange County plans and a short deadline.
Send us the plans and let’s price it.
Anaheim estimating by trade
Every one of these carries its own sample estimates and a unit-cost table built from work we priced ourselves:
