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 Iowa bid different
Iowa runs one building code for the whole state. That sounds simple. What costs people money is that only half of it is current.
The state code adopts the 2024 IBC, the 2024 IRC and the 2024 IEBC. That’s some of the newest structural code in the Midwest. The energy code didn’t come along. Iowa is still on the 2012 IECC, residential and commercial both. So the framing, the fire ratings and the existing-building path get priced off 2024, and the wall assembly, the glazing and the lighting power get priced off a code twelve years older. Miss that and you either over-spec the envelope and lose the job, or under-spec it and eat the change order.
Cities can enforce their own version, so the local building official still decides what gets looked at in plan review. Ask before you price the envelope, not after.
Then there’s the tax line, and Iowa’s is a word game. Labor on new construction, reconstruction, alteration, expansion or remodeling isn’t taxable. Repair is. And the state keeps a list of services that stay taxable no matter what — carpentry, plumbing, electrical, painting, roofing, excavating and grading. Same crew, same building, same week. Whether you’re collecting tax on the labor comes down to what the contract calls the work. You’re also the consumer of your own materials here, so that tax sits inside your cost instead of on the owner’s invoice, and it belongs in the unit price, not in a line at the bottom.
Accessibility is the 2010 ADA Standards or IBC Chapter 11 — the state lets you pick. No separate state filing, no state accessibility specialist to hire. That’s one General Conditions line an Iowa job doesn’t carry.
Four things that get missed on an Iowa construction estimate
1. Plan review costs more than you think. Des Moines charges 65% of the building permit fee for plan review on any building valued over $1,000, plus a 2% energy review with a $21.75 minimum. The permit itself on a big job is $2,401.19 for the first $500,000 of valuation plus $2.71 for every $1,000 after that, on the schedule effective 1 January 2026. On a $5M building that’s roughly $14,600 of permit and about $9,800 more in review on top. Most estimates carry the permit and forget the review.
2. Repair or remodel — settle the word before you price the labor. Call the scope a remodel and the labor is exempt. Call it a repair and it’s a taxable service, and the tax on that labor is either in your number or it’s coming out of your margin. On a hard bid against three other shops, that difference is bigger than the spread usually is.
3. The 2012 energy code cuts both ways. A spec written to the 2021 IECC over-builds an Iowa envelope. Continuous insulation, glazing U-factors and lighting power allowances are all looser here than a coastal spec assumes, and that’s money you can hand back on a competitive bid — as long as the local jurisdiction hasn’t adopted something newer. Existing buildings are different: alterations run through the 2024 IEBC, which is current, so the break doesn’t follow you into a renovation.
4. Registration, and the bond if you’re coming from out of state. Iowa doesn’t issue a general contractor license. It requires registration once you earn $2,000 a year from construction work here, and the application fee is $50. A contractor with employees carries a $25,000 bond and a workers’ comp certificate. Plumbing, mechanical, HVAC and refrigeration are licensed separately through the state board. If you’re bidding an Iowa job out of Omaha or the Twin Cities and you haven’t registered, you’re going to lose days at the worst point in the schedule.
Iowa projects we’ve actually priced
We don’t ask you to take our word for it. Sixteen real estimates are on this page — four in each of the four categories we work in. $53.7M of construction value across 171 pages of takeoff and pricing. Open them. Read the line items. See exactly what you get before you send us a single sheet.
Commercial Buildings — ground-up hospitality, institutional and industrial.
- Courtyard Marriott, Ames – $13.2M (50010)
- Ellipsis Project, Des Moines – $3.7M (50310)
- Trans Ova Genetics Offices, Sioux Center – $789K (51250)
- Sioux Center Generating Facility – $85K (51250)
Multi Family and Apartments — apartments, senior living and multi-unit housing.
- Olympic Village Apartments, Sioux City – $16.2M (51106)
- Persimmon at Cates Creek Multifamily, Havelock – $9.5M (50546)
- Emory Project, North Liberty – $2M (52317)
- Holland Farms Senior Living, Norwalk – $1.1M (50211)
Residential — custom homes, additions and whole-house remodels.
- 185 Wagner Rd, Winnetka IL – $2.2M (60093)
- Victory Home, Saint Paul MN – $1.6M (55109)
- Single Family Residence, Minooka IL – $985K (60447)
- 7100 Walden Road NE Residence, Cedar Rapids – $21K (52402)
Tenant Buildouts — interior fit-outs in existing buildings.
- BVRMC Medical Office Building, Storm Lake – $2M (50588)
- Restaurant Depot, Urbandale – $247K (50322)
- Big Chicken Project, Council Bluffs – $49K (51501)
- Heartland Dental TI, Tiffin – $33K (52340)
Thirteen of the sixteen are Iowa jobs. Three of the four houses sit just over the line — two in the Chicago suburbs, one in the Twin Cities — because that’s where our custom-home volume is. The framing, the finishes and the takeoff method are the same ones we run on an Iowa house.
Look at Olympic Village in Sioux City. $16.2M, sixty-two pages. That’s what a multifamily takeoff looks like when somebody counts every unit type instead of multiplying a building average. Emory in North Liberty is the same idea smaller — priced by unit type, 1-bed standard, 1-bed suite, 2-bed standard, 2-bed suite, 3-bed, each one its own set of quantities.
Then look at the other end. Heartland Dental in Tiffin is $33K on one page. A dental fit-out with a paint and finish scope doesn’t need twenty pages, and we don’t pad it out to look busy. You get the sheet the work justifies.
Where we work in Iowa
We estimate statewide. Here’s where the volume actually is.
Des Moines metro. Des Moines, West Des Moines, Urbandale, Ankeny, Waukee, Norwalk, Johnston and Altoona. The busiest permit desk in the state, and the fee schedule quoted above. Three of the estimates here — Ellipsis, Restaurant Depot and Holland Farms — are metro jobs.
Cedar Rapids and the Iowa City corridor. Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, North Liberty, Coralville and Tiffin. Apartments, student-adjacent multifamily and steady small commercial. Emory, Heartland Dental and the Walden Road house are all in this corridor.
Sioux City and northwest Iowa. Sioux City, Sioux Center, Storm Lake and Le Mars. Ag processing, power, hospitals and the apartments that follow them. Four of the sixteen are out here.
Ames and central Iowa. Ames, Nevada, Marshalltown and Grinnell. University-driven hospitality and institutional work — the Courtyard Marriott is exactly that.
The Quad Cities and eastern Iowa. Davenport, Bettendorf, Clinton, Camanche, Muscatine and Dubuque.
Council Bluffs and the Omaha side. Council Bluffs, Carter Lake and the metro across the river. One job site, two states, two sets of registration answers.
Waterloo and Cedar Falls. Plants, schools and the housing built around them.
Every one of those cities has its own page with local detail. Start there if you want the county-level specifics.
Who our Iowa estimating service is for
General contractors bidding hard-bid and negotiated work. Subs who need a takeoff that holds up in a scope review. Developers who want a real number before they commit. Architects who’d rather price a design now than explain a surprise at bid day.
Iowa had 87,100 construction jobs in July 2026, up 3.9% in a year. The work is here and the crews are thin. If you’re turning down invitations because you can’t get numbers out fast enough, you’re going to keep leaving work on the table until somebody else does the takeoff for you. That’s what our Iowa 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 work under the code Iowa actually enforces, at your city’s fee schedule, with the tax line sorted out. Not a national average with the word Iowa written on top.
Send us your plans. We’ll tell you what it costs.
