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 a Kansas bid different
Kansas doesn’t have a building code. It has as many codes as it has city halls.
There is no mandatory statewide building code for private construction. Every city and county adopts its own by ordinance, and the only code the state itself enforces is an energy code on state-owned buildings – K.S.A. 66-1227 has pointed at the 2006 IECC since 2007. Wichita, Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas are listed on the 2018 I-codes. Two Johnson County cities twenty minutes apart can be on different editions with different local amendments, so the edition is a question you ask the building department, not one you assume.
Then there’s the tax, and Kansas draws the line in a spot that catches people every year. Labor on a residence is exempt – new build, remodel, repair, all of it. Labor on the original construction of any building is exempt. Labor on an existing commercial building is taxable. So a restaurant buildout in an existing Prairie Village shell carries 6.5% state plus the local rate on the labor and the materials, and the ground-up building next door carries tax only inside its material cost. Materials you pay for either way – in Kansas the contractor is the final consumer of his own materials and there’s no resale exemption. And the rate that applies is the rate where the work happens, not where your office is.
Then there’s the sky. Kansas sits inside the 250 mph shelter design wind zone, the whole state. That one line in a standard changes what a school, a fire station or a 911 center costs here, and it doesn’t show up in any square-foot average.
Four things that get missed on a Kansas construction estimate
Every one of these has cost somebody real money.
1. The storm shelter. Where the city has adopted the 2015 IBC or later, Section 423 and ICC 500 put a shelter in Group E buildings with 50 or more occupants and in critical emergency operations facilities – 911 centers, fire, rescue, ambulance, emergency operations – anywhere in the 250 mph zone. Kansas is all 250 mph zone. That’s hardened walls, a rated roof deck, tested door assemblies and impact-rated openings, and it is not a line you can add after the drawings are priced. Check the adopted edition first, because a city still on an older code doesn’t trigger it.
2. Which side of the tax line the job sits on. New building: labor exempt. House, any kind of work: labor exempt. Existing commercial building: labor taxable, and it’s on the whole labor charge. That’s the difference between the Octapharma buildout in Wichita and a ground-up shell of the same value, and it is a real number on a $1.8M job. Decide it at bid time and put it in writing with the owner.
3. The license stack. Kansas licenses contractors locally, not at the state level. In Johnson County the classes run Class A for a general contractor on any structure, Class B for buildings up to three stories, Class C for single-family and duplex work, plus separate specialty classes for electrical, plumbing, mechanical, roofing, fire suppression, fire alarm, pools and wood framing. It’s $100 to apply, $225 per license type, $225 a year to renew each one and $75 if you renew late. A GC who self-performs framing and roofing is carrying three licenses, not one, and that sits in General Conditions.
4. The permit math. There is no state permit schedule, so the number comes from the jurisdiction. Wichita and Sedgwick County’s building fee table charges $6,328 for the first $1,000,000 of valuation plus $3 for each additional $1,000 up to $5,000,000 – that’s the published table, and you should confirm it’s current before you carry it. Johnson County cities each publish their own. If you carry a national permit allowance on a Kansas job, you’re going to be wrong in both directions and never know which.
Kansas 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. $36.4M of construction value across 91 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 – retail, institutional and ground-up.
- Lion Petroleum, Overland Park – $1.6M (66224)
- Ortega National Park, Overland Park – $735K (66207)
- JCCC ALRC Overland Park – $465K (Overland Park 66210)
- Washburn University, Topeka – $147K (66621)
Multi Family and Apartments – apartments, townhomes and multi-unit housing.
- Harvey Park Town Homes, Denver CO – $16M (80219)
- Brierstone, Lenexa – $6.5M (66219)
- Granite Falls Mansions, Papillion NE – $4.1M (68046)
- Meadowbrook Phase 2, Overland Park – $68K (66207)
Residential – custom homes, additions and whole-house remodels.
- Barndominium Project, Branson MO – $884K (65615)
- Rock Garden Lot 20, Cape Girardeau MO – $634K (63701)
- Remodel Project – 9917 Buena Vista St. Residence, Overland Park – $150K (66207)
- Genesis Farms Project, Gardner – $78K (66030)
Tenant Buildouts – interior fit-outs in existing buildings.
- Crust Pizza Bar, De Soto – $1.9M (66018)
- Octapharma Plasma TI, Wichita – $1.8M (67218)
- Meddys Restaurant No.6, Prairie Village – $1.1M (66208)
- Parisi Cafe, Overland Park – $254K (66204)
Twelve of the sixteen are Kansas jobs – Overland Park, Lenexa, Prairie Village, Gardner, De Soto, Topeka, Wichita. Four are just over the line, in Denver, Papillion, Branson and Cape Girardeau, because we work the whole region and we’d rather show you a real apartment building we priced than pad the category with something that isn’t one.
Look at the range. From a $68K masonry package on a Johnson County apartment phase to a $16M townhome development. From a coffee shop to a plasma center. Most shops price one lane and call it a service.
The Meddys buildout in Prairie Village is eleven pages on a $1.1M restaurant, because a restaurant fit-out is demolition, structure, openings and finishes and every one of those is a separate takeoff – and it’s remodel work in an existing building, so the labor is taxable. The Harvey Park townhomes run nine pages of framing, assemblies and unit-by-unit wall types on a $16M job. Same shop, same format, two different animals.
Where we work in Kansas
We estimate statewide. Here’s where the volume actually is.
Johnson County. Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa, Shawnee, Prairie Village, Leawood, Mission, Gardner and De Soto. Nine of the sixteen estimates above are Johnson County jobs. It’s the fastest-moving construction market in the state and the one place where the license and permit details change from one city line to the next.
Wichita and Sedgwick County. Wichita, Derby, Andover, Haysville. Sedgwick County’s building department publishes the valuation-based fee table, and the Octapharma plasma center on this page was priced against that market.
Kansas City, Kansas and Wyandotte County. The Kansas side of the metro – industrial, distribution and infill.
Topeka and Lawrence. State work, university work and the institutional jobs that come with them. The Washburn University estimate is exactly that.
Manhattan, Salina, Hutchinson and the rest of the state. Smaller sub markets, longer hauls, and durations that have to reflect both.
We also price across the line in Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado, which is why four of the samples above sit in those states.
Who our Kansas estimating service is for
General contractors bidding hard-bid and negotiated work. Subs who need a takeoff that survives a scope review. Developers who want a real number before they commit money. Architects who’d rather price a design now than explain a surprise on bid day.
If you’re a GC in Kansas 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 Kansas 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 your city’s code edition, on the right side of the Kansas labor-tax line, at your county’s permit schedule. Not a national average with the word Kansas written on top.
Send us your plans. We’ll tell you what it costs.
