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 South Dakota bid different
South Dakota doesn’t hand you a code. It hands you a city limit sign.
There’s no mandatory statewide commercial or residential building code. State plan review and inspection reach school facilities, day cares and group family day care homes — and that’s it. Every other building is the local government’s call. If a town does adopt a construction ordinance, state law points it at the 2021 IBC and lets it amend from there. So the first question on a South Dakota job isn’t what the code says. It’s which ordinance the job sits under, and what got amended out of it.
Sioux Falls is running the 2021 IBC, IRC, IEBC, IMC, IFGC and IFC, the 2023 NEC and the 2024 UPC. Energy is the odd one: Sioux Falls is still on the 2009 IECC while the state references 2015. That gap is real money in insulation, glazing and air sealing, and it moves the second you cross into a town that adopted something newer.
Then there’s the tax, and this is the one that burns contractors coming in from out of state.
South Dakota charges a contractor’s excise tax of 2% on the gross receipts of every prime contractor doing realty improvement here. Gross receipts means the whole receipt — including the tax you collected, and on non-utility work, the greater of the cost or fair market value of any material the owner hands you. Then, separately, you owe sales or use tax on your own materials, tools and equipment at 4.2% state plus 1% to 2% municipal depending on where the job sits.
Both. Not one or the other. If you bid South Dakota work with a tax line copied from a state that doesn’t tax construction, you’re going to give away the 2% out of your own margin.
There’s no state general contractor licence to chase, which surprises people. Electricians answer to the South Dakota Electrical Commission and plumbers to the South Dakota Plumbing Commission. Architects and engineers register with the Board of Technical Professions. Everything else is city-level registration and the ordinance you’re building under.
Four things that get missed on a South Dakota construction estimate
Every one of these has cost somebody real money.
1. Owner-furnished material still gets taxed. On a non-utility job, the excise tax base includes the greater of the cost or fair market value of material the owner supplies. So the owner buys the steel to “save money,” it never touches your invoice, and you still owe 2% on it. Ask what the owner is furnishing before you price General Conditions, not after.
2. The bid factor is 2.041%, not 2%. The tax applies to the tax. South Dakota’s Department of Revenue publishes 2.041% as the factor to use when you’re building a bid, and a straight 2% as what goes on the return. Carry the 2% and you’re short by a rounding error that gets big on a $9M building.
3. The energy code you price is the city’s, not the state’s. Sioux Falls enforces the 2009 IECC. The state references 2015. A wall assembly that clears one doesn’t automatically clear the other, and nobody catches it at bid time — they catch it at plan review, after the envelope number is already in the contract.
4. Utility work flips the rules. On a qualified utility project, owner-furnished material comes back out of the excise computation, subcontractors can’t accept an exemption certificate, and every sub owes 2% on their own gross receipts. Both sides still pay 4.2% state plus municipal use tax on materials. A sub who priced the last job as an ordinary buildout will be 2% light on this one.
South Dakota projects we’ve actually priced
Straight answer, because the range matters more than the flag: sixteen real estimates are on this page. Seven of them are South Dakota jobs. Nine are from the states we work across the line into — Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming. $49.5M of construction value across 175 pages of takeoff and pricing.
Our South Dakota volume is concentrated in commercial and interior work, mostly in Sioux Falls, so that’s where the in-state files are. The big multi-family and the custom homes come from next door. We’d rather show you a real $16.2M apartment takeoff from Sioux City than a South Dakota job we didn’t do.
Commercial Buildings — ground-up retail, institutional and public safety. All four are South Dakota jobs.
- Raising Cane’s, Sioux Falls – $619K (57106)
- Sioux Falls Fire Station 13 – $391K (57104)
- STC Mickelson Education Center, Sioux Falls – $228K (57107)
- Washington & Roosevelt HS Auditorium, Sioux Falls – $208K (57104)
Multi Family and Apartments — apartments, condos and senior living.
- Olympic Village Apartments, Sioux City IA – $16.2M (51106)
- Belle Apartments, Belcourt ND – $14.1M (58316)
- Persimmon at Cates Creek Multifamily, Havelock IA – $9.5M (50546)
- Bowmore Senior Living, Spearfish – $1.3M (57783)
Residential — custom homes, cabins and additions.
- Victory Home, Saint Paul MN – $1.6M (55109)
- Crazy Mountain Ranch Golf Course – Cabin 1, Great Falls MT – $1.4M (59404)
- Brownie House, Minneapolis MN – $983K (55416)
- Addition 12765 Foliage Ave, Apple Valley MN – $278K (55124)
Tenant Buildouts — interior fit-outs in existing buildings.
- BVRMC Medical Office Building, Storm Lake IA – $2M (50588)
- Plutos Smoke Shop, Casper WY – $432K (82609)
- Pacsun, Sioux Falls – $191K (57106)
- Bus Depo Renovation, Sioux Falls – $79K (57104)
Four building types, from a $79K depot renovation to a $16.2M apartment complex. That spread is the point — most shops price one lane and call it a service.
Look at the two school jobs. STC Mickelson Education Center and the Washington & Roosevelt HS Auditorium renovation are both Sioux Falls school work, and school facilities are one of the few building types South Dakota reviews at state level. The auditorium file prices two auditoriums side by side — demolition, framing, drywall, insulation, paint and acoustical ceilings, run twice, keyed R and W so the district can see which building carries which cost.
Then look at Raising Cane’s. $619K, twelve pages, sitework and utility demolition through mechanical and electrical, in the same city. Same code, same tax, completely different estimate.
Where we work in South Dakota
We estimate statewide. Here’s where the work actually is.
Sioux Falls. Sioux Falls, Brandon, Harrisburg, Tea and Dell Rapids. Construction valuation in the city hit $1,327,437,573 in 2025, up 23.2% on 2024. Six of the sixteen estimates above are Sioux Falls jobs, across three of the four categories.
Rapid City and the Black Hills. Rapid City, Spearfish, Sturgis, Belle Fourche and Box Elder. Different labour market, different hauls, and a tourism build cycle that doesn’t look anything like the east side. Bowmore Senior Living in Spearfish is on this page.
The I-29 corridor. Brookings, Watertown, Vermillion, Yankton and the small districts between them — Irene, Beresford, Canton. A lot of school and municipal work, which is where state plan review actually applies.
Aberdeen, Pierre and Mitchell. State and county work, ag-adjacent industrial, and the long durations that come with thin sub coverage.
Across the line. Sioux City is a half hour from the South Dakota border, and a lot of our clients bid both sides of it. Nine of the estimates here are Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota and Wyoming jobs for exactly that reason.
Who our South Dakota 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 capital. Architects who’d rather price a design now than explain a surprise on bid day.
If you’re a GC in Sioux Falls turning down invitations because you can’t get numbers out fast enough, you’re going to keep watching that $1.3 billion go to somebody who can. That’s what our South Dakota 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 ordinance, with the excise tax in the right place and the material tax in the other one. Not a national average with the word South Dakota written on top.
Send us your plans. We’ll tell you what it costs.
