Electrical Estimating: Quantity Take-off, Costing and BOQ

It is for electrical diploma and degree students, for whom estimating and costing is often a syllabus subject, for electricians and site engineers moving into estimating, and for MEP quantity surveyors and freelancers who price electrical packages from drawings. You should be able to read a simple electrical layout and use a spreadsheet; no estimating experience is needed.

Yes. Every module, the notes, the worked problems, the project and the final assessment are free, and the software it needs is free or has a free version. The certificate is optional.

The method is the same everywhere, so every amount in the notes is in cost units rather than money. Real rates come from regional price books and quotations, such as RSMeans data in North America and Spon's price books in the UK, and from supplier and subcontractor quotations in markets such as the Gulf that have no single public book. Bills follow the method of measurement they name, such as NRM2 in the UK and POMI on many Gulf and international projects. Public works departments in many countries publish schedules of rates and measurement rules of their own. The BOQ module shows how the chosen method changes what you measure.

No. A spreadsheet such as Excel for the web or LibreOffice Calc, and a free PDF viewer with measuring tools such as PDF-XChange Editor on Windows, are enough for every exercise. Bluebeam Revu and PlanSwift appear in the lessons and offer trials; commercial estimating packages follow the same take-off, labour unit and rate build-up method the course teaches.

No. An estimate prices the design as drawn and specified: cable sizes, protection and earthing come from the designer, working to the IEC 60364 family or the national wiring rules such as BS 7671 and the NEC. For the design side, take Electrical Design Engineering: Loads, Cables, Breakers and Distribution, and Earthing and Lightning Protection Design. Local regulations and a competent designer govern the installation itself.

Only as a checking aid. Module 12 shows where AI helps: summarising a long specification into its cost-changing clauses, suggesting commonly missed items and checking item descriptions and arithmetic. It is not a source of quantities or rates, and client documents never go into a public AI tool without your company's and the client's permission.

About 15 hours of video, notes and practice at your own pace, of which about 10 hours is video. The optional project, pricing the electrical package of a two-storey clinic from take-off to bid review and a variation, takes about 12 hours more.

An EDWartens certificate of completion, issued when you finish the modules and pass the 15-question final at 60 percent, with a number anyone can verify on our site. It is not a quantity surveying or cost engineering qualification from RICS, AACE International or any other professional body, none of which is affiliated with EDWartens.