HOW TO ESTIMATE THE COST OF CURVED AND FREEFORM MILLWORK PANELS
CPE Candidate #1117004
DATE WRITTEN: AUGUST 2018
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___________________________
Jeffrey A. Eckes
Date: August 1, 2018
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HOW TO ESTIMATE THE COST OF CURVED AND FREEFORM MILLWORK PANELS
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SPECIFICATION SECTION: 01 33 23
SPECIFICATION SECTION: 06 42 16
SPECIFICATION SECTION: 09 93 23
SPECIFICATION SECTION: 01 73 19
SPECIFICATION SECTION: 01 73 19
SPECIFICATION SECTION: 41 23 23
SHOP DRAWINGS
FLUSH WOOD PANELING
INTERIOR STAINING AND FINISHING
PROTECTION OF ADJACENT CONSTRUCTION
INSTALLATION
LIFTS
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Table of Contents
1) Introduction
o
Main CSI Subdivision
o
Specific Subdivision/Specific Section
o
Brief Description
2) Types and Methods of Measurement
3) Factors that may affect take-off and pricing
o
Effect of small quantities versus large quantities
o
Effect of geographic location
4) Overview of labor, equipment, material and indirect costs
5) Risk considerations
6) Ratios and Analysis-Testing the Estimate
7) Miscellaneous Pertinent Information
8) Sample Sketches
9) Sample take-off and Pricing Sheets
10) Glossary
11) References
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Introduction
This paper shall give the reader a general understanding and a method to estimate the cost of fabricating and
installing curved and free-form millwork panels, consisting of the materials customarily included in the following
divisions:
 Main CSI Division 06 Wood, Plastics and Composites
o
section 06 42 16 Flush Wood Paneling
 Main CSI Division 09 Staining and Transparent Finishing
o
section 09 93 23 Interior Staining and Finishing
 Main CSI Division 01 Execution
o
section 01 33 23 Shop Drawings
o
section 01 71 33 Protection of Adjacent Construction
o
section 01 73 19 Installation
 Main CSI Division 41 Lifting Devices
o
section 41 23 23 Lifts
It will also give the reader a detailed understanding and method to estimate the cost of curved millwork panels of
the same divisions, constructed of rift sawn white oak, finished in an oil stain/clear catalyzed finish, for the (8)
‘corners’ of two entry lobby rooms in a high-rise residential building in the New York City construction market.
The installation is union pricing.
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Brief Description
Custom millwork panels are a staple of luxury design in both the residential and commercial markets. From
deceptively simple looking flush panels in a Modernistic Manhattan high rise lobby, to traditional raised panels in
residential libraries and corporate boardrooms, installed on hidden hardware, panel work is often the lions share
of a millwork budget. For such a simple form, there are ample opportunities for an estimator to make mistakes by
omission, as usual almost exclusively on the labor side of the balance sheet. It is also easy to the converse, and
over-price something complicated like curved or bent panels. An understanding of basic design and fabrication
procedure is really the minimum an estimator needs to do his job, though detailed and long experience with a
trade is far more likely to achieve results consistent with a positive outcome for the millwork shop and the client.
Veneered and solid wood, plastic laminates, or exotic and pedestrian synthetics, almost any kind of rigid sheet
material that can be milled and finished with traditional millwork tooling can be considered for use in fabrication
of Millwork Panels. For our purposes here, ‘curved panel’ refers to a flush wood panel with a ‘single curve’ of a
specific radius regardless of length. A ‘freeform’ or ‘compound’ panel is one with a curve in two or more
directions, and therefore more likely to be ‘completely unique’ and thus requiring a ‘bachelor mold’ that cannot
be used more than once, increasing cost. As the reader will discover, the molds required for the project can
sometimes be of a higher cost than the subject material that is fabricated on the mold.
Type of Measurement Used
Custom flush millwork panels are essentially viewed in 2 dimensions, for most observers. They have height, and
they have width, but if you asked the casual observer if it had ‘depth’ they would assume ‘thickness’ was what you
were asking for. Millworkers understand that an entire ecosystem of hangers, fasteners, sealers and substrates
that allow that ‘2 dimensional’ panel to exist. Add curved corners to that relatively predictable mix and the
situation gets interesting, and expensive. For that reason, verification of plan dimensions with onsite
measurement is critical to success of not just fabrication and installation, but to the estimating as well. One thing
that is certain with a project like this is, compromise isn’t a matter of if, but when, where and how much.
In our instant example, the measuring was done with a major maker green laser distance measure, accurate to
1/16” in 330’, a self-leveling cross-line laser, accurate to within 1/8” in 35’ and a rotary green laser, accurate to
1/16” in 100’. An optical transit, a series of story boards and tape measures were also used to confirm and
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document measurements. Dimensions and measurements will be presented in USCU measurements. All
materials are measured common USCU units of measure, such as inches, feet, square feet, etc.
Factors Affecting Take-Off and Pricing
Effects of small quantities versus large quantities
Most panel projects are unique, which is part of their architectural appeal. Due to the simple form and
CNC cutting methods, flush panels can be substantially reduced in price as quantities rise. In the authors
experience, price breaks usually occur as quantities rise above full units of sheet goods. For curved
panels, unless into the hundreds of panels of the same radius, will not have a substantial effect on
pricing. Curved panels, due to the need for molds for each unique radius and /or shape in the panel
matrix, are far costlier and more resistant to ‘quantity pricing’. This condition of ‘uniqueness’ is
particularly chronic when free-form panels are specified. This problem of optimization is addressed in a
very concise and informative abstract by Michael Eigensatz, Martin Kilian, Alexander Schiftner, Niloy J.
Mitra, Helmut Pottmann, Mark Pauly titled Paneling Architectural Freeform Surfaces4 goes into great
detail and describes an optimization system for large scale paneling of freeform structures. Their
abstract describes converting as many ‘greedy’ (single use) panels to ‘single curve’ panels by changing
size and shape and position of applied panels. The author considers this information of great value and
recommended reading for anyone considering a freeform paneling project, but substantially outside the
scope of the immediate conditions we describe in our Take-Off and Cost Estimate.
In our example, the radius, though originally different in each area, was negotiated to one radius for all
eight corners as part of value engineering. The brass ‘trim’ was also removed as part of that process.
Common factors such as LEED performance standards, availability of materials and labor and
transportation will also affect pricing, though not as radically.
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Effects of panel height above floor on installation cost
For installing panels up to 8’ tall, ground support such as scaffolds or planks are satisfactory and within
safety specifications of OSHA and NYC. For paneling that is mounted above that, mechanized lift
equipment is required. By local union agreements, the millwork vendor provides that lift. This will be
included in the schedule of costs.
Effects of Geographical Location
Because fabrication and finishing of panel systems typically occur indoors, in manufacturing plant
settings, geographical locality will not usually affect the costing beyond adjustments made for differing
labor markets, which are implicitly assumed. Installation costing will follow a similar pattern, and
additionally be adjusted for union or non-union work.
Another local issue would be building codes. In NYC, fire resistant or treated woods are required in most
instances as well as 1” thick sheet materials at the heights these panels rise to, as well as inspections, if
any, which are the responsibility of the millworker.
Effects of Availability of Certain Hardwoods and Materials
The availability of certain hardwood species and ‘popular’ materials such as composite and certain
brands of synthetic materials can affect the pricing of panel systems, especially the more exotic species
and unusual synthetics. If FSC certified hardwoods are specified for a LEED© project, additional expense
for book keeping requirements and availability concerns will need to be addressed as well.
Additionally, the available size of veneer flitches may be seasonally variable and unsuitable for the
specified design intent, Governmental regulations and restrictions may delay or prevent supplies from
entering the country or species may just be generally unavailable through the usual channels and
sources. Long lead times and occasional unavailability on both natural and synthetic materials should be
considered standard, confirmed and calculated before final submission of a binding bid.
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Effects of Square or Lineal Foot Pricing versus Detailed Take-Off
Millwork Panels can be estimated in several ways. Those methods, from highest to lowest accuracy
include:
o Detailed take-off
o Square foot measure in elevation view of drawings
o Lineal foot measure in plan drawings
Lineal foot takeoff and pricing in plan view is at best, a budgeting tool when elevations are not available,
complete or accurate. For millwork estimators that have established pricing for sufficiently similar
conditions, square foot takeoff and pricing in elevation view can be an effective and accurate enough of
a method to do order of magnitude (level one estimate) through construction document (level four
estimate). It is an accepted axiom that ‘square foot pricing’ is insufficient as a tool for bid pricing (level
five estimate)1, however it is an excellent place to begin, with the estimator comparing the instant
condition to the historical one costing represented by that unit costing.
It is certainly fast, and therefore easily to defaulted to when in a hurry, even if one knows that a detailed
take-off is a far superior tool. With rolling deadlines and drawings from good clients appearing overnight
in your inbox with ‘PLEASE RUSH” in red in the headline, the author advises every millwork estimator to
acquire statistics for and ‘unitize’ as many different types of panel and millwork projects as they can, in
anticipation of need. Extrapolating to a different material, an added component or a rise in material or
labor cost on an existing written condition is far faster and easier than doing detailed take-offs and
writing new conditions for each situation, especially with the power of digital take-off and accounting
software ‘pairing’ into complete systems and making such calculations, changes and additions available
with a series of mouse clicks.
Having accurate costing information available at your fingertips in your takeoff and costing software for a
much less common condition such as curved and freeform panel systems, can be worth its weight in gold
in a deadline situation and, at minimum, a valuable arrow in your quiver to be used where appropriate
and with caution.
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Effects of Waste in High Precision Curved Veneer Panels
The architect on the project has requested that all white oak flitches be ‘full height’ and transit from the
base of the bottom panel to the top of the highest panel. This requires a large series of flitches with a
minimum of 15’6” of clear, usable grain. White oak is one of the few species consistently available in
these lengths, (though often in thinner logs) and the ‘balanced slip-matched’ pattern is a great multiplier
of usable veneer. The design intent is a balanced, non-pattern grained white oak surrounding the entire
space in panels that appear to be of equal width, the ‘unique design feature’ being the seamless transit
of veneer flitch through each panel, top to bottom. It is the opinion of this estimator that a certain
amount of ‘random match’ is acceptable at the height where the top two panels meet (11’6”) and that a
9’ log is much more likely to be available in the AA grade specified. AWI rules stipulate no more than
3/16” offset for grain end-match2 for Premium level millwork and white oak typically has that or less.
This method and design intent were specific and made to accommodate budgetary concerns in the value
engineering phase, as well as a ‘good start’ for a fine wood panel system that will meet LEED® design
parameters, if the oak veneer is sourced close enough to a future project. Other design choices can
increase flitch usage, such as flat cut or tighter match tolerance, by as much as 400%, so close attention
to tightly controlled condition descriptions and exclusions are imperative, especially with drawings that
don’t indicate veneer pattern specifications. Timely and well written RFI’s will be needed, especially in
projects with several different types and/or species of veneers.
The curved condition by itself does not add extreme amounts of veneer waste to an estimate. The
customary amount of 10-15% panel waste and the 40-50% veneer waste can be increased to 15-20% and
50-60% respectively. If a very ‘greedy’ grain pattern on a very wide repeat is specified, then the
additional waste percentages should extrapolate from the flat panel to the curved formula.
Freeform panels could use substantially more material, especially for substrate. The veneer waste,
again, would be more effected by the specie, grain type and the length of the pattern repeat than by the
form.
The expense, and the lions share of the actual ‘waste’ is consumed by the mold-making operation
required to fabricate panels to Architectural Woodwork Standards3
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Overview of Labor, Equipment, Material and Indirect Costs
Curved Millwork Panels
The example in the following pages will demonstrate a take-off and pricing method for a series of curved
corner panels fabricated from a custom substrate of fire resistant MDF and plywood veneers, with rift
sawn white oak finish veneer, laid in a custom ‘balanced slip-matched’ pattern and finished with a
custom oil stain and a clear catalyzed lacquer finish. The panels will be spaced 3/16” apart in both
horizontal and vertical dimensions and held at a consistent distance by a solid white oak strip, finished in
a darker oil stain and a clear catalyzed lacquer finish. The panels will be mounted with hidden Z-clip
hardware, mounted on a shop build plywood skeleton in the corners. The panels will adjoin and blend
into the flat panels on both sides of it with 3/16 reveals.
The means to estimate panels and millwork in general has greatly improved accuracy and speed with the
introduction of computerized systems for accounting, on screen take-off and most recently, the seamless
integration of both with CAD like measuring and formulating abilities. The author is a strong supporter
of digital pre-construction in all its forms and regularly utilizes these technologies to the utmost of his
ability. Sketches included in this Technical Paper have been digitized into this type software and
manipulated to achieve accurate take-off quantities and describe all conditions. All ‘notations’ other
than the obvious ones from the original drawings are the result of the output of this software, which also
make it an essential tool in ‘communicating’ the scope of the project to subcontractors, owners,
installers and engineers in the handoff conference.
Final proposals are then generated from reports available internally to the ‘accounting and compiling’
software and schedules are generated by the take-off software. This step is not included here, as it does
not call for a proposal, simply an estimate. The software also allows for the operator to ‘cut and paste’
sections of the sketch, including any notation or take-off, into different types of electronic documents,
included Word and most Email clients, which makes it far superior for communicating RFI’s in a
consistently cogent fashion.
Additionally, all millwork projects require shop drawings and delivery of the product to the site. Due to
union requirements for transportation to union-controlled installation sites, and the changeable nature
of what is required for shop drawings, the author is in the habit of listing these expenses separately and
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just above the bottom line in proposals. This project uses an average amount of drawings, as the local
conditions are nearly identical in all 8 corners, another reason for the value engineering decisions that
were made.
It is critical that the estimator become very familiar with the design intent of the panel project as well as
the mechanical aspects of pricing material, labor and machinery. In many cases, if the estimator is well
read into the project, value engineering ideas nearly write themselves. With curved or freeform panel
elements, this familiarity becomes even more critical. As previously stated, the design intent is a
balanced, non-pattern grained white oak surrounding the entire space in panels that appear to be of
equal width, the ‘unique design feature’ being the seamless transit of veneer flitch through each panel,
top to bottom.
In the instant case before us, the panels have been value engineered for as much simplicity and
reduction of waste in materials, but still major expenses loom with molds for the curved panels. Again,
in the interest of savings, the decision was made to make all 8 corners the exact same radius and curved
in only one direction. For this reason, fewer sturdy molds, made slightly smaller to accommodate ‘spring
back’ of the glued-up veneer panel, coated with an effective separator and utilized inside a high-quality
vacuum veneering bag connected to a high volume pump, will be the minimum required to produce
these panels. Fewer molds significantly reduces cost in any curved panel project. The more unique
shaped panels you have, whether the angle of the curve, curving in two directions or more, the more
expense and time any project will represent. For this reason, projects with large quantities of freeform
panels are extremely costly and are often abandoned in favor of less expensive paneling that may
incorporate more ‘tricks’, like curved in one direction, factory produced elements and simply less of the
unique panels in favor of less complicated forms. Our mold was in a radius slightly less than 1’8”, which
gave us an ‘apparent exposed face’ of 3’7”, (figure 2) the average width of the flat panels on adjacent
walls.
Labor
In a time of sophisticated CNC machinery seemingly in every woodshop in the land, labor is still currently
a hot topic with any estimator. From the variances of seasonal work, regional ‘holidays’ (the first day of
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hunting and fishing season may as well be a declared holiday in rural America) to rising wages and
shrinking labor pool, ‘you still need people, even it’s just to program the machinery and push the button’
is a favorite exclamation of many an HR manager, it’s no different with millwork plants.
As previously mentioned, fabricating molds can be an expensive undertaking if there are a large quantity
of unique molds in the project. An excellent study on this problem is presented in Paneling Architectural
Freeform Surfaces by Michael Eigensatz, Martin Kilian, Alexander Schiftner, Niloy J. Mitra, Helmut
Pottmann, Mark Pauly4 describes an optimization system for large scale paneling of freeform structures.
Converting as many ‘greedy’ (single use) panels to ‘multiple-use’ panels by changing size and shape and
position of applied panels. In our instance, a simple curve of one radius was chosen due to the
significant savings it represented, but even so additional labor is required for molds, panel fabrication,
space in shop occupied during glue turnaround times that displaces other processes (moving assemblies
to do something else in that space) and the additional personnel required to handle and store large,
awkward and delicate assemblies during fabrication.
Equipment
The only truly unique ‘equipment’ needed for a flush, curved veneer wood millwork panel are the molds
used to shape the panels during glue-up, the vacuum bags and pump. That said, the common cabinet
shop is in no way equipped to produce custom work like this efficiently, unless it has an in-house veneer
line. Sure, you can buy pre-manufactured veneer panels, many even offer ‘custom layout’, but the lead
times between a change order or a mistake and being able to produce a replacement are often
insurmountable with today’s BIM driven construction schedules and GMP contracts that give the
estimator just one shot at getting it right without financial penalties. To perform on projects like this,
GC’s often look for millwork shops that have the majority of their fabrication performed with high volume
CNC machinery. This kind of machinery is indeed required to meet the close tolerances and to compete
in any market, but for luxury veneer projects it’s not enough. A veneer line capable of processing wood
flitches into panels, cabinets and furniture is now a required part of winning projects of sufficiently high
finish that include panels like these.
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A sufficient veneer line would consist of a minimum 10’ heated platen veneer press, a veneer processing
saw/slitter with as long a capacity as practical. A veneer stitchery and a computer controlled segmentedplaten wide belt sander that’s designed for sanding veneer and the aforementioned vacuum system for
curved panels rounds out the usual mid-sized veneer shop.
The author has utilized a ‘machinery costing’ formula to account for the cost of financing and/or leasing
equipment for his entire career, as do estimators of every type anywhere. The best formulas are based
on real-world costs of actual leases and loans, but the reality for most estimators is a ‘number’ provided
by management. Due to the simplicity of a scheduled payment and no depreciation of leased machinery,
the author has over the years had actual results that vary generally between 2-4% when costing lease
arrangements to an active millwork plants in the $3-5 million per year range. For this project,
management provided 3% as the ‘cost of machinery’ in general. A costing percentage of .5% was
additionally included as ‘cost of veneer machinery’, as it is far less costly than the automated CNC
machinery in the remainder of the shop. Costing for man-lifts or other specialized machinery for
installation is quoted separately.
Finishing was accomplished with a AAA spray system in a pressure negative closed environment.
Material
NYC code complaint veneers, hardwood details and substrate were utilized throughout. In addition, the
architect has called for additional specifications to be met. All materials must comply with Architectural
Woodwork Standards section 35, and meet moisture specifications laid out in AWS section 26. The veneer
must meet the specifications for specie, cut and figuring, with a minimum 5” width finished flitch and
complying with HPVA HP-1, Grade AA. Panel products specified include moisture resistant Medium
Density Fiberboard and Medium Density Particle Board, manufactured with a minimum of 92% preconsumer recycled wood fiber complying with ANSI A208.27. The architect also lays out requirements for
density, screw holding capacity and flame spread (also part of NYC codes) that are easily satisfied by a
several brand name products that in fact the architect suggests, along with suggested suppliers. Also set
were specifications for the low VOC glue used in panels and other fabrications of 30 g/L for wood glues
and 80 g/L for contact adhesives.
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For the custom curved panel layups, we used the finish veneer, a flat sawn red oak veneer as a ‘cross
veneer’ between 3/8” layers of ‘flexible’ bending plywood and a ‘caul’ back of commercially available 5/8”
formed plywood ‘quarter round’ that was glued up as part of the assembly and used as part of the panel.
The added thickness also allowed us to meet the NYC code that requires all ‘panels’ overhead to be a
minimum 1” thickness. Our panels averaged a nominal thickness of 1-5/16”. After our first test glue-up, a
thin interlayer of MDF was added under the face veneer to smooth out surface texture after telegraphing
of the surface of the veneer from the plywood that was discovered on the practice run of glue-ups
Finishing was accomplished with one coat of a custom oil-based wiping stain, followed by two coats of
vinyl sanding sealer, sanded between coats. Two coats of solvent based catalyzed lacquer were applied
as a final finish. The panels were allowed to ‘cure’ and harden for 3 days before they were wrapped for
transport to the installation location.
Hanging hardware was the venerable ‘Z’ clip, mounted on a substrate of code compliant plywood and
treated lumber.
Indirect Costs
The usual cost suspects line up for inclusion in this category. Basic overhead for the plant such as lease or
mortgage payment and management operations, of course, is a part of this number. So too are the costs
associated with shop drawings, delivery (and all costs associated with transportation), indirect supervision
personnel, licensing, permitting and debt service associated with the plant. Machinery costs are
accounted separately for amortization and accounting purposes. Indirect costs can also include the
author as an estimator, because unlike direct supervision such as a project manager, it cannot be easily
accounted to a specific project.
It is the authors practice to place line-items for delivery and shop drawings for accounting and tax
purposes, so these two items will be listed independently on the cost estimate. Due to the inherent
difficulty of predicating exactly how many drawings, or how bad the traffic will be during the delivery and
installation, both of these items are often represented in an estimate as a percentage of the project at
hand. These percentages are developed by estimators based on historic averages for their company, in
their market, over time. If they are honestly tracked and assessed, these metrics can be remarkably
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accurate representations that can be applied judiciously and with insight into the controlling conditions
on each project. In this paper, the author will list actual costs of delivery and shop drawings.
Ratios and Analysis-Tools to Test the Estimate
The best way to test your estimate is with recent historical data for the company the estimate is being
produced for. Time studies for flush, flat panels of similar materials, fabrication and installation method is
a good place to start, as well as any other mold-making operations for such items as arched door
openings and curved moldings. If the company has no procedure to collect historical data on process and
pricing, start one and continue it. A well-documented estimating notebook is worth it’s weight in gold for
both the company AND the estimator, often being seen by interviewing Chief Estimators as one mark of
an informed and effective estimator. Electronics note-taking software and the estimating software itself
are excellent options for note keeping as well, just be certain that you regularly back up all your info to a
remote drive for safety.
Several other options to test your bid are available, noteworthy but underutilized by many estimators are
the relationships you may have with other estimators. Asking someone else what THEY did is the
fundamental basis of all education, why is it we underutilize it to such a degree? Trade shows, equipment
shows, and industry specific symposiums are just a few places to meet other estimators that do not
compete with you in your market. Online forums hosted by certifying and standards entities as well as
independent and publication sponsored forum are also limited but valuable forums for asking questions
of other knowledgeable estimators and those setting the pricing for their respective companies.
The author has been a participant in several highly technical endeavors and careers in his time, from a
career touring with major performance artists as a technical director and audio engineer to a time as a
juried glass artist, two traditionally secretive occupations where knowledge often died with the
practitioner, he has never seen the level of paranoia surrounding information that he sees as a millwork
estimator. Note that the author believes that secrecy serves only those that are weak in skill or service
and has made notable and lasting contributions to ‘opening up’ those mentioned industries, most usually
through nationally focused education efforts, advocacy at all levels and just plain every day example.
Where those skills, as with estimating, were often measured by ‘what you know’ they now measure
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prestige in large part by ‘what you teach’. The author wishes to accomplish at least a portion of that for
his now adopted industry of construction estimating.
Information is also available in trade specific publications specifically involved with marketing this kind of
pricing information to other companies at great cost, and increasingly moving to a ‘subscription’ basis to
make the information as widely available and affordable as possible, as well as becoming available on
some online databases. The author sees great promise in these online systems and technologies but
considers them marginal at best for ‘end of process’ low volume trades such as millwork, and much more
useful, up to date and valid in high-volume, high cost systems like steel, concrete and drywall. He also
sees them possibly becoming ‘price setters’ as opposed to ‘price reporters’ as they consolidate and gather
more power to themselves. A robust independent education and ethics organization centered around
estimating as a trade is far overdue, in the opinion of this estimator.
Risk Considerations
As the complexity of a project increases, so too does the risk. It’s small risk matter to estimate the costing
for a one room summer lake cottage with no heating or foundation, but an endeavor of a different color
when estimating a 10,000sf luxury home in the mountains of Montana. In this way, a pantry line of
institutional laminate cabinets have the same relationship to a three floor amenities package that
includes stone, decorative metals and glass in a high-rise tower in Midtown Manhattan that the cottage
has to that mountain home. As estimators our mission is to ferret out and define risk, and in that way
manage risk.
The largest specific risks in curved and freeform panels are misunderstanding the process (and hopefully
correcting that at some point), leading to mistakes, and rejected work. Full scale mockup-as-you-build is
one very good and ‘tactile’ way to manage the risk of rejected work. It requires space, something that
most modern shops centered near major cities, just do not have. Part of the estimate, in this author’s
opinion, should address and include this, at least internally so that management understands the need.
The ability to adjust (or just trash, if more expedient) the substrate in the event of a discrepancy is
incredibly valuable when you have what represents $150,000 of custom panels “just not fitting” onsite. It
also affords the opportunity to have the architect, owner and the designer sign off on the finished
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product before installation. The ability to do full scale, finished assemblies in the shop and get them
approved before installation is the single most underutilized tool for managing risk that millworkers
possess. It also often expedites payment on the back end, as the working assumption is that it was
already ‘approved as fabricated’ and only awaits an ‘approved as installed’ designation for inclusion in the
payment que.
In the past, woodshops knew this, but CAD and CNC technologies have lulled us into believing that
everything we see on that screen is how it is in reality. It’s not, but we are learning again that ‘old
fashioned’ things like actually building the product prior to delivery is by far the most reliable way to
manage risk. If the process of mocking up full scale and getting approval prior to installation is expensive,
the cost of removing and replacing millwork already installed is much greater, though we always believe
that we will be the ones to avoid that pitfall and dodge that bullet.
The ability to ‘dress rehearse’ details in the estimating software (fig 2) was material to the success of the
example estimating project. Timely measurements from the field, transferred onto the specific drawings
in different colors and scales, have been incredibly useful tools to this estimator for communicating
concepts and detrimental issues to GC’s, construction managers, owners and installers. The permissions
and approvals for the changes to the design of these rooms could have been the usual morass cross
emails, site visits, puzzled looks by installers and therefore increased costs. Instead, smooth
communication of exactly what was being proposed, illustrated with the architect’s own drawings, was
the norm. The changes were ‘approved in concept’ before the estimate was completed, and the data was
able to be included into the costing, instead of the usual ‘allowances’, etc. The estimator was then able to
present a strong bid with high confidence.
Minor risk is represented by the ‘learning curve’ for making the panels themselves. This particular shop
did not have experience making curved panels and therefore the estimator understood that there would
be a learning curve for the millworkers, who understood the concept but not the practice of achieving the
specifications set forth in the project manual. One ‘practice’ mold and two panels were planned for in the
costing of the estimate.
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Miscellaneous Pertinent Information
Sketches and Illustrations
All annotations to sketches and illustrations were done in On Screen Takeoff, copied and then pasted into
a word file. The entirety was then saved as an Adobe Acrobat .pdf file for publication.
Figure 1 shows the plans as they were received from the architect.
Figure 2 shows the result of the takeoff/value engineering process. A drawing like this was used to impart
the desired changes to the architect. Refer to the key to determine parameters such as ‘Controlling
Dimensions’, ‘Verified Existing Condition’ and ‘Approved Change of Condition’.
Figure 3 represents the takeoff used for the panel estimate. Measurements in red represent the ‘actual’
panel sizes for quantity takeoff purposes. The curves utilize 4’ of material, but ‘appear’ the be 3’7” wide.
The measurements in blue represent the ‘apparent width’ of the panel viewed head on and corresponded
with the total measurement across the width of the condition. The measurements circled in green
represent the method used to confirm scaling in an electronic plan document.
Figure 4 is the scale used to figure out the what panel size would work with the dimensions we had. It
represents the three unique wall lengths we needed to accommodate.
Figure 5 is an illustration that demonstrates the process to lay up curved panels on a mold.
19 | P a g e
Figure 1
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Figure 2
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Figure 3
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Figure 4
Figure 5
23 | P a g e
Materials
Line
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Material
Plywood-3/4
Plywood-3/8
Plywood-5/8 panel
Veneer-oak
Veneer-oak
CSI
06 42 16
06 42 16
06 42 16
06 42 16
06 42 16
Description
3/4" moisture/flame resist. for
mounting
Quantity
Unit
Rate
Total
540
SF
$2.05
$1,107.00
3/8" bendable plywood for panel
5/8" plywood 'qtr round' 'caul
back'
1080
SF
$1.56
$1,684.80
36
EA
$114.00
$4,104.00
rift sawn oak-AA-face sheet
board sawn oak-cross grain
buildup sheet
2400
SF
$0.82
$1,968.00
1000
sf
$0.75
$750.00
750
LF
$0.15
$11.25
Edge banding
06 42 16
solid banding-shop cut
Finish-sealer
09 93 23
vinyl sanding sealer
3
GAL
$28.00
$84.00
8
Finish-topcoat
09 93 23
Lacquer-catalyzed
3
GAL
$52.00
$156.00
9
Supplies-shop
06 42 16
Glue
2
GAL
$42.00
$84.00
10
Supplies-shop
06 42 16
Fasteners
500
EA
$0.03
$15.00
Supplies-shop
06 42 16
Z-clips and hardware
500
IN
$0.85
$425.00
16
Supplies-install
01 73 19
Adhesives
TUBE
$7.85
$62.80
17
Supplies-install
01 73 19
Z-clips, screws, etc
600
IN
$0.85
$510.00
Protection-shop
01 73 19
Covering for transport
Covering for site protection post
install
2000
SF
$0.06
$120.00
1500
SF
$0.06
$90.00
11
12
13
14
15
18
19
20
Protection-site
01 73 19
8
Subtotal-materials
$11,171.85
21
22
Machinery
41 23 23
Man-lift/Lease
4
23
WK
$950.00
$950.00
$12,121.85
24
Sales Tax
25
Total with tax
NYC Sales Tax (8.875%)
8.88%
$1,075.81
$13,197.66
26
27
Overhead
15%
$1,979.65
28
Profit
30%
$3,959.30
29
Grand Total
$19,136.61
30
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Mold Making
Description
Type
Panel mold making
Hourly
Contin
1
Task
Hours
Line
Labor and Totals
32
8
35
19.25
54.25
$1,736.00
$434.00
Rate
Burden
Extend
Total
Contin
Total
2
Substructure fabrication
Shop mockup structure
Hourly
24
6
35
19.25
54.25
$1,302.00
$325.50
3
Panel fabrication
Panel production
Hourly
160
16
35
19.25
54.25
$8,680.00
$868.00
4
Finish
System mockupbreakdown
Sealer, sanding, finish
Hourly
96
10
30
16.51
46.51
$4,464.96
$465.10
48
4
35
19.25
54.25
$2,604.00
$217.00
25
13.75
38.75
$232.50
5
5
Protection
6
Shop Labor
Shop mockup-breakdown
Protection for transport
Hourly
Hourly
6
366
$19,019.46
$2,309.60
7
8
9
10
11
Submittals
12
Supervision
13
14
Shop drawings
Union delivery-Complete
15
Union install-Complete
16
Grand Total Labor
one man, 41 hours
3 trips, 1 driver, 2 loaders
2 man crew, 2 weeks, 1 week
cont
Hourly
20
25
13.75
38.75
$968.75
42
18.9
60.9
$7,308.00
Salary
120
Contract
85
40
$3,400.00
Hourly
75
125.88
$9,441.00
Hourly
240
540
40
72
147.85
$2,346.00
$35,484.00
$10,645.20
$75,621.21
$15,300.80
17
18
19
Grand Total Materials
$19,136.61
Grand Total
$94,757.82
20
21
22
23
24
Contingency
$15,300.80
25
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Glossary
AAA-Air Assisted Airless (spray system)
BIM-Building Information Modeling
CAD-Computer Aided Design
Caul-A wood panel used to shape and contain veneer sheets as they are glued up on a mold.
CNC-Computer Numeric Control
Curved-Consisting of a bend in one direction only
Freeform-Any shape having dimension in more than two dimensions
FSC-Forest Stewardship Counsel
GMP-Guaranteed Maximum Price
LEED-Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
OSHA-Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Substrate-Any system or material used as an inter-layer to mount or secure finished material to
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References
1)-Standard Estimating Practice, 10th Edition pgs 7-8, American Society Of Professional Estimators
2)-Architectural Woodwork Standards, 2nd Edition pg 223, Architectural Woodwork Institute
3)- Architectural Woodwork Institute, Architectural Woodwork Standards, 2nd Edition Section 8
4)- Michael Eigensatz, Martin Kilian, Alexander Schiftner, Niloy J. Mitra, Helmut Pottmann, Mark Pauly 2010,
Paneling Architectural Freeform Surfaces (ACM SIGGRAPH)
5)- Architectural Woodwork Institute, Architectural Woodwork Standards, 2016 2nd Edition Section 3
6)- Architectural Woodwork Institute, Architectural Woodwork Standards, 2016 2nd Edition Section 2
7)-American National Standards Institute, ANSI A208.1, ANSI.org
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