Estimator / Planner - Manufacturing Industry

Burnett Specialists; Houston (TX); On-site; USD 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

Burnett Specialists in Houston is seeking an Estimator/Planner for the manufacturing industry to prepare accurate quotations that reflect labor, materials, machine time, tooling, overhead, and margins, ensuring pricing covers total costs and commercial risk.

The role requires 4–5 years of estimating experience and strong planning skills. Bachelor's degree is preferred but not mandatory, and threading experience is a plus.

Qualifications

• 4–5 years of relevant manufacturing estimating experience.
• Experience with costing hours and planning is required.
• Threading experience preferred; other turnkey manufacturing experience considered.
• Bachelor's degree preferred but not required.

Responsibilities

• Review RFQs, drawings, and requirements to confirm scope.
• Prepare quotations using labor, material, machine, tooling, and margin inputs.
• Maintain estimating tool and update costs and margins.
• Ensure quotes include terms and prevent releases without PO.
• Track quote activity and analyze win/loss reasons.

Skills

Costing

Planning

Quotation preparation

Vendor coordination

Education

Bachelor's degree (preferred)

Tools

Estimating software

Job description

Estimator / Planner - Manufacturing Industry

The Estimator prepares accurate, competitive, and commercially sound quotations for all services, repairs, and machining. This position ensures pricing reflects the complete cost of the work, meets margin requirements, and protects the company from unnecessary commercial and contractual risk.

Responsibilities

Review RFQs, drawings, specifications, and customer requirements to confirm the complete technical and commercial scope. Prepare quotations using current labor, material, machine, tooling, inspection, subcontract, freight, overhead, exchange-rate, and margin inputs. Maintain the estimating tool and update pricing assumptions when costs, market conditions, overhead rates, machine rates, or margin targets change. Account for indirect costs such as quality support, administration, small-order handling, documentation, working capital, and special customer requirements. Confirm production capacity, material availability, tooling requirements, subcontract needs, and achievable lead times with Operations and Purchasing. Apply appropriate machine charge-out rates to support company return-on-investment objectives. Evaluate financial exposure and coordinate deposits, progress billings, or other protections for higher-risk orders and customers. Ensure work is not released without an approved purchase order or other acceptable contractual authorization. Include company terms and conditions with quotations and identify conflicting or unacceptable customer terms. Escalate issues involving liability, warranty, insurance, cancellation, chargebacks, liquidated damages, payment terms, changes in scope, or other contractual risks. Track quote activity, value, win/loss results, and reasons to support pricing and sales decisions. Compare estimated costs and margins to actual results by job, investigate significant variances, and update future estimating assumptions. Protect efficiency and cost improvements by maintaining appropriate pricing and margin benchmarks. Provide Operations with a clear order handoff covering scope, assumptions, exclusions, lead time, and special requirements. Maintain complete records of quotations, revisions, approvals, cost calculations, and customer communications.

Qualifications

4–5 years of relevant experience. Experience with threading is preferred; candidates with experience in other types of turnkey manufacturing will also be considered. Experience with costing hours and planning is required. A bachelor's degree is preferred but not required.

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