Remote Senior Estimator: Facility Maintenance Bids

GDI Ainsworth; United States; Remote; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

GDI, Inc. is seeking a Senior Estimator to lead the development of comprehensive cost estimates for commercial facility maintenance opportunities in the United States. You will analyze proposals, site data, labor requirements, materials, and subcontracted services to produce complete bid packages and pricing recommendations.

You will act as a hands-on player-coach for the U.S. Estimation team, coordinating workloads, mentoring staff, and improving estimating practices while traveling as needed.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, construction management, facilities management, finance, or related field preferred.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressive estimating experience within the commercial janitorial industry required, including responsibility for complex, multi-site, or high-value service contracts.
• Demonstrated player-coach leadership experience, with the ability to guide, develop, and hold a geographically dispersed U.S. Estimation team accountable.
• Experience estimating janitorial, facility maintenance, integrated facility services, or other labor-intensive service programs required.
• Advanced Microsoft Excel skills, including complex formulas, data analysis, pivot tables, scenario modeling, and quality-control techniques.
• Strong understanding of labor planning, productivity rates, wage and benefit structures, materials, equipment, subcontracting, overhead, escalation, and margin analysis.
• Ability to interpret complex proposal documents, specifications, drawings, contract requirements, and operational data.
• Proven ability to develop defensible assumptions, identify commercial and operational risks, and communicate recommendations to senior stakeholders.
• Strong financial, analytical, organizational, and project-management capabilities, with consistent attention to detail and deadlines.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and cross-functional collaboration skills.
• Experience with estimating, proposal-management, customer relationship management, business intelligence, or facilities-management systems is an asset.
• Ability to work independently in a remote environment, manage competing priorities, and travel as required.

Responsibilities

• Lead the preparation of detailed estimates for complex commercial facility maintenance bids, renewals, expansions, and special projects.
• Serve as a hands-on player-coach for the U.S. Estimation team by personally leading priority and complex estimates while coordinating team workload, setting expectations, reviewing deliverables, coaching team members, and helping build consistent estimating practices and capabilities across the United States.
• Review requests for proposal, scopes of work, specifications, drawings, site information, collective bargaining requirements, and contract terms to identify cost drivers, assumptions, exclusions, risks, and opportunities.
• Develop labor models using appropriate production rates, frequencies, staffing patterns, wage rates, payroll burdens, shift premiums, supervision, and other site-specific requirements.
• Prepare complete cost models covering labor, materials, consumables, equipment, vehicles, subcontractors, mobilization, overhead, escalation, contingency, and other direct and indirect costs.
• Perform site visits, validate building data and operational assumptions, document findings, and incorporate clarifications into the estimate.
• Lead estimate reviews and quality-control checks to ensure pricing is accurate, complete, traceable, and aligned with proposal requirements and company standards.
• Develop bid assumptions, clarifications, exclusions, pricing narratives, and supporting schedules for inclusion in proposal submissions.
• Partner with Sales and senior leadership to establish bid strategy, evaluate competitive positioning, assess risk, and recommend pricing scenarios.
• Collaborate with Operations to design practical staffing plans, work schedules, equipment programs, transition approaches, and service-delivery solutions.
• Coordinate pricing input from Procurement, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, vendors, and subcontractors as required.
• Manage multiple estimates and deadlines, maintain the active bid list, and communicate status, dependencies, and risks to stakeholders.
• Support pre-bid meetings, internal strategy sessions, interviews, negotiations, best-and-final-offer submissions, and client presentations.
• Respond to questions and addenda, evaluate scope changes, and revise pricing and documentation in a controlled and timely manner.
• Perform conceptual and budget estimates for prospective clients and evaluate alternative methods, materials, equipment, and service levels.
• Lead estimate-to-operations handoffs for awarded work, clearly communicating scope, assumptions, staffing, production rates, cost structure, and identified risks.
• Conduct post-award reviews comparing estimated and actual performance; identify variances, lessons learned, and improvements for future bids.
• Develop, maintain, and continuously improve estimating models, databases, templates, benchmarks, tools, procedures, and documentation.
• Research market conditions, wage trends, material and equipment costs, productivity benchmarks, and relevant industry practices.
• Provide guidance, technical review, and knowledge sharing to estimators and cross-functional team members.
• Protect confidential client and company information and maintain complete estimate files in accordance with established processes.
• Travel and perform other estimating-related duties as required.

Skills

Advanced Excel skills

Analytical thinking

Cross-functional collaboration

Remote team leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in business, engineering, construction management, facilities management, finance, or related field

Tools

Proposal management systems

CRM systems

Business intelligence tools

Facilities-management systems

Job description

GDI, Inc. is seeking a Senior Estimator to lead the development of comprehensive cost estimates for commercial facility maintenance opportunities in the United States. You will analyze proposals, site data, labor requirements, materials, and subcontracted services to produce complete bid packages and pricing recommendations.

You will act as a hands-on player-coach for the U.S. Estimation team, coordinating workloads, mentoring staff, and improving estimating practices while traveling as needed.