SEI Mechanical Preconstruction Engineer

Clayco; Birmingham (AL); On-site; USD 85,000 - 115,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary Bonus

Medical, dental and vision plans

401k and generous PTO

Job summary

Clayco SEI in Birmingham, AL, seeks a Mechanical Estimator to develop detailed cost estimates for Process & Mechanical systems on industrial projects. You will interact with engineers, architects, and subcontractors to define scope and pricing.

This role requires a bachelor’s in engineering or construction management and 3+ years in construction with estimating experience, including heavy manufacturing and mission-critical markets.

Qualifications

• Requires a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering or construction management.
• 3+ years in construction with 1+ year estimating mechanical systems.
• Experience with heavy/advanced manufacturing and mission-critical markets preferred.
• Strong coordinating skills across trades and bid processes.

Responsibilities

• Attend pre-bid meetings to understand project requirements and site conditions.
• Review documents to determine material, equipment and labor needs.
• Prepare scopes for subcontracts and coordinate mechanical scopes with other trades.
• Assist in pricing documents for conceptual estimates and proposals.
• Perform quantity surveys using digitized software and apply labor rates.
• Support budgeting, schedule development, change orders, and vendor selection.
• Coordinate with teams to evaluate productivity and forecast costs.
• Analyze past designs to support cost data collection.

Skills

Estimating

Team collaboration

Technical writing

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or Construction Management

Tools

BlueBeam

Navisworks

Revit

Sage Timberline

On Screen Takeoff

Trimble products

Beck Destini

Excel

Job description

About Us

Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering, and construction firm that safely delivers clients across North America the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With $7.6 billion in revenue for 2024, Clayco specializes in the "art and science of building," providing fast track, efficient solutions for industrial, commercial, institutional, and residential related building projects.

About Clayco Systems and Equipment Innovations (SEI)

As part of our integrated service offerings, Clayco’s Systems and Equipment Innovations (SEI) offers a turnkey solution to execute complex building systems and process systems. Clayco SEI provides preconstruction, design, purchasing, and installation of mechanical, electrical, and process scopes of work.

The Role We Want You For

The Mechanical Estimator participates in all aspects of the preconstruction process for Process & Mechanical systems to develop accurate, detailed cost estimates with a focus on heavy/ advanced manufacturing, industrial and mission critical projects. In this role you will be expected to interact with engineers, architects, consultants, subcontractors, suppliers, a multi-discipline estimating team, project supervision, and field personnel.

The Specifics of the Role

• Periodically attend pre-bid meetings to become familiar with unique project requirements and analyze existing site conditions to determine required scope that is not already indicated.
• Review and interpret project documents to determine job-specific material, equipment, and labor requirements for scope development.
• Assist in preparing written scopes of work for subcontracts and suppliers and coordinating mechanical scopes with the work of other trades (e.g., civil, structural, architectural, electrical, etc.).
• Participate in pre-proposal design coordination meetings to support the development of pricing documents for conceptual estimates.
• Perform quantity survey of mechanical systems and components using digitized software and apply industry standard labor rates to support the development of accurate cost estimates.
• Evaluate vendor and subcontractor for conformance with proposal requirements; level scopes and identify low cost/ best value responses while capturing assumptions, rationale, inclusions, exclusions, etc.
• Assist in the preparation of estimates used for bidding and budgeting purposes (including self-performed work); participate in internal estimate review process and assist with final recap of estimate for presentation to senior management.
• Support project management tasks, including budgeting, schedule development, interim design review, change order pricing, procurement, value engineering, and vendor selection based on proposal development.
• Coordinate with project teams to evaluate productivity for historical data and schedule/ cost forecasting purposes.
• Perform quantity survey of completed designs and/ or past projects to support historical cost data collection and analysis.
  

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Construction Management, or related field, or a combination of education (including trade schools) and professional experience.
• 3+ years’ experience in construction with 1+ years’ experience estimating mechanical systems (i.e., Process & Mechanical Systems).
• Exhibits inclusive leadership and teamwork behavior, and values diverse perspectives from team members.
• Demonstrated experience in the successful management of bidding process with a preferred emphasis on heavy/ advanced manufacturing, industrial and mission critical markets.
• General knowledge of codes and standards applicable to the design and installation of mechanical systems.
• Possesses strong technical writing, math and computer skills with proficiency using standard office software applications such as BlueBeam, Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, On Screen Takeoff, Navisworks, Revit, Building Connected, Beck Destini, and Sage Timberline to support estimating efforts.
• Experience using estimating software with a preference for Trimble products.

Some Things You Should Know

• Our clients and projects are nationwide – Travel will be required.
• No other builder can offer the collaborative design-build approach that Clayco does.
• We work on creative, complex, award-winning, high-profile jobs.
• The pace is fast!
• This position is classified as a safety-sensitive role in accordance with applicable state and federal laws. Candidates selected for this position will be subject to a comprehensive background check, which includes mandatory drug testing.

Why Clayco?

• 2025 Best Places to Work – St. Louis Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, and Phoenix Business Journal.
  
• 2025 ENR Midwest – Midwest Contractor (#1).
  
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms – Design-Build Contractor (Top 5).
  
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Green Contractors – Green Contractor (Top 3).
  
• 2025 ENR Top 25 Data Center Builders - Data Center Contractor (Top 3).
  

Benefits

• Discretionary Annual Bonus: Subject to company and individual performance.
• Comprehensive Benefits Package Including: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning & development programs and more!

Compensation

• The salary range for this position considers a wide range of factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to: Education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.