Whether you’re on the tools or behind a desk, running a successful construction company means keeping a close eye on the numbers.
And when it comes to trade businesses, few figures hold more weight than cost estimates.
The foundations of any construction project, trustworthy and reliable pricing estimates, are essential to ensuring profitability and long-term success.
However, building accurate cost estimations comes with its own set of challenges – Price fluctuations, specialised building materials, and unpredictable labour costs create constant uncertainty and risk.
No business can afford the financial fallout of inaccurate estimates, making it crucial that companies use trusted and comprehensive resources when preparing costings.
Yet, despite its importance, many tradies and construction firms still choose to cut corners, leading to lost profits, wasted time, and diminished trust as they lose clients to their competitors.
That’s why Build-it has consulted with cost management experts Rawlinsons Cost Management, Australia’s longest-running and most trusted quantity surveying firm, to dig up the importance of using reliable data for accurate cost estimations.
Materials
While many construction firms have a solid understanding of material costs — market fluctuations and supply chain delays can lead to reduced accuracy when construction finally begins.
That’s why using a comprehensive cost estimation tool like Rawlinson’s 2025 Construction Handbook and Cost Guide is the only way to ensure reliable and up-to-date material pricing.
Featuring quarterly updates, forecasts, regional price variations, exclusive market insights, and historical indices, Rawlinson’s cost guides provide dependable cost data specifically tailored for each state and territory.
Their resources include both high-level ‘top-down’ rates for broad project estimates and detailed ‘bottom-up’ pricing for precise trade and material cost breakdowns. This dual approach ensures firms have the flexibility to tackle projects of any scale with confidence.
Meanwhile, the 2025 guide also includes separate cost data specifically tailored to renovation projects, ensuring that even the most complex updates to existing structures are accurately accounted for to remove the guesswork out of planning and budgeting.
This unrivalled depth of detail has made their up-to-date guides a trusted and reliable costing resource to use throughout the entire year ahead.
Labour
Labour costs are often the trickiest part of any project estimation due to the many variables involved.
Wages, payroll taxes, and employee benefits are just some of the factors business managers must account for when calculating project expenses.
But while some construction companies rely on guesswork, industry leaders turn to detailed, accurate data such as Rawlinson’s 2025 Australian Construction Handbook and Cost Guide for reliable labour cost estimates.
Their costing resources simplify the pricing process with quarterly updated labour rates, comprehensive labour constants, trade ratios, haulage rates, and plant hire rates tailored to each state and territory.
So whether you’re conducting initial feasibility studies, cost benchmarking, BOQ pricing, or value engineering, Rawlinson’s 1000-page handbook provides an invaluable head start for contractors and subcontractors alike.
Managing Risks
Anticipating potential challenges before they arise is one of the best ways to keep construction projects cost-effective and on schedule, even when unexpected issues occur.
By developing contingency plans and estimating the cost of possible setbacks, businesses can mitigate disruptions and maintain smooth operations with minimal impact on completion times and project costs.
When the unexpected happens, Rawlinson’s comprehensive data ensures you have the confidence to address problems efficiently, with accurate cost estimations at your fingertips.
Their 2025 Australian Construction Handbook and Cost Guide provides detailed costing data for over 30 trades and an elemental breakdown for 170 different building types, including commercial, domestic, renovations, and recycling of existing structures.
Using this proven, detailed database for cost estimation will save your firm from either overestimating or underestimating key elements, ensuring your business remains profitable while maintaining trust and confidence with your clients.
And with preorders for the hardcopy edition now open (shipping mid-January 2025) and digital editions available from early January 2025, there’s no better time to seal up your company’s costing accuracy for the year to come.
