Is there any other estimating method beside first principal estimating and unit price estimating that can saves time and with effective result?

A member from Estimators, Quantity Surveyors and Cost Engineers Forum at LinkedIn asked the above question. Below is my answer:

Hi Jodi,

Basically, there are 2 types of estimating methods, the first one is deterministic method, and the second one is stochastic method. The deterministic method sometime is called first principle or detail estimate. It is based on detailed unit cost and detail take-off (i.e. BOQ) of a certain scope. The detailed unit cost is mostly calculated based on combination of suppliers’ and sub-contractors’ quotations; and detail resources (labour and equipments) requirement. This method can produce a very high level of accuracy.