When Business Development and Estimating Disagree About the Project

Winning new work is essential to the growth of a construction company. So is making sure the work being won is good for the business. Those two goals usually work together, but not always.

A business development leader may see an opportunity to enter a new market, strengthen an important client relationship, or secure a major project that could lead to years of additional work. The estimating team may look at the same opportunity and see thin margins, incomplete drawings, difficult subcontractor coverage, an aggressive schedule, or risks that are difficult to price.

Neither side is necessarily wrong. They are simply looking at the project from different perspectives. Business development is often focused on opportunity. Estimating is focused on what it will realistically take to deliver that opportunity. Strong construction companies need both.

The problem begins when disagreement between the two groups becomes personal, political, or disconnected from the larger goals of the company. Instead of asking whether business development or estimating is right, leadership should ask a better question:

What is each side seeing that the other may be missing?

For companies across construction and real estate, the ability to answer that question can influence which projects they pursue, how they price risk, where they grow, and ultimately how profitable that growth becomes.

Business Development Is Paid to See Possibility

Business development professionals naturally look at opportunities through a growth lens. They spend time building relationships with owners, developers, general contractors, architects, engineers, and other decision-makers. They learn where projects are coming from and which clients may have additional work in the future. Because of that perspective, a project can represent much more than the value of the contract itself. A project with an aggressive budget may provide entry into a new market.

A smaller initial job may create a relationship with a customer that has a significant future pipeline. A project outside the company’s traditional geography may provide a reason to establish a new office. Working with a major client may strengthen the company’s reputation and create opportunities with similar organizations. Those possibilities matter.

A company that evaluates every opportunity only according to the immediate estimate may become too cautious. It may protect today’s margin while missing tomorrow’s growth. Business development leaders are often the people pushing the company to stretch. That is valuable. But stretching and overextending are not the same thing.

Estimating Is Paid to See What Can Go Wrong

Estimators approach the same project differently. Their job is to turn drawings, specifications, schedules, labor requirements, material costs, subcontractor pricing, market conditions, and uncertainty into a number the company can confidently stand behind.

They are often the people asking the uncomfortable questions.

• Are the documents complete?
• Does the schedule make sense?
• Do we have enough subcontractor coverage?
• What assumptions are we making?
• What is excluded?
• What could material pricing look like six months from now?
• Does the project require specialized knowledge?
• Is enough contingency included?
• How much of this estimate depends on something outside our control?

An estimator who raises concerns is not necessarily being negative. They may be protecting the company from risks that are difficult to see during the excitement of a new opportunity.

Raymond Search Group recruits specialized professionals ranging from estimators and preconstruction managers to senior operational and executive leaders through its professional and technical search services. Those roles sit close to the decisions that determine whether an opportunity can become a successful project.

The strongest estimators understand that their job is not simply to produce the lowest possible number. It is to help the company understand what the work is likely to require.

Conflict Often Begins Before the Estimate

By the time an estimator says the project does not make sense, the business development team may have already invested months in the opportunity. Relationships have been built. Meetings have taken place. Executives may know about the project. The client may expect a proposal.

The opportunity may already appear in internal forecasts. At that point, telling the business development team that the job should not be pursued can feel like much more than a pricing decision. It can feel like the estimating team is shutting down months of work.

That is why companies should not wait until the final estimate to discuss whether a project makes sense. Business development, estimating, preconstruction, and operations should be communicating much earlier.

Before significant resources go into a pursuit, the organization should have at least a basic understanding of the client, project type, delivery method, geography, schedule, expected size, competition, available team, and potential risks. The earlier concerns are identified, the easier they are to discuss objectively.

Revenue Is Important, but Revenue Does Not Tell the Whole Story

A large project can look attractive because of the revenue it adds to the backlog. But revenue alone does not determine whether the project is good business. The project must eventually be staffed, managed, purchased, built, billed, and completed.

A $50 million project that consumes an enormous amount of leadership attention and creates constant operational problems may be less valuable than several smaller projects that fit the company’s teams, customers, and systems well.

• Margin matters.
• Cash flow matters.
• Schedule matters.
• Risk matters.
• The client matters.
• The availability of project managers and superintendents matters.
• The subcontractor market matters.
• The company’s existing backlog matters.

RSG has previously explored this idea in Hiring Leaders Who Can Say No to the Wrong Project. The strongest construction leaders understand that winning work and winning the right work are not always the same thing. That same thinking should shape conversations between business development and estimating.

Estimating Should Understand the Strategy Behind the Project

Communication must work in both directions. Estimators need context too. If the estimating team only receives drawings and a bid date, they may not understand why leadership cares about the opportunity.

Consider two projects with nearly identical financial profiles. One is a one-time opportunity with a customer the company is unlikely to work with again. The other is the first project for an owner planning five additional developments in the same region.

The numbers may look similar. Strategically, the opportunities are very different. That does not mean the company should accept a bad project simply because more work may follow. Future opportunities do not guarantee that today’s losses will eventually be recovered.

But the estimating team should understand the larger business case.

• Why are we pursuing this client?
• What could this relationship become?
• Does this project support a new market strategy?
• Are we trying to establish a new project type?
• Is this an opportunity to build experience the company wants long term?
• How important is the customer?

When estimators understand the reason behind the pursuit, they can help leadership think about how the opportunity might work instead of simply determining whether it fits the company’s normal profile.

Business Development Should Understand the Risks Behind the Number

Business development professionals should receive the same level of context from estimating. If an estimate comes in higher than expected, the conversation should not end with: “We can’t get to their number.” Why can’t the company get there? Maybe subcontractor coverage is weak. Maybe labor assumptions are unusually aggressive. Maybe the schedule requires overtime.

Perhaps there are significant gaps in the design documents. Maybe the project includes technical work outside the company’s normal experience. Perhaps the estimate contains contingency because several major questions remain unanswered. Those details matter.

If business development understands where the risk exists, the team may be able to address it with the client. The schedule might be adjusted. The scope could be clarified. Alternative materials could be considered. A qualification could be included in the proposal.

The customer may provide additional information that allows uncertainty to be reduced. A higher price can sometimes be negotiated when the client understands what is driving it.

The goal should not be for business development to pressure estimating until the number becomes attractive. The goal is to determine whether the reasons behind the number can be changed.

Do Not Ask Estimating to “Find the Number”

Nearly every experienced estimator has probably encountered a version of this conversation. The estimate says the project will cost one amount. The customer has another amount in mind. Someone says: “Can we sharpen the pencil?” There is nothing wrong with reviewing an estimate.

Good estimators should challenge assumptions, compare alternatives, examine subcontractor coverage, and make sure unnecessary costs have not been included. But there is an important difference between finding legitimate savings and forcing the estimate to reach a predetermined number.

If leadership has already decided what the project needs to cost before the estimate is complete, the estimating process loses much of its value. The number may become more competitive. The risk does not disappear with it. That risk simply moves downstream. Operations may later be expected to recover a margin that never realistically existed.

Project teams may need to make up for an aggressive estimate through buyout, productivity, change orders, or cost reductions. Sometimes they will succeed. Sometimes they will not. The estimating team should feel comfortable explaining why a number is what it is, and leadership should be willing to hear an answer it may not like.

Operations Belongs in the Conversation Too

The disagreement should not always be settled by choosing between business development and estimating. Operations may have information both groups need.

An estimator may determine that the company can build the project profitably based on normal staffing assumptions. Operations may know that the three project managers with the right experience are already committed for the next 18 months.

Business development may identify a great customer in an attractive new geography. Operations may know the company does not yet have strong subcontractor relationships in that market. The estimate may work financially, but the project may require a superintendent with experience the company does not currently have.

That creates a talent question.

• Can someone internally step into the role?
• Can the company hire the necessary person before the project starts?
• How difficult will that individual be to find?

Raymond Search Group’s construction recruiting practice supports searches across commercial, institutional, industrial, infrastructure, and other construction environments. For specialized positions, the availability of the right project leadership should be considered before the company assumes that hiring will solve a capacity problem later. A project does not become easier to staff simply because it has been awarded.

Sometimes the Disagreement Reveals a Talent Gap

Repeated conflict between estimating and business development may not only be a process problem. It can also reveal that the company is missing an important type of leader. For example, the organization may need a strong preconstruction leader who can connect client needs, estimating, design, and operations.

It may need a commercial leader who understands both growth and project economics. It may need a senior operations executive capable of making final decisions about capacity and risk. Or it may need additional estimating depth, so the current team is not forced to choose between speed and accuracy as pursuit volume grows.

RSG’s executive search and recruiting services include senior sales, business development, operations, project leadership, engineering leadership, and technical roles throughout the built environment. The right organizational structure will look different for every company. What matters is having people capable of seeing more than one side of the opportunity.

The Best Preconstruction Leaders Often Act as Translators

One of the most valuable abilities in preconstruction leadership is translation. A strong preconstruction leader can explain estimating concerns in business terms.

Instead of saying: “The subcontractor coverage is weak.” They can explain: “We only have one qualified number for this package, so we have limited competitive tension and more exposure if that subcontractor changes its price.” Instead of saying: “The schedule is too aggressive.”

They can explain:

“This schedule will likely require overtime and additional supervision, which affects both cost and our ability to staff the job.” They can also translate the commercial side back to estimating. “This client is planning several similar projects over the next three years, so leadership is willing to accept a slightly lower initial margin if we can manage the risk appropriately.”

That shared language helps move the conversation away from departments defending their positions. Everyone starts discussing the business.

For hiring managers evaluating leaders for these types of positions, RSG’s recent article on project autopsy interviews offers another useful approach: asking candidates to break down difficult past projects can reveal how they handle risk, accountability, communication, and decision-making.

Create a Shared Definition of a Good Project

Business development and estimating will struggle to stay aligned if the company itself has not defined the type of work it wants. Leadership should be able to describe the company’s ideal project with reasonable clarity.

That may include:

• Project size
• Project type
• Geography
• Delivery method
• Target margin
• Customer characteristics
• Contract structure
• Schedule expectations
• Technical complexity
• Available workforce
• Leadership requirements
• Strategic importance
• Repeat-work potential

Not every project needs to check every box.

Some opportunities will be worth stretching for. But having a shared starting point makes disagreement more productive.

Instead of: “I like this project.” versus: “I don’t like this project.” the conversation becomes: “This project falls outside our normal geography, but the client relationship and future pipeline may justify that risk.”

Use a Go/No-Go Process Without Making It Bureaucratic

A formal project-selection process can also help remove emotion. The process does not need a 20-page form or a committee meeting for every small opportunity. It simply needs to force the right conversations before too much time is invested.

Companies might evaluate:

• Strategic fit: Does the project support where the company wants to grow?
• Client: Do we understand the customer’s expectations and history?
• Capabilities: Have we successfully completed similar work?
• Capacity: Do we have the people to execute it?
• Competition: Who else is pursuing the project, and why are we positioned to win?
• Margin: Does the expected return justify the work?
• Schedule: Can the project realistically be delivered as requested?
• Contract: Are we comfortable with the risk being transferred to us?
• Subcontractors and suppliers: Can we obtain reliable coverage?
• Talent: Do we have the necessary leadership and technical expertise?
• Future value: Could the project reasonably create meaningful follow-on opportunities?

The process gives business development, estimating, preconstruction, and operations a shared framework. More importantly, it creates consistency. A project should not receive completely different treatment simply because one executive is excited about it.

Disagreement Is Not the Problem

Companies should not try to eliminate disagreement between business development and estimating. A construction organization where everyone agrees immediately on every pursuit may have a bigger problem. Healthy disagreement means people are looking at the opportunity from different angles.

Business development should challenge the company to grow. Estimating should challenge assumptions. Operations should challenge whether the plan can be delivered. Finance should challenge the economics.

Executive leadership should consider how all those pieces fit together. The issue is how the disagreement is handled. If estimating believes business development will ignore every concern, estimators may stop raising them.

If business development believes estimating automatically rejects anything outside the company’s comfort zone, they may begin working around the department. Neither outcome is healthy. The strongest companies create an environment where someone can raise a legitimate concern without being labeled difficult or anti-growth.

Review the Project After It Is Finished

One of the best ways to improve alignment is to compare the original pursuit assumptions with what happened. After a project is complete, look back.

• What margin was originally estimated?
• What was the final margin?
• Did the schedule assumptions hold?
• Was staffing more difficult than expected?
• Did the customer relationship develop the way business development anticipated?
• Was follow-on work awarded?
• Which risks became real?
• Which concerns turned out to be less significant?
• Where was estimating too conservative?
• Where was business development too optimistic?

The goal is not to prove who was right. It is to improve the next decision. If business development repeatedly identifies strategic opportunities that turn into valuable long-term customers, estimating should understand that pattern.

If estimators repeatedly identify risks that later create real losses, leadership should pay attention to that too. Over time, completed projects create some of the best information the company has for deciding what to pursue next.

Hire People Who Can Challenge Each Other Productively

Alignment between business development and estimating is partly about process. It is also about people. The company needs business development professionals who understand that every opportunity is not automatically a good opportunity.

It needs estimators who can see commercial possibilities rather than only risk. It needs preconstruction leaders who can connect the two. And it needs executives who are willing to decide after hearing different viewpoints.

When hiring for these roles, companies should evaluate more than technical qualifications. Ask candidates about disagreement. Tell me about a project you wanted to pursue that someone else believed was too risky. Tell me about a time estimating and sales disagreed about price.

• Have you ever recommended walking away from a major opportunity?
• Have you ever changed your position after another department showed you something you had missed?
• How do you handle pressure from leadership when they want a different number?
• What information should be available before a company decides to pursue a project?
• These conversations can reveal whether someone treats disagreement as a threat or as useful information.

Raymond Search Group works with organizations throughout the built environment to identify these types of leaders and specialized professionals. The firm’s specialties include construction and real estate, engineering, architecture, HVAC/R, building automation systems, manufacturing, water technology, and private equity-backed businesses.

The Goal Is Not Agreement. It Is a Better Decision.

Business development and estimating have different jobs for a reason. One is supposed to identify opportunity. The other is supposed to understand what that opportunity will cost.

Problems arise when either perspective becomes the only one that matters. A company driven entirely by business development may win work it should have avoided. A company driven entirely by caution may never take the calculated risks required to grow. The strongest organizations create a productive tension between the two.

Business development asks: What could this become?

Estimating asks: What will it really take?

Operations ask: Can we deliver it?

Leadership ultimately must bring those answers together. When those conversations happen early, openly, and with respect for the expertise each group brings, disagreement becomes useful. It helps the company price risk more accurately, choose better work, protect its teams, and pursue growth with a clearer understanding of what success will require.

At Raymond Search Group, we help organizations across the built environment recruit the executives, business development leaders, estimators, preconstruction professionals, project leaders, and technical talent needed to support sustainable growth. Our search and recruiting services are built around understanding not only the position, but the business need behind the hire.

Explore our executive search process, view recent placements, or contact Raymond Search Group to discuss the people your organization needs for its next stage of growth. Because the best project decisions are rarely made by the person who sees only the opportunity or only the risk. They are made when both sides are willing to listen.