On this episode of ClearTalk, Brad Malone, VP of Professional Services at Solutions360, joins our CEO, Brad Dempsey, to discuss closed-loop estimating.

In simplest terms, closed-loop estimating helps integrators learn from each project, so they can be more accurate and profitable on future estimates.

Projects are always a combination of similarities and uniqueness, and we can learn from both of those things. “When we have similarities, we can narrow our estimates, and when we have uniqueness or risk, we can figure out how much contingency we’ll need,” Malone explains. “It’s really a learning process.”

All of this relates to Lean principles and Six Sigma, which Navigate encourages integrators to adopt.

“The way I look at Lean is about getting rid of waste, and drama, and really streamlining processes,” says Malone. “I always use the metaphor of Michelangelo and David. How did Michelangelo carve David? Well, he just took away everything that wasn’t David.”

Conversely, 6 Sigma is about variation – the more similar your projects are, the more you can look at reducing the variation.

By embracing these concepts Navigate finds integrators can save 20% to 30% of their labor on a project.

• What are the prerequisites for setting up closed-loop estimating?
• Why shouldn’t you wait until the end of a project to go back and look at the original estimate?
• How do you estimate the way you actually run a project?

Listen to find out!