24–48 hrs
Standard turnaround on single-building mechanical packages
Wisconsin buildings are designed for sub-zero mornings and humid July afternoons. That shows up in the mechanical package long before it shows up on site - heavier heating equipment, more insulation, tighter ventilation, deeper hydronic loops.
We produce mechanical cost estimating and quantity takeoff for HVAC, piping, ductwork, sheet metal and equipment scopes, priced against the labor market you actually bid in. You get a measured takeoff, a line-item estimate, a marked-up plan set and a clarification log - ready to drop into your bid.
Design conditions
WI · ZONE 6A / 7
Heating dominant
Milwaukee
≈ 0°F
Green Bay
≈ −9°F
HDD
7,000–9,000
Winter design temp, Milwaukee
≈ 0°F
Winter design temp, Green Bay
≈ −9°F
Heating degree days, statewide
7,000–9,000
IECC climate zone
6A & 7
Typical estimate turnaround
24–48 hrs
Design temperatures and degree-day ranges are planning figures. We confirm the values used on your project against the mechanical schedules and the engineer's basis of design before pricing equipment.
24–48 hrs
Standard turnaround on single-building mechanical packages
±3–5%
Typical variance on bid-stage estimates with complete documents
72
Wisconsin counties covered, from Kenosha to Superior
Fixed fee
Quoted before work starts - no hourly surprises
Scope of Services
Twelve service lines covering everything from a single rooftop-unit replacement to a full mechanical package on a hospital addition.
23 00 00
Complete priced estimates covering material, labor, equipment, subcontract and indirect costs, formatted to your bid summary so nothing has to be retyped.
QTO
Measured quantities only, with no pricing applied - the option most contractors choose when they trust their own cost database but need the counting done.
MTO
Purchase-ready material lists broken down by size, material, schedule and fitting type, suitable for sending straight to your supply house for quotes.
23 05 00
Air-side and water-side systems: air handlers, rooftop units, split systems, VAV boxes, exhaust fans, louvers, grilles, diffusers and associated accessories.
23 21 00
Chilled water, hot water, glycol, steam and condensate, refrigerant, compressed air and process lines, with valves, hangers, insulation and specialties counted separately.
23 31 00
Rectangular, round and oval duct by gauge and weight, plus fittings, fire and smoke dampers, flex connections, liner, external wrap and fabrication labor.
23 60 00
Boilers, chillers, cooling towers, pumps, heat exchangers, air handling units, rooftop units, furnaces, unit heaters, VRF systems and heat pumps, with rigging and start-up.
MEP
Combined mechanical, electrical and plumbing estimates when you are bidding a full MEP package or need one consistent cost picture across all three trades.
BID
Bid-day support: scope letters, exclusions, alternates, unit prices, vendor quote leveling and a final bid summary reviewed against the invitation to bid.
PRE
Early mechanical budgets from schematic or design-development drawings, built on system-level assumptions and updated as the design firms up.
CO
Independent pricing of mechanical change orders, added scope and delay-related costs, documented well enough to survive an owner’s review.
VE
Side-by-side cost comparison of system alternatives - VRF against rooftop units, condensing boilers against standard efficiency, ducted against ductless.
Clients
The deliverable is shaped around who has to bid with it - a mechanical contractor staffing crews, a sheet metal shop scheduling fabrication, or an owner checking a capital number.
01 · MECH
Full mechanical packages including HVAC, piping and equipment, with hours split by crew so you can staff the job from the estimate.
02 · HVAC
Air-side and equipment takeoffs for new construction, replacement and retrofit work, from a single RTU swap to a campus-wide system upgrade.
03 · SHOP
Duct takeoffs by weight and gauge that translate directly into fabrication hours, with fitting counts your shop can schedule against.
04 · PIPE
Industrial and process piping takeoffs with weld counts, material specs, testing and insulation carried as separate line items.
05 · MEP
One coordinated estimate across mechanical, electrical and plumbing so the three trades are priced on the same assumptions.
06 · GC
Independent mechanical budgets for checking subcontractor pricing, filling a scope gap or carrying a number when coverage is thin.
07 · DB
Cost feedback during design so the mechanical system gets selected on total installed cost, not just first cost.
08 · OWNER
Third-party mechanical cost review on capital projects, equipment replacement programs and multi-site portfolios.
What contractors say
“We were turning down invitations because we could not get the takeoffs done. Now we bid everything that comes in and pick the ones we actually want.”
“The duct weights came back close enough to our shop numbers that we stopped re-measuring. That was the point at which we trusted the rest of it.”
“An addendum dropped two days before the bid and the revised estimate was back the same afternoon. We would have had to pass otherwise.”
Project Types
From a Dane County office and warehouse to a paper mill or a rooftop-unit changeout, the takeoff follows the project type in front of us.
Commercial
Institutional
Industrial
Residential and multifamily
Renovation and retrofit
Specialty
Trade Breakdown
A mechanical estimate is only as good as the list of things nobody remembered to count. Here is what we measure line by line on a typical Wisconsin commercial package.
01
Duct, devices and ventilation
02
Hydronic, steam and process
03
Central plant and terminal equipment
04
Controls, TAB and closeout
Sample Output
Below is a condensed summary from a mechanical package we would produce for a mid-size Wisconsin project. The figures are illustrative and rounded - real estimates run to several hundred line items with quantities, units, unit costs and labor hours on every row.
Sample summary - 46,000 SF two-story office and warehouse, Dane County, Wisconsin
SAMPLE ONLY
System
Basis of quantity
Quantity
Labor hrs
Cost
Rooftop units and curbs
6 units, 5–25 tons, gas heat
6 ea
184
$212,400
Condensing boilers and pumps
2 boilers, 4 pumps, plant piping
1 ls
246
$148,900
Rectangular ductwork
Galvanized, 24–18 ga by weight
31,600 lb
1,142
$289,300
Round and spiral duct
Mains, runouts and fittings
4,180 lf
318
$96,700
Duct insulation and liner
Wrap and internal liner
18,900 sf
214
$61,800
Hydronic piping
Copper and steel, 3/4"–4"
3,240 lf
742
$178,500
Pipe insulation
Fiberglass with jacket
3,240 lf
188
$44,600
Air devices and terminal units
VAV boxes, diffusers, grilles
246 ea
396
$132,700
Fire and smoke dampers
Rated wall and shaft penetrations
54 ea
108
$34,900
Exhaust and ventilation fans
Roof, inline and cabinet fans
14 ea
96
$41,200
Unit heaters and vestibule heat
Warehouse and entry heating
11 ea
74
$28,600
Controls rough-in allowance
Point count, BAS by others
1 ls
62
$58,000
Testing, adjusting and balancing
Certified agency, subcontract
1 ls
-
$22,400
Rigging, crane and roof protection
Two mobilizations
1 ls
48
$26,800
Permits, submittals and closeout
Plan review and O&M documents
1 ls
56
$18,900
Direct mechanical cost - before overhead, profit, bond and escalation
3,874
$1,395,700
Figures shown are a worked illustration for format purposes only and are not a quotation. Your estimate is priced from your drawings, your specifications, your vendor quotes and your labor rates.
Deliverables
A complete package you can bid from, trace back to the sheets, and revise when an addendum lands.
01
Excel, with quantities, units, material cost, labor hours and extended totals on every row.
02
Colour-coded PDF, so every measured quantity can be traced back to the sheet it came from.
03
Matching your format, with overhead, profit, bond, escalation and sales tax carried where applicable.
04
Sorted for supplier quoting, by size, material and specification.
05
By system and crew type, so you can apply your own rates or hand it to the project manager for scheduling.
06
Exclusions, unclear details and anything the documents do not answer.
07
A letter you can edit and issue with your proposal.
08
After addenda or a scope change, included at no extra cost within the original engagement.
Sequence of Work
Six steps from the drawings in your inbox to a package you can walk into bid day with.
1
Email or upload the mechanical drawings, specifications, addenda and bid date. A PDF set is enough. Tell us which scopes are in and which belong to another trade.
2
A mechanical estimator reads the drawings, checks sheet count and complexity, and sends back a fixed fee and a delivery date - usually within a few hours.
3
We measure the job digitally in Bluebeam, PlanSwift or AutoBid, colour-coding each system as it is counted so nothing is measured twice and nothing is missed.
4
Material pricing comes from current supplier data and your preferred vendors; labor is built from industry standard units adjusted to your crew productivity and the Wisconsin market you bid in.
5
A different estimator checks quantities against the schedules, verifies equipment selections against the mechanical schedule, and writes the clarification log.
6
You get the full package, then a call to walk through the assumptions. We stay available through your bid date for addenda revisions and last-minute questions.
Typical delivery windows
24 hours
Tenant fit-out or equipment replacement
24 to 48 hours
Commercial building, single mechanical package
3 to 5 business days
School, hospital or multi-building campus
4 to 7 business days
Industrial process and plant piping
Same day where the change is bounded
Addendum revision
Tools and Pricing Sources
Bluebeam Revu, PlanSwift, Trimble AutoBid Mechanical, FastPIPE and FastDUCT, On-Screen Takeoff, Autodesk Revit and AutoCAD MEP for model-based takeoff, and Microsoft Excel for the final estimate. Cost data is cross-checked against RSMeans, live supplier pricing and manufacturer quotes, then adjusted to your historical unit costs where you have them.
Bluebeam Revu
Markup and digital measurement
PlanSwift
On-screen quantity takeoff
Trimble AutoBid Mechanical
Mechanical assemblies and pricing
FastPIPE and FastDUCT
Duct and pipe takeoff
On-Screen Takeoff
Sheet-by-sheet quantities
Excel
Line-item estimates and bid summaries
Revit and AutoCAD MEP
Model-based takeoff when a model is available
Priced to
Wisconsin labor
Basis of Service
Mechanical bids are lost in the quantities, not in the markup. A duct run measured at the wrong gauge, a missing set of fire dampers, a rooftop unit priced without curb adapter or structural steel - any one of those moves a bid by more than the margin you were fighting for.
Most mechanical contractors in Wisconsin have one or two people who can estimate well, and those people are also running jobs. When four bids land in the same week in February, something gets a guess instead of a takeoff. That is the gap we fill: your estimator keeps the relationships and the strategy, and we carry the measuring, counting and pricing.
We are not a bid-shopping service and we do not sell your numbers. We work as an extension of your estimating department, under NDA, and we do not estimate the same project for two contractors bidding against each other.
01 - Traceable quantities
Every quantity traceable to a marked-up sheet, so your reviewer can check a line in seconds.
02 - Labor as hours
Labor delivered as hours, so you can apply union, open-shop or your own composite rates.
03 - Clarification log
Scope gaps written down in a clarification log instead of buried in an allowance.
04 - Quoted equipment
Equipment cut sheets and vendor quotes tracked against the schedule, not assumed.
05 - Free addendum rebuild
Estimates rebuilt free of charge when an addendum changes the mechanical scope.
06 - Bid-day window
We hold a window before your due date for last-minute revisions.
Quality Control
Six checks before a package leaves the desk, from a second estimator through written assumptions.
01
The estimator who measures the job never signs it off alone. A second estimator reviews quantities against the schedules and drawings before delivery.
02
Equipment counts are checked against the mechanical equipment schedule, air device counts against the air device schedule, and any mismatch becomes a written question rather than an assumption.
03
Every measured item is marked on the drawing in its system colour. Nothing overlaps, nothing is double counted, and you can audit any line against the sheet.
04
Equipment and specialty items are quoted rather than factored. Commodity material is priced from current supplier data, with escalation carried where lead times warrant it.
05
If you share historical job costs, we calibrate labor units to your actual crew performance. Your estimate then reflects how your people build, not an industry average.
06
Anything the documents do not resolve is logged as an assumption or exclusion. You bid knowing exactly where the risk sits instead of discovering it at buyout.
Coverage
We work remotely and deliver statewide, in all 72 counties. These are the markets we estimate in most often.
Milwaukee
Madison
Green Bay
Appleton
Eau Claire
Milwaukee, Kenosha, Racine, Waukesha, Wauwatosa, Brookfield, New Berlin
Southeastern Wisconsin runs heavily union for sheet metal, pipefitting and steamfitting. Composite rates, fringe packages, travel and subsistence differ enough from the rest of the state that we ask which agreement applies before applying a single labor dollar.
Madison, Janesville, Beloit
Dane and Rock County work covers offices, university buildings, healthcare and manufacturing. Municipal plan review in Madison is its own schedule item on a tight bid.
Appleton, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan
Much of the Fox Valley is more open-shop than the southeast. Paper, food and manufacturing packages sit alongside commercial and institutional work.
Eau Claire, La Crosse, Green Bay, Manitowoc, Wausau, Superior
Western and northern Wisconsin is more open-shop, with longer travel and winter protection that a Milwaukee-based rate sheet will miss. Coverage still runs to Superior.
Bidding outside these markets? Send the drawings anyway - coverage is statewide and we regularly estimate work in the smaller northern and western counties.
Local Conditions
A mechanical estimate built on national averages will miss Wisconsin by a wide margin. These are the factors we adjust for before a number leaves our office.
WI-01
Commercial mechanical work falls under the Wisconsin Commercial Building Code administered by the Department of Safety and Professional Services, which adopts the International Mechanical Code with state amendments. Public buildings and places of employment generally require state or delegated plan review before construction, and that review time belongs in the schedule and the general conditions.
WI-02
The state energy chapter, based on the International Energy Conservation Code, drives minimum equipment efficiency, economizer requirements, duct and pipe insulation thickness, and ventilation energy recovery. On retrofit work it often forces higher-efficiency equipment than the unit being replaced, which changes both the equipment cost and the electrical and gas connections around it.
WI-03
Boilers and pressure vessels are regulated under a separate state chapter with their own installation, clearance, relief and inspection requirements. On plant replacement projects this affects stack routing, combustion air, room clearances and the inspection sequence - all of which carry cost that a straight equipment swap price will miss.
WI-04
Residential mechanical work is governed by the Uniform Dwelling Code rather than the commercial chapters, with its own rules on heating equipment sizing, combustion air, venting and mechanical ventilation. Builders working across counties still deal with different inspection agencies, so we confirm the authority having jurisdiction before pricing permits and inspections.
WI-05
Larger municipalities, Milwaukee among them, apply local amendments and run their own inspection departments. Permit fee structures, licensing requirements and inspection scheduling vary enough between Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and smaller jurisdictions to matter on a tight bid.
WI-06
Southeastern Wisconsin runs heavily union for sheet metal, pipefitting and steamfitting, while much of the Fox Valley, western and northern Wisconsin is more open-shop. Composite rates, fringe packages, travel and subsistence differ enough between those markets that we ask which agreement applies before applying a single labor dollar.
WI-07
A building enclosed in October and one enclosed in February are not the same mechanical job. Winter work brings temporary heat, glycol protection, frozen-ground utility work, reduced crew productivity and material handling in snow. We price the season the schedule actually puts you in.
WI-08
Wisconsin’s statewide energy efficiency program and individual utilities offer incentives on high-efficiency boilers, chillers, rooftop units, VFDs and controls. These do not lower your cost to install, but they change the owner’s economics on an upgrade - useful when you are presenting an alternate.
Code references are given for planning context and reflect the general regulatory framework. Adopted editions, amendments and fee schedules change; confirm current requirements with the authority having jurisdiction and the project engineer of record.
Fees
We quote a fixed fee per project after reviewing the drawings, so you know the cost before any work begins. Contractors bidding several jobs a week usually move to a monthly retainer, which works out cheaper per estimate and reserves capacity during heavy bid periods. First-time clients often start with one live bid so they can compare our numbers against their own before committing to anything larger.
01
Square footage and the number of mechanical sheets to measure.
02
A warehouse with unit heaters against a lab with 100 percent outside air.
03
Clean, dimensioned documents cost less to estimate than fragmented scans.
04
Mechanical only, or mechanical plus plumbing, controls and balancing.
05
Standard delivery against a same-day rush.
06
Takeoff only, priced estimate, or full bid package with scope letter.
Per project
Fixed fee, one job at a time, no commitment.
Monthly retainer
A set number of estimates each month at a lower effective rate, and reserved capacity during heavy bid periods.
Dedicated estimator
A named estimator working only on your bids, full or part time.
Send your drawings for a fixed fee quoted before any work starts.
Get a mechanical estimateStart Your Mechanical Estimate
Send the mechanical drawings and specifications, the addenda issued to date, the bid due date, and a note on which scopes you want included or excluded. A PDF plan set is enough. If you have preferred vendors or a standard labor rate sheet, send those too.
Frequently asked questions about mechanical estimating services in Wisconsin.
Our Wisconsin mechanical estimating services cover HVAC equipment, ductwork and sheet metal, hydronic and process piping, plumbing rough-in where it is bid under the mechanical scope, controls rough-in, insulation, testing and balancing, rigging and start-up. Each estimate includes a measured quantity takeoff, material pricing, labor hours, equipment costs and a marked-up drawing set so your team can audit every line. Matching trade quantities are covered by our masonry estimating services.
Most single-building mechanical estimates are returned in 24 to 48 hours. Larger hospital, school and industrial packages usually take three to five business days. If you send us a bid calendar, we schedule your jobs around the Wisconsin bid dates rather than first come, first served. A connected scope is available through our architectural cost estimating services.