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Job description

The Estimator is responsible for the accurate and timely pricing of specialist remedial works, from receipt of enquiry through to tender submission and handover to the delivery team. Working under the direction of the Senior Surveyor, the post-holder will convert surveys, drawings and specifications into fully considered cost models, secure competitive supply chain pricing, and produce professional tender submissions that are commercially sound and technically robust. Success in the role means winning the right work at the right margin: tenders that are competitive in the market, deliverable on site, and supported by a clear, auditable record of the assumptions and allowances behind them.

Responsibilities

• Manage the estimating process from receipt of enquiry through to tender submission, ensuring every return is accurate, competitive and issued before the deadline.
• Register, log and track all incoming enquiries, maintaining a live tender register and reporting on pipeline, win rates and outstanding submissions.
• Review tender documents, drawings, specifications, schedules of work and survey reports to establish the full scope of works and identify risks, exclusions and qualifications.
• Contribute to tender/no-tender decisions by assessing enquiry quality, client credentials, programme, risk profile, geography and resource availability.
• Prepare and issue tender queries and requests for information, and track responses through to close-out.
• Produce detailed measured take-offs and quantify remedial works including damp-proofing, timber treatment, structural repair, structural waterproofing and associated builders’ work.
• Build and price cost models covering labour, materials, plant, specialist subcontractors, access, preliminaries, waste, welfare and overheads, applying margin in line with company policy.
• Allow appropriately for site-specific constraints such as occupied premises, restricted access, out-of-hours working, parking and logistics, particularly on London and city-centre projects.
• Price risk transparently, distinguishing between measured work, provisional sums, contingency and items carried as a qualification.
• Carry out pre-tender site visits and surveys where required, working alongside surveying colleagues to validate assumptions and confirm site conditions.
• Obtain, analyse and negotiate quotations from material suppliers, plant hire and specialist subcontractors, ensuring scope is fully covered and pricing compared on a like-for-like basis.
• Maintain and develop relationships with the approved supply chain, and identify new sources of supply where they improve price, quality or programme.
• Verify that subcontractor quotations are supported by appropriate insurances, accreditations and technical approvals before inclusion in a tender.
• Maintain the estimating database, rate library and historical cost records, updating rates in line with market movement and actual job costs.
• Complete a formal handover of contract info to the contracts and delivery teams, including build-up, assumptions, risk allowances, exclusions and procurement information.
• Support the commercial team with value engineering, variation pricing, cost planning and post-contract cost feedback.
• Review outturn costs against tendered allowances and feed the findings back into future pricing.
• Seek and record feedback on unsuccessful tenders to inform pricing strategy and improve conversion rates.
• Ensure all estimates reflect current legislative, health and safety, insurance-backed guarantee and warranty requirements.
• Allow correctly for CDM 2015 duties, waste management obligations and any client-specific site rules at tender stage.
• Account for cross-border and cross-jurisdiction commercial considerations, including currency rates, Relevant Contracts Tax, reverse-charge VAT and differing regulatory requirements between Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and England.
• Work within the company’s quality, environmental and health and safety management systems, and support its obligations as a PCA-registered contractor.

Skills and Qualifications

Essential Skills

• A minimum of three years’ recent estimating experience within construction, specialist sub-contracting, refurbishment or a closely related discipline.
• HNC, HND, degree or equivalent qualification in quantity surveying, construction management, civil engineering or a related discipline or, in the absence of a formal qualification, a minimum of five years’ demonstrable estimating experience.
• Demonstrable ability to produce accurate measured take-offs and quantities from drawings, specifications, schedules of work and survey reports.
• Proven experience building priced cost models covering labour, materials, plant, subcontractors and preliminaries, and applying margin to arrive at a tendered sum.
• Experience procuring and analysing subcontractor and supplier quotations, and comparing them on a like-for-like basis.
• Numerical and analytical ability, with a demonstrably high standard of accuracy and attention to detail.
• Competent user of Microsoft Excel, including formulas and structured cost sheets, together with Word and Outlook.
• Written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present cost information clearly to clients, consultants and colleagues.
• Ability to work on own initiative.
• A full, current driving licence valid in the UK and Ireland.
• Willingness and ability to travel periodically across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and occasionally to GB, including overnight stays where required.
• Right to work in the United Kingdom.

Desirable Skills

• Whilst not necessary it would be beneficial to have:
• Experience of working on historic or older traditional buildings, roofing works, joinery, or other relevant specialist construction projects.
• Understanding and commercial awareness of working with Principal Contractors, Professional Quantity Surveyors.
• Estimating experience within specialist remedial works - damp-proofing, timber preservation, structural repair or structural waterproofing, or similar.
• Experience using construction estimating, job-costing or contract management software.
• Awareness of cross-border commercial considerations when tendering in the Republic of Ireland, including Relevant Contracts Tax and reverse-charge VAT.
• CSR or CSCS card at an appropriate level.

Further Information

Commercial judgement, sound instinct for where the risk sits in a tender and how it should be priced or qualified. Accuracy, meticulous with measurement, arithmetic and the transfer of figures between documents. Organisation and discipline, able to run several tenders in parallel and work to fixed deadlines. Interested in building pathology and remedial methods, not just the rates attached to them. Collaboration, work alongside surveying, operations and delivery colleagues, and hands work over properly. Client credibility, professional and articulate in front of clients, consultants and supply chain partners. Integrity in pricing, transparent about assumptions and commercially sensitive information. Commitment to development, willing to undertake further PCA and industry training. What we offer: Competitive salary reflecting experience and qualifications, reviewed annually. Mobile phone and laptop. Company pension scheme. 31 days’ annual leave including statutory days. Funded professional membership, PCA qualifications and continuing professional development. A clear progression route within the commercial team of an established and growing specialist contractor. Varied and technically interesting work across domestic, commercial, heritage and public-sector projects, and across three jurisdictions. About Stronghold Preservation Ltd: Stronghold Preservation Ltd is an award winning, Property Care Association (PCA) registered, specialist remedial contractor, delivering timber preservation, damp proofing, structural repair and basement waterproofing across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. With a focus on heritage, commercial and civils type projects, with many repeat customers, Stronghold’s reputation rests on diagnosing problems correctly, specifying the right remedy and delivering it to a high standard. The estimating team is therefore central to that ensuring that tendering and quotation deadlines are met.

Application Information

Applications should be made by submitting CV to: careers@strongholdpreservation.com no later than 5pm on Friday 30th October 2026.