A Contractor’s Key to Profit: Art of the Estimate

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vCalc.com is a FREE website featuring hundreds of calculators, and thousands of equations created by engineers, university professors, students from around the world, and practical people like you. Topics range from complex scientific equations to useful, everyday, calculated solutions. For the contractor, vCalc’s tools provide highly accurate mathematical solutions to help you estimate the volume and cost of materials, reducing overages and waste – and protecting your profit margins!

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By Ed Truxal, Business Development Specialist – BN Products-USA™ | Email

Create – Collaborate – Calculate

You may have read on BNProducts.com that “Accurately estimating the cost of any construction project one of the most important tasks on the job.” Most professional contractors know it’s truly a key to profits won or lost, and perhaps of greater concern, it’s also one of the most challenging tasks in the business.

You’re Not Alone

In fact, a recent survey commissioned by Intuit Quickbooks and TSheets, demonstrated that approximately 40% of contractors lack confidence in the accuracy of their work estimates, and nearly one-in-three (29%) responded that their profit earnings are generally less than what they expected.  Further, the importance of calculating material cost and quantity can not be understated.  After all, who wants to be the construction company that has to delay a job because, embarrassingly, workers do not have the correct supply of materials to finish a job?   Another threat to profitability is over-stocking unneeded and costly quantities of materials, that may never be usable.

To help concrete contractors optimize their expenses and avoid such pitfalls, a popular and growing site known as vCalc.com has developed a comprehensive suite of online calculators to help accurately estimate the true material needs (rebar, concrete) of almost any project, for the construction pro and the DIY-backyard-boss!  

Introducing (or re-Introducing) vCalc.com – Your Best Friend in the Business

BN Products-USA™ has, for several years now, provided access to vCalc – a free service available to online users and mobile devices featuring an astounding collection of common calculator tools used for factoring rebar and concrete quantities on site; or, you can engage vCalc’s comprehensive list of specialized calculations and equations. Outside of the concrete construction industry, vCalc provides hundreds of calculators and thousands of equations to help just about anyone in resolving and calculating common, everyday needs… any time quantity matters!

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See vCalc.com for Yourself

Recommended Concrete Construction Calculators

• Rebar Diameter: Provides the diameter of different sizes of rebar.
• Length of Rebar in a Grid: Computes the linear feet of rebar in one or more mats of rebar.
• Weight of Rebar in a Grid: Computes the weight of rebar in one or more mats of rebar.
• Weight of a Length of Rebar: Computes weight from a rebar size and any length.
• Area of a Concrete Slab: Computes the area based on length and width of a rectangular slab.
• Volume of a Concrete Slab: Compute the cubic yards of concrete needed for a slab.
• Weight of a Concrete Slab: Computes the approximate weight of concrete in a slab.
• Weight of Rebar Grid and Concrete Slab: Computes the combined slab and rebar weight.
• Rebar – Irregular Shaped Slab: Estimates the amount of rebar in an irregular shaped slab.
• Volume of a Circular Slab: Computes the cubic yards of concrete in a circular slab.
• Rebar in a Circular Slab: Computes the length and weight of rebar in a circular slab.
• Concrete Displaced by Rebar: Computes the cubic yards displaced by rebar in a slab.
• Wall – Rebar, Concrete and Forms: Computes the amount of rebar, concrete and material for forms needed for a concrete wall.
• Rebar Lapping Length: Computes the length overlap needed at rebar joints based on the size of the rebar.
• Cost of Rebar: Provides the cost of rebar on a project.
• The Rebar Calculator also has concrete functions to help you compute:
  • Surface Areas of slabs in square feet, yards and meters
  • Volume of Concrete in slabs in cubic yards and meters
  • Amount of plywood or OSB needed for wood forms for poured concrete walls

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Calculadora de Barras de Refuerzo En Español

La calculadora de barras de refuerzo ahora está disponible en español.  Tiene descripciones, etiquetas y diagramas en idioma español y también tiene unidades predeterminadas en el sistema métrico (SI).  Las longitudes están en metros y centímetros, las áreas en metros cuadrados, los volúmenes en metros cúbicos y los pesos en kilogramos y toneladas métricas.

• Barra de refuerzo: longitud en una cuadrícula
• Barra de refuerzo: peso en una cuadrícula
• Peso de barra de refuerzo por tamaño y longitud
• Losa irregular: longitud o peso de barra de refuerzo
• Losa: área de superficie (m2)
• Losa: volumen (m3)
• Losa: peso de hormigón
• Losa: peso de hormigón con barra de refuerzo
• Losa circular: área de superficie (m2)
• Losa circular: volumen (m3)
• Pared: barra de refuerzo, hormigón y plataformas

vCalc.com also features an extensive Blog site for practical applications of numerous vCalc utilities, covering multiple industries and useful DIY projects

Sources:

• Quickbooks / Intuit.com – Construction Industry Survey: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/industry/construction/#industry-survey
• vCalc Library – Complete Listing of Calculators, Equations, Constants, & Datasets: https://www.vcalc.com/library/