Practical estimating. Commercial thinking. Delivery experience.
Civil Solutions provides estimating and tender support to civil contractors across New Zealand and offshore, including island-based projects, providing additional capability when and where it is needed.
From pricing an individual work package through to developing a complete tender, we work alongside your team to build robust, practical estimates grounded in how the work will actually be delivered.
Our support can be scaled to suit the project — whether you need an extra pair of experienced hands during a busy tender period, specialist input into a complex package, or someone to take ownership of the estimating process.
Civil Estimating & Pricing
A good estimate needs to be more than a spreadsheet of rates. It needs to reflect the methodology, resources, productivity, programme and risks required to deliver the work.
Civil Solutions uses current estimating tools, market information and practical construction experience to develop estimates that reflect the likely cost of delivering the work.
- First-principles estimating and rate build-ups
- Labour, plant and material resourcing
- Productivity and production assessments
- Preliminary and general cost development
- Supplier and subcontractor pricing
- Construction methodology and sequencing
- Estimate reconciliation and review
- Risk and opportunity allowances
- Market rate and pricing position insight
We can help you understand what the work is likely to cost and how your price sits within the current market. That insight can support decisions around competitiveness, procurement strategy and tender positioning.
The final margin, risk appetite and commercial position remain yours. Our role is to provide a clear view of the underlying cost and market context so you can make an informed pricing decision.
The result is an estimate that can be understood, challenged and refined — rather than simply a number at the bottom of a spreadsheet.
Tender Preparation & Support
Pricing is only one part of a successful tender.
Civil Solutions can support contractors across the wider tender process, from a focused quote for a defined work package through to taking an active role in developing and coordinating a complete tender submission.
We help turn project information into a clear, practical and commercially considered tender that reflects how the work can actually be delivered.
- Tender documentation and scope review
- Tender planning and strategy
- Identification of scope gaps, interfaces and clarifications
- Development and issue of subcontractor and supplier RFQs
- Procurement comparison and assessment
- Construction methodologies and staging
- Tender programmes and resource planning
- Risk and opportunity reviews
- Tender submission preparation and review
- Interactive tender workshops and coordination
- 3D staging videos and visual construction sequencing
Where a project is complex, congested or difficult to communicate through written documentation alone, 3D staging videos can bring the proposed methodology to life by showing sequencing, access, temporary works, interfaces and construction constraints.
This approach has been used successfully on major infrastructure tenders, helping make complex methodologies easier to understand and giving submissions greater clarity and impact.
Civil Solutions can take responsibility for a defined element of the tender, provide additional estimating and methodology support, or integrate directly with your existing estimating, commercial and operational teams.
Flexible Estimating Support
Tender workloads rarely arrive neatly. A strong estimating team can quickly become stretched when several opportunities land at once, a major tender requires additional resources, or an estimator is committed elsewhere.
Civil Solutions provides flexible estimating capacity without the need to permanently increase your team.
Support can range from a single trade or work package through to complete tender estimates, independent reviews, specialist civil pricing or short-term integration into an existing tender team. For clients requiring regular support, we can also provide ongoing estimating capability as workload requires.
The right capability, when you need it.
Systems & Estimating Tools
We are comfortable working within established contractor estimating environments rather than requiring clients to change the way they work.
Civil Solutions can produce estimates to suit the project, from a simple high-level estimate through to a complex estimate with a fully detailed Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
We have experience developing first-principles estimates using Candy, Excel-based estimating systems and client-specific pricing structures.
Where appropriate, estimates can provide clear visibility of quantities, resources, productivity, cost build-ups, assumptions and work packages, creating an estimate that can be reviewed, refined and used beyond tender close.
Built on Project Delivery Experience
Our estimating capability is grounded in project management and construction delivery experience across complex civil infrastructure.
Rail | Roads & Transport | Earthworks | Drainage | Structures | Utilities | Major Infrastructure
We understand what it takes to plan, resource, coordinate and deliver difficult work in real project environments. That experience informs how we assess methodology, productivity, access, staging, temporary works, logistics, interfaces, programme and construction risk.
Civil Solutions is not a quantity surveying practice. Our focus is on how civil infrastructure is actually planned, priced and delivered.
If you only want a number, there are plenty of ways to get one.
If you want experienced project delivery thinking applied to a price that reflects how the work will actually be built, Civil Solutions can help.
How We Work
Every contractor and every tender is different.
Civil Solutions takes the hard work out of estimating and turns early project information into tangible, commercially considered estimates. We scale our involvement to suit the opportunity, your internal capability and the level of support required.
- Estimate development and first-principles pricing
- Commercial reviews and estimate checks
- Construction methodology and staging diagrams
- Staging videos and visual tender support
- Professional design and presentation support
- Tender documentation and submission assistance
- Additional specialist input where required
We can assist with a defined work package, work alongside an existing estimating team or help coordinate the wider tender process from initial review and pricing through to final submission.
We can work with your existing network of contractors, suppliers and subcontractors. Where useful, we can introduce reliable contacts from our professional network, transparently and with your interests in mind.
Civil Solutions acts as an independent intermediary. We do not direct you to a particular contractor in exchange for adding margin to their price, nor do we mark up or privately benefit from subcontractor or supplier pricing.
We work collaboratively, protect commercial confidentiality and adapt our approach to suit your systems, processes and tender requirements.
Have a Tender Coming Up?
If you have an upcoming civil tender and need additional estimating capacity or specialist support, talk to Civil Solutions about the project and what you need.