Senior Mechanical Preconstruction Engineer

Senior Mechanical Preconstruction Engineer

Clayco is a full-service, turnkey real estate development, master planning, architecture, engineering, and construction firm that safely delivers clients across North America the highest quality solutions on time, on budget, and above and beyond expectations. With $8.1 billion in revenue for 2025, Clayco specializes in the "art and science of building," providing fast track, efficient solutions for mission critical, industrial, life sciences, power & energy, aviation, commercial, institutional, residential and sports & entertainment related building projects.

The Role We Want You For Senior Mechanical Preconstruction Engineer will participates in all aspects of the preconstruction process for HVAC and Plumbing systems to develop accurate, detailed cost estimates with a focus on heavy/ advanced manufacturing, industrial and mission critical projects. This role will expected to interact with engineers, architects, consultants, subcontractors, suppliers, a multi-discipline estimating team, project supervision, and field personnel.

Specific Responsibilities:

• Periodically attend pre-bid meetings to become familiar with unique project requirements and analyze existing site conditions to determine required scope that is not already indicated
• Review and interpret project documents to determine job-specific material, equipment, and labor requirements for scope development
• Assist in preparing written scopes of work for subcontracts and suppliers and coordinating mechanical scopes with the work of other trades (e.g., civil, structural, architectural, electrical, etc.)
• Participate in pre-proposal design coordination meetings to support the development of pricing documents for conceptual estimates
• Perform quantity survey of mechanical systems and components using digitized software, and apply industry standard labor rates (e.g., MCAA, PHCC, etc.) to support the development of accurate cost estimates
• Evaluate vendor and subcontractor for conformance with proposal requirements; level scopes and identify low cost/ best value responses while capturing assumptions, rationale, inclusions, exclusions, etc.
• Assist in the preparation of estimates used for bidding and budgeting purposes (including self-performed work); participate in internal estimate review process and assist with final recap of estimate for presentation to senior management
• Support project management tasks, including budgeting, schedule development, interim design review, change order pricing, procurement, value engineering, and vendor selection based on proposal development
• Coordinate with project teams to evaluate productivity for historical data and schedule/ cost forecasting purposes
• Perform quantity survey of completed designs and/ or past projects to support historical cost data collection and analysis

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Construction Management, or related field, or a combination of education (including trade schools) and professional experience.
• 5+ years experience in construction with 3+ years experience estimating mechanical systems (i.e., HVAC and Plumbing)
• Exhibits inclusive leadership and teamwork behavior, and values diverse perspectives from team members
• Demonstrated experience in the successful management of bidding process with a preferred emphasis on heavy/ advanced manufacturing, industrial and mission critical markets
• General knowledge of codes and standards applicable to the design and installation of mechanical systems
• Possesses strong technical writing, math and computer skills with proficiency using standard office software applications such as BlueBeam, Microsoft Excel, Word and PowerPoint to support estimating efforts
• Experience using estimating software with a preference for Trimble products

Some Things You Should Know

• Our clients and projects are nationwide – Travel will be required.
• No other builder can offer the collaborative design-build approach that Clayco does.
• We work on creative, complex, award-winning, high-profile jobs.
• The pace is fast!

Why Clayco?

• 2025 Best Places to Work – St. Louis Business Journal, Los Angeles Business Journal, and Phoenix Business Journal.
• 2025 ENR Top 400 – Top Data Center Contractor (Top 3).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Design-Build Firms – Design-Build Contractor (Top 5).
• 2025 ENR Top 100 Green Contractors – Green Contractor (Top 3).

Benefits

• Discretionary Annual Bonus: Subject to company and individual performance.
• Comprehensive Benefits Package Including: Medical, dental and vision plans, 401k, generous PTO and paid company holidays, employee assistance program, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, disability coverage, learning & development programs and more!

Compensation

• The salary range for this position considers a wide range of factors in making compensation decisions including but not limited to: Education, qualifications, skills, training, experience, certifications, internal equity, and location. Compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case.