Commercial Construction Estimator- Exteriors

Job Description

Job Description

We install what we sell.

Construction Ahead USA is a commercial exterior cladding subcontractor, and our in-house crews install the exteriors on major brand projects nationwide: Target, Bank of America, Raising Cane's, Speedway, and Amazon.

Health insurance costs you $0.

Starting Pay runs $52,000 to $85,000 , and commission rides on top above entry level.

One posting, three brackets, and a senior chair above them that gets earned, not filled.

Our National Accounts division runs the brand-name work.
Our Retail Commercial division handles the complex builds: healthcare, education, multifamily, hospitality, banking, civic, and office projects carrying multiple product systems on one envelope.

See the work at

The finished building envelope is the first thing anyone sees on a building and the last line protecting everything inside it. Our work hangs on hospitals, schools, banks, and stores people walk into every day, and it carries our name under warranty for decades after the crews leave. That's the work you'll price. And because the crews are ours, your number becomes a real crew's workweek. It never gets handed to a sub. A year from now, you'll drive past a building your number won.

WHERE YOU LAND
How many years of pertinent commercial construction estimating experience do you have?
A degree in Construction Management, Engineering, Architecture, or a related field counts as two years of pertinent experience.

Entry Level: 0 to 2 years of pertinent experience, or a construction-related degree
Starting Pay: $52,000 to $58,000, plus full benefits: $0-cost health insurance, 401K with a 6% company match, and paid time off.
You start in our National Accounts lane: repeatable scopes on brand-name projects, reps that build speed, a senior seat behind every number while you learn, and the right habits built the right way. The commission lane opens one bracket up, and we promote from within.

3 to 5 Years: pertinent estimating or takeoff experience
Starting Pay: $59,000 to $65,000 base, plus commission on the work you win, plus full benefits: $0-cost health insurance, 401K with a 6% company match, and paid time off.
You've built real takeoffs and carried bids with someone checking your work. Here, you own retail commercial bids end to end with senior review, carry both lanes, and run your own GC contact on your pursuits. Nobody teaches you how to estimate. We teach you our products and our lanes, and that takes weeks, not years.

6+ Years Estimating Commercial Work
Starting Pay: $66,000 to $85,000 base, plus commission on the work you win, plus full benefits: $0-cost health insurance, 401K with a 6% company match, and paid time off.
The journeyman bracket. You've owned bids for years and need little to no training on the craft, only on our systems. You walk in carrying our most complex retail pursuits, review tapers fast, and you stand closest to the senior chair. That chair is earned, not scheduled. But every year you've already put in shortens the road. Been running bids for years with no road up where you are? This bracket is the door.

The Senior Chair
We'll be straight with you: this chair is not for hire. You earn it inside these walls; you never import it over the people climbing toward it. Earn it, and you lead bid strategy on our most complex projects, own the GC relationship at the bid table, work labor budgets with Production, and stand behind the number through the job. It reports to the President, it carries real money, and it goes to whoever proves out first. The road to it starts in the brackets above.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING
This job is prequalification, takeoffs, pricing, and judgment every day for building envelope and facade bids from invitation through award. You will not hunt for work. Bid opportunities land on your desk daily and weekly, assigned from the GCs we already work with and the accounts we're going after. Your job is winning them. The cadence is high: bids stack, follow-up calls don't wait, and the GC hears a good attitude on every one. You handle objections instead of dodging them, and if you've been trained in Sandler or a similar consultative sales method, this seat is where it pays. The work scales with your level: if your current title is Estimator, Project Engineer, or you're a Construction Management or Architectural Technology grad who can read a set of plans, we built these brackets for you. Entry lives in National Accounts, and each step up moves toward larger retail projects that carry multiple product systems in one building. Systems we run: Bluebeam, Excel, Asana.

Building your foundation (National Accounts lane):

• Build takeoffs in Bluebeam from commercial plans and specs
• Count quantities, request vendor and freight pricing, and assemble bid packets
• Learn the systems: fiber cement, ceramic rainscreen, ACM, formed and extruded metal panels
• Track every pursuit and follow-up in Asana

Proving out (both lanes, multi-product projects):

• Own retail commercial bids start to finish with senior review
• Write scope letters, qualifications, and exclusions that hold up after award
• Price multi-product assemblies on one envelope
• Level vendor quotes and lock material pricing against the bid
• Run your own GC contact: bid-day calls, scope reviews, follow-up to decision

Where this grows (the senior chair):

• Lead bid strategy on complex multi-product projects
• Own the GC relationship at the bid table and the follow-up after it
• Work labor budgets with Production and stand behind the number through the job
• Mentor the entry seats and spot-check their takeoffs

WHAT WE EXPECT
This is the standard in week one, not the goal for year one. We pulled it from the people who do this job well.

• Every bid gets a live call behind it. No bid dies of silence, and every loss gets logged: who won, roughly where, and why.
• You keep score on yourself. Bids out, follow-ups made, wins, losses, and hit rate go to the President weekly, and the good ones are proud to send that sheet.
• When the plans don't answer the question, you write the RFI before you price. Nothing gets assumed into a number.
• Everything in writing. Scope, qualifications, exclusions, and changes get signed, not spoken.
• When we win, Production gets the complete package fast, and your desk is ready for the next bid.
• You pick up software quickly. Our stack is Bluebeam, Excel, and Asana, and you'll be fluent inside your first quarter.

WHAT THIS ROLE IS NOT

• Not remote or hybrid. On-site in Elkhorn, WI. Office hours are 8 AM to 5 PM. M-F
• Not a cold-call seat. No prospecting list, no BD quota. The pipeline is assigned and full. Your job is to win it, not fill it.
• Not a split-duty seat. Our estimators estimate. No marketing hats, no HR hats.
• Not a path off the tools. We respect field time; our whole company runs on it, but this seat is built for people who already live in plans, spreadsheets, and takeoff software.
• Not an unstructured environment. You bring the discipline.
  If those lines turn you away, no hard feelings. If they sound like relief, keep reading.

REQUIREMENTS

• Read commercial plans and specs, and be proficient with computers. The higher your bracket, the more we expect you to use Bluebeam on day one.
• Pass a criminal background check and a pre-employment drug and alcohol screen.
• Hold a valid Driver's License. This seat lives in the office: site walks are rare, and you're home every night.

Founded in 1997. Low turnover, clear lanes of roles and responsibilities, and direct interaction with the Owner instead of layers of management above your head. You ask for a decision; you get it the same day. The structure defines your lane, and nobody stands over your shoulder inside it.
No red tape, no micromanagement, no committee between you and an answer.
We train our people and promote from within, and team building here looks like summer golf outings and Packers and Brewers games.

One seat. When it fills, this posting comes down.
Found your bracket?

Apply. You'll get a straight answer either way. We answer bids fast, and we answer people the same way.

Apply through ZipRecruiter, or reach our HR team at -estimator

Construction Ahead USA has installed commercial exterior cladding since 1997. We're a subcontractor with our own crews, working nationwide out of Elkhorn, Wisconsin: Nichiha, CERACLAD, rainscreen systems, ACM panels, ALPOLIC, and extruded aluminum. Banks, restaurants, retail, healthcare, schools, multifamily. The exterior is the first thing anyone sees on a building, and it carries our name under warranty long after the crews leave. We keep the team small, the lanes clear, and the turnover low.

Company Description

Construction Ahead USA has installed commercial exterior cladding since 1997. We're a subcontractor with our own crews, working nationwide out of Elkhorn, Wisconsin: Nichiha, CERACLAD, rainscreen systems, ACM panels, ALPOLIC, and extruded aluminum. Banks, restaurants, retail, healthcare, schools, multifamily. The exterior is the first thing anyone sees on a building, and it carries our name under warranty long after the crews leave. We keep the team small, the lanes clear, and the turnover low.