JDE & Associates offers two courses as well as loss prevention consultations for electrical contractors:
Estimating Course
Our estimating course is the key to our entire package, which is why we started this service. Computer estimating software is a critical tool for today's electrical contractor. Without these systems, the time it takes to complete an estimate manually is time prohibited.
We have conducted numerous in-office training lessons to help learn the structure and use of Vision's EBM, T&M and Epic software to find out that the client did not understand how an estimate is completed. It is also common for these same people to have difficulties with labor burden and overhead costs.
Our estimating course will guide our clients through an actual estimate concentrating on these areas,
- Understand the general contractor or owner of a project.
- Making the decision whether to bid or not to bid a project.
- The takeoff, including commodity and quotable materials.
- Extension sheets
- Total sheets, including non-productive labor, direct job expenses, overhead and profit.
After the estimate is complete, a proposal letter is shown and the reasons for its' format. Change orders preparation is included; of particular importance is the timely completion of the change order pricing and the time to actually start work on this added work. To review a copy of the course syllabus,  click here.
This course can be completed in three ways,
- In-house training at your office
- In a course schedule by JDE & Associates at various cities within the United States
- As a home study course
The in-house training is the best form of training as it centers around the company that schedules the training. This training is paced to that individual company and is scheduled when most convenient for the clients employees that will be attending the course.
The Local training in various cities is an opportunity to exchange views with your local competition and to hear the views and questions that other contractors might ask. These are fine opportunities to gain a tremendous amount of information in a short time. This course is most often conducted in a five-week session, one day a week. The information in this course is general in nature and does involve a fair amount of homework. A minimum number of students are required to conduct this course.
The home study course is a combination of styles, which offer a wide variety of options. Once a client is signed up and has paid the tuition, all material, textbooks, project drawings, specifications, tally counter, scaled tape measure and takeoff sheets (on disk) are mailed to the students.
Once the student has received the course material and has had time to review it - in about 1 week - we will discuss via phone or email how long the student wants to complete this course. This course is generally set up as a five-week class when it is taught in person. Even though this is a tremendous amount of information to be retained in five weeks, it is difficult to get people to commit to more than five weeks when attending an evening class. Usually, it is recommended that students in a home study situation commit to between seven to eight weeks, up to ten weeks.
Once the time for completion is determined, the first homework assignment is issued. This homework is then completed and emailed to JDE & Associates for grading and comments. Generally, papers are graded and emailed back within 36 to 48 hours. This will continue for five assignments and will be completed with an exam. It's OK, this is an open book exam. During the course many questions may arise that are not clear to the student. These are handled via email; if email doesn't work then telephone calls are welcome. To save on telephone expenses these calls can be scheduled over the net by email and then we will place the call at the agreed time. This option is not for everyone, but it has many advantages - you do not need to pay for a private class, or wait for a scheduled course in your area.
Project Management Course
The Project Management course is also available as an in-house seminar or a one-day seminar, or the text can be purchased and mailed to your office for home study. To review the course syllabus, click here. It is important to note that this project management module leads into many different areas depending on the type of work that your firm completes and the clientele that you contract with. It is basic in nature, and the common sense of the material is overwhelming. The truth behind the need is that many, if not all, of the points in the course material are often neglected. This is a powerful seminar that can increase the profitability of your firm over night.
Loss Prevention Consultation
Consultations for contractors with projects that are challenging or perhaps have not been managed to your firm's full potential are scheduled on a job-by-job basis. Contact our office at 970 231-5423 or email us to arrange a phone conversation to discuss the logistics.
NOTE: Traditional hands-on Estimating and Project Management courses are available when and if the demand presents itself.
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