Position Overview
The ICI Construction Estimator will be responsible for preparing accurate and competitive estimates for industrial, commercial, and institutional construction projects.
This individual must be comfortable reviewing drawings, specifications, site conditions, tender documents, subcontractor quotations, labour requirements, material quantities, schedules, and project risks.
The successful candidate will work closely with sales, engineering, project management, operations, suppliers, subcontractors, and clients to ensure every proposal is complete, accurate, competitive, profitable, and ready for execution.
Key Responsibilities
- Review construction drawings, specifications, tender documents, addenda, contracts, and client requirements.
- Prepare detailed estimates for industrial, commercial, institutional, warehouse, manufacturing, and facility improvement projects.
- Complete quantity takeoffs using Bluebeam, AutoCAD, Excel, estimating software, and other relevant tools.
- Develop labour, material, equipment, subcontractor, general conditions, overhead, contingency, and profit calculations.
- Prepare bid summaries, scope breakdowns, pricing sheets, budgets, and formal client proposals.
- Identify scope gaps, exclusions, clarifications, assumptions, risks, and opportunities.
- Solicit, review, compare, and level quotations from subcontractors, suppliers, and vendors.
- Build and maintain strong relationships with trades, suppliers, consultants, engineers, and industry partners.
- Attend site visits, walkthroughs, tender meetings, pre-bid meetings, and client meetings.
- Prepare RFIs when drawings, specifications, or project requirements are unclear.
- Coordinate with sales and project management teams to ensure all estimating information is collected before submission.
- Develop preliminary project schedules, construction durations, milestone plans, and manpower requirements.
- Support design-build projects where full drawings or specifications may not yet be available.
- Prepare conceptual budgets and Class A, B, C, and D estimates where required.
- Complete value engineering exercises and recommend cost-saving alternatives.
- Support bid reviews, pricing strategy meetings, contract reviews, and project handovers.
- Maintain organized estimate files, bid histories, supplier pricing, production rates, labour rates, and historical cost information.
- Track upcoming tenders, bid deadlines, proposal submissions, revisions, and client follow-ups.
- Assist with change order estimating and pricing during active projects.
- Review awarded estimates with project managers to ensure a complete handover of scope, budget, assumptions, risks, and subcontractor commitments.
- Help improve MTLI’s estimating systems, templates, supplier database, costing tools, and standard operating procedures.
Typical Project Scopes
Projects may include:
- Industrial warehouse renovations
- Office and facility construction
- Manufacturing facility upgrades
- Distribution centre modifications
- Concrete slabs, foundations, pits, curbs, and repairs
- Structural steel and miscellaneous metals
- Masonry, block, brick, and building-envelope work
- Drywall, framing, ceilings, flooring, painting, and finishes
- Electrical and lighting upgrades
- Mechanical, HVAC, plumbing, and fire-protection work
- Dock, door, wall, roof, and exterior modifications
- Washroom, locker-room, lunchroom, and office renovations
- Equipment foundations and industrial infrastructure
- Demolition, removals, relocations, and reinstatement
- Design-build and turnkey construction projects
- Racking, mezzanine, conveyor, automation, and equipment-related construction
- Facility maintenance and capital improvement projects
Required Qualifications
- Minimum 5 years of experience estimating ICI construction projects.
- Strong understanding of industrial, commercial, and institutional construction.
- Experience estimating projects from drawings, specifications, site visits, and conceptual information.
- Strong knowledge of construction methods, materials, labour productivity, sequencing, and trade coordination.
- Experience obtaining and evaluating subcontractor and supplier quotations.
- Proficiency with Bluebeam Revu and Microsoft Excel.
- Experience with AutoCAD, Procore, PlanSwift, Sage Estimating, Autodesk Construction Cloud, or similar software is considered an asset.
- Ability to complete detailed quantity takeoffs and cost breakdowns.
- Strong understanding of general conditions, overhead, risk, contingency, bonding, insurance, and project markup.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Highly organized with strong attention to detail.
- Ability to manage multiple tenders and deadlines simultaneously.
- Ability to communicate confidently with clients, engineers, consultants, subcontractors, suppliers, and internal teams.
- Valid driver’s licence and ability to attend project sites throughout Ontario.
- Experience working on projects between $100,000 and $25 million or more is preferred.
Preferred Qualifications
- Diploma or degree in construction management, civil engineering, architectural technology, quantity surveying, or a related field.
- Gold Seal Certification, Professional Quantity Surveyor designation, or equivalent industry certification.
- Experience working for a general contractor, construction manager, design-builder, or industrial contractor.
- Experience estimating electrical, mechanical, concrete, structural, and interior scopes.
- Strong network of subcontractors and suppliers throughout Ontario.
- Experience estimating warehouse, logistics, manufacturing, food-processing, and distribution-centre projects.
- Experience supporting both negotiated and competitive tender opportunities.
- Experience preparing proposals for major corporate, institutional, property-management, and industrial clients.
Performance Expectations
The successful candidate will be expected to:
- Submit accurate and complete estimates on time.
- Maintain clear assumptions, inclusions, exclusions, and risk documentation.
- Obtain competitive coverage from qualified subcontractors and suppliers.
- Protect project margins through accurate costing and disciplined bid review.
- Improve estimating speed without sacrificing quality.
- Support a strong handover from estimating to project management.
- Build reliable historical costing and production-rate data.
- Help MTLI increase its construction pipeline, win rate, revenue, and gross profit.
- Maintain accountability for every estimate from initial review through award or loss analysis.
What We Are Looking For
We are looking for someone who takes ownership, works with urgency, and understands that estimating is not simply entering numbers into a spreadsheet.
The right candidate must be able to understand the complete project, identify what is missing, ask the right questions, challenge subcontractor pricing, recognize construction risk, and prepare a proposal that the operations team can confidently execute.
You should be commercially minded, technically strong, highly organized, and committed to providing an excellent client experience.
Why Join MTLI Group
- Join a rapidly growing company operating throughout Canada and the United States.
- Work on a wide range of industrial and commercial projects.
- Participate in major turnkey construction and facility-upgrade opportunities.
- Work directly with senior leadership, sales, engineering, operations, and project management.
- Opportunity to help build and lead a stronger estimating department.
- Career advancement into Senior Estimator, Chief Estimator, Preconstruction Manager, or Director of Estimating.
- Competitive base salary and performance-based compensation.
- High level of responsibility, autonomy, and long-term growth potential.
Application Requirements
Applicants should submit:
- A current resume
- Examples of project sizes and scopes previously estimated
- Average annual estimating volume
- Typical project values
- Estimating software proficiency
- Examples of successful tenders or negotiated projects
- Salary expectations
- Earliest available start date
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $90,000.00-$140,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental care
- Extended health care
Application question(s):
- What types of projects have you estimated: industrial, commercial, institutional, warehouse, manufacturing, office, retail, or facility upgrades?
- Are you comfortable completing detailed quantity takeoffs directly from drawings and specifications?
- Have you estimated both competitive tenders and negotiated or design-build projects?
Experience:
- Construction estimating: 5 years (preferred)
- ICI Construction: 10 years (preferred)
- Design build: 5 years (preferred)
- Bluebeam: 5 years (preferred)
Work Location: In person