Estimating

How do you estimate for a Master Design Plan? That was my task this past week for a condo association. They wanted a ballpark number for their committee's budget meeting for 2010. I figured into the estimate what I thought were the most important factors: site visits, client communication, design time, follow-up meetings, and administrative time. But, how do I know how many hours I'll actually spend designing? I don't. I knew how much time I spent designing smaller projects, though. So, I guesstimated to come up with an educated guess and then passed it by my coworkers for review.

Next, I had to send a convincing email to accompany and support the pricey estimate. My coworker suggested including examples of our previous work, listing our strengths and capabilities, and any other convincing language. I was a little hesitant to write an email from scratch, so I pulled up an old letter we had sent to another client. I modified it considerably and used it as my template. Then, I emailed it off with the estimate, and in response I received a grateful email from the client, reinforcing her respect for our work.