Dayton Engineer

By Robert Liang, professor of civil and environmental engineering

After weeks of preparation and practice, UD’s Civil Engineering student estimating team won first place at the Ohio Contractors Association annual two-day estimating competition in Columbus, Ohio in late February 2020.  It is a unique experience for the students as they have to dissect a series of drawings and specifications for a project that is essentially “out for bid” and convert this information into quantities of work to be estimated, determine a price for them, and then submit a formal bid consisting of a cost proposal and schedule for the project.  The competition follows a strict protocol which simulates how the construction industry operates during bidding for fixed-price contracts.  Thus, the team will need to submit cost estimating information in accordance with specific bid requirements and have team “sign-off” on the final deliverables.

The successful 6-person team, which is shown in this photo, consisted of:  Madison Baechle, Isaiah Beaver, Dave Gaydos, Timothy Klopfenstein, Jordan Miller, and Amanda Peters.  Congratulations to all of them! Special thanks to Sean Wade who served as advisor to the team and Larry DeRoo for his support during preparations by the team.

In terms of the experience, Amanda Peters stated:  “Being put in a situation where you may not know every single item you are asked to price requires critical thinking and applying all of the things learned in practices, the classroom, and co-ops is such a great experience.  Overall, the weekend is a ton of fun and I would recommend other civil engineering students to get involved!”