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How to review your Wundermator estimate

Wundermator does the heavy lifting: it gets the bulk of the estimate into your software in about 10 minutes, every category, every line of labour, materials and subbies. It’s calibrated against real back-costed builds, so the bulk lands close. But every builder’s business is different. Your review, category by category, is what turns it into your price.

Think of it like a good first fix. The frame’s up and square. Now you do the finishing.

  1. 1

    Import it first

    Get it into your software before you judge it. Reviewing in your own system, against your own price book, is the whole point.

    • ✓Import into WunderBuild, BuildXact, Buildertrend, CortexPM, Jack App, or open the Excel file
    • ✓Set up your cost centres once and every future estimate lands in your own codes
  2. 2

    Check the job settings

    Most big surprises come from a setting, not the engine. Look at the job summary before anything else.

    • ✓Build type matches the job (new build, knockdown, extension, reno)
    • ✓Finish level matches the selections, not a notch higher
    • ✓Site and access is honest about fall and access
    • ✓Window type and Passive House match the plans and spec
    • ✓Areas look right for the plan set (reno, untouched, extension)
  3. 3

    Go category by category

    Work top to bottom. For each category ask: is this in my scope, is the quantity right, is the rate right for how I build?

    • ✓Site costs and preliminaries: your supervision, site sheds, fencing, waste, travel
    • ✓Structure: footings, slab or floor system, frame, roof, against the engineering
    • ✓Envelope: cladding, roofing, windows and doors against the schedules
    • ✓Services: plumbing, electrical, HVAC against your subbies' usual prices
    • ✓Linings and finishes: plasterboard, joinery, tiling, flooring, paint against the selections
  4. 4

    Swap in what you know

    You know your subbies and suppliers. Where you have a real quote or a rate you trust, use it.

    • ✓Replace lines where you have a supplier or subbie quote
    • ✓Your labour rates are already in if you saved them on your account
    • ✓Add anything specific to how you build that the plans don't show
  5. 5

    Check the allowances

    Some items are allowances by nature. Make sure the client knows which ones.

    • ✓PC and PS items (provisional sums and prime cost items) set to what the client has chosen
    • ✓Consultants (engineer, surveyor, energy assessor) are $0 because the client supplies them
    • ✓Anything excluded is listed as excluded in your quote
  6. 6

    Add margin and GST

    The estimate is net cost, ex GST, with no margin. Your margin is your business.

    • ✓Add your margin
    • ✓Then GST for the client price

Stuck on a line? Ask the WUNDERMATOR in the app, or sing out to Kyle at kyle@zanettobuilders.com.au.

Wundermator provides budget estimates for builders to review. It is not a quote, a fixed price or professional advice.