Chief estimators prepare total project cost summaries and bid proposals to give to the developers. In manufacturing, cost estimators are assigned to the engineering or cost department. Their goal is to find the costs of making products. Management may ask for an estimate for a redesign of a product or the development of a new product. They may also want to find a new way of making and old product.
Estimators work with engineers to estimate costs.
They do this by looking at blueprints or drawings. They then put together parts lists. Next, estimators find out the how much it would cost to make each part. This step determines whether it is better to produce or buy the parts. Some high technology products need a large amount of computer programming.