Manager, Pre-Construction Estimating

 

RWE Clean Energy, LLC 

 

 

The main purpose of the Preconstruction Estimator is to provide capex estimates for the industrial scale solar and battery storage projects. The estimates are separated into three tiers which are 1) Desktop Estimates; 2) Preliminary Engineering Estimates, and 3) Financial Investment Estimates. The Preconstruction Estimator shall also participate in Balance of Plant negotiations by providing “should cost” clean sheets and participating in bid cost submittal reviews. The Preconstruction Estimator shall be responsible for routinely updating costing information, and document control of estimates.

 

Responsibilities:

• The Preconstruction Estimator shall establish and document an estimation process that does the following:

1. • Establish minimum timeline and information required for each tier of a construction estimate;
   • Establish level of certainty for each tier of estimates;
     • Desktop – for example +/- 20%
     • Preliminary Engineering – the estimate is +/- 10%
     • Financial Investment – the estimate is +/- 2%
   • Establish a Desktop database per region or state on a $/MWdc cost;
   • Establish an historic data base of costs based on actual contracted projects; and
   • Establish a lessons-learned database.

• The Preconstruction Estimator shall provide the capex estimate for all solar and energy storage projects based on the process established above. The only CapEx related items that will specifically be inputted by Procurement are the supply, delivery and redress of solar modules, inverters, and batteries including Letter of Credit as required for Owner Furnished Equipment.
• All other capex costs are inputted by the Estimator. The Estimator will coordinate these inputs with Construction Project Management, Engineering, Operations, Development, and Procurement.    
• The Estimator will work with Procurement to understand any logistics, storage, import fees, and taxes associated with solar panel and battery deliveries. The Estimator will coordinate with Operations to capture all initial capex requirements from Operations including O&M (Operation & Maintenance) facility, initial spares, and equipment.
• The Preconstruction Estimator will obtain formal sign off from the Preconstruction Team Lead and the Director of Solar and Energy Storage Construction prior to submitting cost estimates for Gate 2 (financial investment decisions) approval.
• The Preconstruction Estimator shall provide clean sheets for standard installation processes in solar construction which include pile installation, racking installation, panel installation, MV (Medium Voltage) cable installation, inverter installation, and substation construction. These clean sheets will be used as “should cost” models to compare to the bids received. They will also be used during negotiations to help reduce costs.  
• BoP (Balance of Plant) Negotiations
• The Preconstruction Estimator will participate and assist with BoP negotiations as required. The Construction Project Manager and Procurement will perform a complete breakdown of the bids. The Preconstruction Estimator will provide advice and assist with identifying cost discrepancies between the estimate and bids.
• The Preconstruction Estimator shall routinely engage with BoP contractors to update cost estimates, shall utilize third party costing databases, and internal stakeholders to update the Desktop Estimate database.
• The Senior Project Controls Manager shall be responsible for establishing the document control and storage process for capex estimates. The Preconstruction Estimator shall be responsible to accurately store each version of a project’s cost estimate along with supporting documentation on where costing information was obtained.

 

Qualifications:

 

• A minimum 10 plus years of experience in estimating industrial scale solar and energy storage projects. Preferably the individual will have considerable experience preparing estimates for a BoP or EPC contractor in the solar and energy storage industry.
• 75% of the time will be home-based or office-based work and 25% of the time will be spent on development or construction sites.  

 

Pay range: The annual base salary range for this position in California or New York  is $79,000 - $120,000 . The listed salary range represents our good faith estimate for this position and represents the range for new hire salaries across all U.S locations. Please note that the salary information is a general guideline only. RWE considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position, candidate’s educatio