Education & Training for Construction Crews, Estimators and Owners
Twenty-five years in the field and thirty in technology, taught the way the trade learns — on the job, with your plans, your equipment and your numbers. New Hampshire and New England in person; remote nationwide.
Most construction training is a classroom and a certificate. Ours is a jobsite. MY Estimating trains new hires, crews, estimators and owners in New Hampshire and across New England, and remotely for contractors nationwide — reading plans, calculating grades, running and caring for equipment, estimating and bidding, and running the business so the work actually pays. Sessions are built around your jobs, not a textbook.
Why we teach
Not long ago our Chief Estimator was helping out on a friend’s excavation job. A high-school kid on the crew said he “sucked at math.” Our estimator sat him down with a field book and a pen and walked him through grades, slopes and yards — the same math we use on every bid. By the end of the day the kid had it, and said he was taking it back to school to show his teacher.
That afternoon is the whole reason this page exists: the trade needs people who can read a plan and do the math, and somebody has to teach them. We’d like it to be us.
“The math isn’t hard. Nobody ever sat down and showed him.” — MY Estimating’s Chief Estimator
What we teach
New Hire & Crew Fundamentals
Reading plans, grades and stakes; construction layout basics; how a sitework job flows from clearing to final grade; working with the foreman, the inspector and the engineer. Get a new worker useful in week one.
Construction Math That Pays
Grade percent, slope and rise-over-run; cut and fill; cubic yards to tons; bank, loose and compacted; reading a bid form and a quantity schedule. Taught with your own plan set.
Equipment Basics & Care
Operating fundamentals, daily walk-around, fluids and greasing, basic preventive maintenance, and moving material efficiently with the machines you already have. What a machine really costs per hour.
Estimator Training
Takeoffs and quantity surveys, crews and production rates, bid assembly, DOT bid forms (NHDOT, MaineDOT, VTrans, MassDOT), and hands-on B2W Estimate and earthwork software. For the new estimator or the owner who estimates at night.
The Business of Contracting
What each crew, machine and truck costs per hour; overhead, break-even and markup; insurance and bonding readiness; job-cost and bid/win tracking. The course version of our business consulting.
AI & Technology for Contractors
Safe, useful AI for proposals, RFIs and daily paperwork; set up your brand guidelines first so AI output sounds like you; websites, SEO and the tools that cut office time.
Erosion & Sediment Control on the Job
SWPPP basics for the crew: silt fence, silt sock and inlet protection installed and maintained; stabilizing disturbed soil; keeping the controls working between the inspector’s visits. Practical field training for the people installing the controls — not a certification or inspector course.
First Week on the Dirt — the five things every new worker learns first
- Read the plansSheet index, scale, legend, where the grades live.
- Know your gradesStakes, offsets, cut/fill marks, what a 2% slope looks like on the ground.
- Do the mathRise over run, yards to tons, loose versus bank.
- Walk the machineThe daily check before the key turns.
- Work the crewWho to ask, what to report, how a day on a sitework job is sequenced.
How it works
From $100/hr for one-on-one and small-team sessions. Team workshops quoted per session. Travel outside New England quoted.
Questions we get
Who is the training for?
New hires, laborers and operators, new estimators, office staff and owners of sitework, excavation and utility contractors. We also train supplier and developer staff who need to read civil plans.
Do you offer OSHA or equipment certifications?
No. We teach practical fundamentals and basic care; OSHA cards and manufacturer certifications come from authorized providers. We’ll point you to the right one.
Can you train on our own plans and equipment?
Yes — that’s the default. Send the plan set and tell us what’s in the yard.
Is the training in person or remote?
In person across New Hampshire and New England; remote by video nationwide. Estimating, business and AI training work well remotely; equipment sessions are in person.
How much does training cost?
From $100 per hour for one-on-one and small-team sessions; team workshops are quoted per session. Travel outside New England is quoted.
Do you teach layout and surveying?
We teach construction layout — reading stakes, setting offsets, checking grades. Boundary and property-line surveys need a licensed land surveyor.