Residential vs Commercial Estimating: What Changes

Residential estimates often live and die on finish allowances, site conditions, and a tighter labor market for small crews. Commercial packages typically carry more CSI divisions, longer procurement, and heavier MEP coordination.

Devcon prices both, but we never copy a residential template onto a commercial bid. Unit costs, productivity, and overhead change with building type, union requirements, and phasing.

Owners and GCs get clearer numbers when the estimator understands those differences up front — and documents assumptions instead of hiding them in a lump sum.