Director, Estimating & Preconstruction

Description

BLOX is revolutionizing the construction industry by integrating advanced manufacturing principles with innovative technology to deliver high-quality, modular building solutions. We are driven by a mission to rethink how buildings are designed, fabricated, and delivered, ensuring efficiency, scalability, and sustainability.

BLOX is seeking a Director, Estimating & Preconstruction to lead BLOX’s entire estimating and preconstruction function across every platform category (Data Center, Healthcare, Retail, and emerging building types), together with the Associate Directors, Managers, and Estimators who staff it. This role owns the accuracy, integrity, and margin impact of every price BLOX puts in front of a client; owns the historical cost database and the estimating standards the organization prices from; holds final pricing review authority prior to executive sign-off; and presents pursuit, pricing, and margin performance to the Board and C-suite.

Program Management is the central nervous system of BLOX, and estimating is the organ that translates design intent into accurate price and schedule commitment. Every pursuit BLOX commits to is shaped by the precision and credibility of its estimates, and every margin protected or lost at execution traces back to the basis of estimate produced in preconstruction. Where an Associate Director owns pricing outcomes across the programs assigned to them, the Director, Estimating & Preconstruction owns the fountainhead itself at an organizational level: the cost intelligence BLOX prices from, the standards that govern how it is used, the capability to price building types BLOX has never built before, and the estimate-to-actual discipline that turns every completed project back into a better estimate. This role sets what BLOX is willing to price and on what terms, decides where estimating capacity and technology investment go, provides governance for escalated pricing disputes, and serves as BLOX’s credible voice on modular cost and productivity inside the company and across the industry.

Job Responsibilities

Estimating & Preconstruction Leadership

Own the accuracy, integrity, and margin impact of BLOX’s preconstruction estimates at an organizational level. Accountable for pricing outcomes across all platform categories, not oversight only.

Hold final review and approval authority over pursuit pricing prior to executive sign-off; establish and enforce the estimate assumptions, risk registers, contingency, and escalation logic BLOX is willing to stand behind.

Own estimate-to-actual performance as a measured organizational outcome: lead post-project cost reviews, drive corrective action, and translate reconciled actuals into improved benchmarks, unit costs, and productivity factors.

Define, implement, and uphold organization-wide estimating standards (templates, workflows, Basis of Estimate requirements, and data practices) for conceptual, schematic, design development, and GMP estimates.

Own BLOX’s preconstruction relational database (historical cost, schedule, and bill of materials) as an enterprise asset; direct Technology and Finance investment to keep it accurate, current, and reconciled to ERP cost actuals.

Lead capital and capacity planning inputs from the estimating function: manufacturing slot pricing and capacity assumptions, escalation strategy, labor market and supply chain exposure, and the estimating headcount and technology investment required to support forecast pursuit volume.

Stand up estimating and preconstruction capability for new building types and platform categories. Establish first-of-a-kind cost models, pricing structures, and schedule baselines where no historical data exists.

Design and evolve the organizational structure of the Estimating & Preconstruction function; make hiring, promotion, restructuring, and succession decisions across Associate Director, Manager, Estimator, and Assistant Preconstruction levels.

Lead, mentor, and develop Associate Directors and Managers within the function; accountable for their performance, retention, and professional development, and for building the estimating leadership bench BLOX’s growth requires.

Set organizational standards for preconstruction pricing exercises end-to-end, covering subcontractor outreach and Building Connected administration, RFP compilation, pricing documents, price leveling, and award recommendation, and hold the function accountable to them.

Own the go/no-go and pursuit prioritization recommendation from an estimating standpoint; provide BLOX Leadership with margin viability, capacity, and risk analysis for programs, clients, and pursuits under consideration.

Establish the standards and cadence for program and project risk analysis in preconstruction; escalate organizational-level pricing and scope risk clearly and proactively to BLOX Leadership.

Set the organizational approach to internal and Client-directed Value Engineering; personally lead VE strategy on BLOX’s largest and most complex pursuits.

Own the standards governing initial DMC and construction schedules developed in preconstruction, and the schedule assumptions Program Management inherits at handoff.

Own the integrity of the preconstruction-to-operations handoff across the organization. Budgets, risks, assumptions, and estimating intelligence must transfer cleanly to Program and Project Management, Design, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Construction, and Finance so that estimates live as operational truth after award.

Provide governance and resolution for escalated pricing disputes, claims, and estimates in serious jeopardy; take direct control when intervention beyond the Associate Director is required and return them to a defensible, margin-safe state.

Present and defend pursuit, pricing, hit rate, and margin performance to Executive Leadership, the Board, and the C-suite.

Lead, in collaboration with the Head of Construction Engineering and Director of Field Operations, the development of scalable field self-perform estimating tools; set standards for field-ops estimating (quantity takeoffs, labor estimates, work plans) and constructability review.

Set organizational standards for the buyout of subcontractor and supplier agreements, and lead buyout strategy on BLOX’s largest commitments.

Establish organization-wide KPI frameworks for the function: estimate accuracy, hit rate, margin variance at turnover, pursuit cycle time, and estimating capacity utilization.

Champion safety and quality culture throughout the preconstruction process, including the cost of quality in BLOX’s pricing.

Client & Commercial Leadership

Own C-suite-level relationships with Client preconstruction, estimating, and capital program leadership, representing BLOX at the highest levels of client organizations during pursuit and negotiation.

Own long-term commercial positioning with clients: multi-year pricing agreements, program pricing structures, escalation and shared-savings frameworks, and contract positioning that supports repeat and expanded work.

Accountable for all pricing, preconstruction, and Value Engineering materials presented to Clients or potential Clients; personally lead the presentations that carry organizational consequence.

Contribute to BLOX’s strategic pipeline decisions by providing input on which programs, clients, and pursuits BLOX commits to, based on margin viability, capacity, and strategic fit.

Support BLOX’s Commercial / Business Development team in the review and analysis of technical proposal requirements, preparation of proposals and pricing, and participation in meetings with potential Clients.

Build and maintain positive relationships across BLOX’s DMC ecosystem: subcontractors, general contractors, design consultants, vendors, Architects, Engineers, and Owner’s representatives.

Support the CEO, CCO, and VP, Program Management in the negotiation of Client con