Pre-Construction Services
A CSI-level conceptual budget before you hire an architect.
Overview
Conventional sequencing asks you to spend capital to find out whether you should.
The standard path runs concept, architect, schematic design, construction documents, bid — and only then a real number. Six to twelve months and a six-figure design spend are sunk before the market prices your building. If the number comes back wrong, every option is bad: value-engineer a design never drawn to the budget, redesign and pay twice, or write off the investment. It is the most common way commercial projects die.
Estimate First reverses that order — a real number before you hire an architect.
Send a napkin sketch, a site address, and a use case; we return a detailed, CSI-level conceptual budget at no cost. You get a full division breakdown with every line carrying its own cost basis, cost per square foot split between shell and tenant improvement, and a supporting document that usually runs ten or more pages. The pricing comes from years of projects actually built along the Wasatch Front — not national cost indices.
An early hard number protects your capital, your schedule, and your options.
One developer spent $40,000 to $60,000 over six months on drawings, then discarded them when the project did not pencil. Estimate First surfaces that answer at concept stage, leaving three live options instead of one dead one. A CSI-level breakdown also underwrites cleanly for a lender or an investment committee, and moves go/no-go months earlier. It is built for the party carrying the risk — the owner whose capital is exposed.
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Cost Certainty First
A real number at concept stage, not after the drawings are paid for.
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Full CSI Breakdown
Every division priced with its own cost basis, behind a 10+ page supporting document.
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Shell and TI, Split
Cost per square foot segmented so you can model building and buildout independently.
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Local Cost History
Priced off a long history of Wasatch Front projects, not national cost indices.
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Design Spend Protected
Your architect draws to a proven ceiling instead of discovering the budget later.
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Built for the Risk-Bearer
For owners and developers whose capital is exposed — and it costs nothing.
What’s included
- Full CSI breakdown with every division priced separately.
- Square-foot pricing split by shell and tenant improvement.
- Supporting document of 10+ pages, not a range.
- Early design concept testing program against site and budget.
- Local cost history from hundreds of projects built here.
- Long-lead items flagged and constructability reviewed.
- No cost and no contract required.
When you need it
- Due-diligence window closing on a go/no-go answer.
- Lender or partner needs a number to underwrite.
- Before design starts your architect needs a real ceiling.
- Protecting capital before six figures go into drawings.
- Data-driven decisions that need hard numbers, not ranges.
The Mark
Estimate First.
Pre-Construction Services is the formal name. Estimate First is what everyone actually calls it — the same service, and a promise about sequence: the number comes first, and everything else is decided against it.
- Program, design, and schedule are all decided against that number — never the other way around.
Our Process
How it works, step by step.
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Send whatever you have — a napkin sketch, a site address, a use case, a rough footprint, a target tenant mix
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We price it against historical cost data from hundreds of projects actually built in this market
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You receive the Estimate First package: a CSI-level conceptual budget, cost per square foot split by shell and tenant improvement, and an early design concept
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You decide with real numbers in hand — adjust the program, adjust the budget, or walk away with your capital intact
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Move into design and construction with a dependable number, long-lead items identified, and the concept already reviewed for constructability
Keep Exploring
The rest of the journey.
- Design-Build One team, one contract for design and construction — accountable for both, so you get fewer handoffs, fewer change orders, and fewer surprises.
- Commercial General Contracting Full-service commercial construction — restaurants, retail, corporate offices, and event centers built and managed from groundbreaking to handover.
- Construction Management Professional oversight of the schedule, budget, subcontractors, and quality — plus the detailed planning, sequencing, and logistics that keep a commercial build predictable.
Have a pre-construction project in mind?
Share whatever you have so far. With Estimate First, that is enough to give you a real number — and a clear, predictable route from groundbreaking to handover.
- Licensed, bonded & insured
- Mon–Fri, 8AM–5PM
- Headquarters in Highland, Utah