> I found myself doing it when I get quotes for home repair or construction.
My quite recent conversation with a contractor about estimating our home renovation project went more or less like this: "Demolition: 2 days, foundation: 3 days, ground zero: 3 days, exterior walls: 3 days, floors: 1 day, ceilings: 2 days, attic and chimneys: 2 days... so about five months in total". I felt right at home and want to hire them. The jump from how much time each tasks seems to require in pure work effort to how long it may realistically take given the unknowns, downtimes, logistics and various overhead seemed similar to the way I do estimates. An hour here, a day there, another four hours for that... yeah, I need two weeks for this task.
My quite recent conversation with a contractor about estimating our home renovation project went more or less like this: "Demolition: 2 days, foundation: 3 days, ground zero: 3 days, exterior walls: 3 days, floors: 1 day, ceilings: 2 days, attic and chimneys: 2 days... so about five months in total". I felt right at home and want to hire them. The jump from how much time each tasks seems to require in pure work effort to how long it may realistically take given the unknowns, downtimes, logistics and various overhead seemed similar to the way I do estimates. An hour here, a day there, another four hours for that... yeah, I need two weeks for this task.