Estimator - Mining Services

Last week the RBA lifted rates for the fourth time this year, citing "upside risks to inflation". Cue half the country suddenly discovering escalation. Estimators have been quietly pricing that risk in since about March.

I'm Andrew from Itch, and I'm after someone who sees the risk before the headline does. So I've laid this one out the way you'd want any submission to land on your desk.

The rates

• $150K to $190K base, depending on experience
• Plus a 20% STI on top
• Permanent, Perth CBD based
• A brand new role. Nobody walked out of this seat, it's never had anyone in it

The scope

A mining services division that's grown hard over the last three years. The person who built it went on to hire a Tender Manager, a Business Development Manager and a Business Analyst, and between them they've been winning work. Pricing used to be shared between the founder and the Tender Manager, but the founder has since stepped up into an executive role and can't stay on the tools.

That leaves a gap with your name on it, specifically civil pricing. It's the one capability the business doesn't have in house yet, which means you won't be the fourth opinion on a number. You'll be the number.

Inclusions

• Building civil cost models for mining clients: earthworks, drainage, TSF dam construction and lifts, structures and the civil infrastructure around them
• Reading the tender pack properly (scope, drawings, specs, geotech reports, conditions of contract) and telling the operations team the pros and cons before anyone commits
• Getting out to site for tender meetings to see the access, the ground and the constraints for yourself, instead of pricing from a PDF
• Standing up in the room and presenting the submission to the client. Your number, your pitch
• Repricing, variations and rate reviews on live sites, finding the savings that keep the business competitive
• Post-award reviews of estimated versus actual cost. You'll actually find out if you were right, and feed it back into the models
• A genuine say in which jobs are worth chasing, with BD, tender and analysis support already in the room

Exclusions

• A 40-person estimating department where your number gets rewritten twice before anyone sends it
• Big personalities. The team's straightforward and good to work with
• Being a spreadsheet operator for someone else's strategy

Assumptions

• 3+ years in estimating, and 3+ years across civil construction, haulage or mining
• Civil pricing is the background they'll look at first. Not civil? If you've estimated mining, haulage or crushing work, still talk to me. Strength in one area plus a keen interest in the others is genuinely fine
• You know civil methods, materials and cost drivers, and can read civil drawings, specs and geotech reports without a translator
• Strong in Excel and MS Project, plus civil estimating software
• Bonus points for an engineering, construction management or QS qualification, or a Cert IV in Estimating or Civil Construction. Not essential
• You'd rather be right than fast, but you can be both when the tender closes Friday at 2pm

This business wants someone who's choosing them for the work, the influence and the growth, not for a bidding war or counter offer

Submission

Hit apply with your CV, and add a line about the biggest or trickiest civil job you've priced. I'll give you a call for a confidential chat about the team, the work pipeline, and where this role goes as the division keeps growing.

How many estimators does it take to change a light bulb? One, plus 10% contingency, subject to site conditions. If you laughed, you're probably who I'm looking for.**ONLY APPLICANTS LIVING IN PERTH WITH FULL AUSTRALIAN WORK RIGHTS WILL BE CONSIDERED**