Estimator - Custom Exhibits and Scenic Fabrication

Factory NYC•New York, NY

6d•$100,000 - $125,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Factory NYC is a custom fabrication and production company in Brooklyn that builds and installs physical objects for clients, including museum exhibits, brand activations, luxury retail environments, public art, architectural millwork, and unique custom pieces. The company is seeking a Production Estimator to be responsible for determining the cost of building projects. This role involves analyzing defined scopes, calculating labor, materials, machine time, vendor costs, installation, and risk. The Production Estimator will also assess the feasibility of projects based on drawings, timelines, and company capacity, identifying and escalating any risks early on. The role requires reasoning about how things are made, as projects are often unique. The Production Estimator will report to the Director of Production and work with the lead estimator to learn company methods and cost history. This is a full estimator position, not a junior one, with ownership of assigned bids.

Requirements

Seven or more years of estimating experience in custom fabrication, scenic production, construction, or a comparable build environment.
In-depth knowledge of fabrication across multiple trades, including carpentry, metalwork, finishing, assembly, and CNC/digital fabrication.
Ability to read and interpret drawings, models, and specifications, translate them into buildable methods, and identify unresolved issues before pricing.
Judgment regarding capacity, department workload, and lead times, with the willingness to identify schedule risks.
Experience costing materials and vendor scope, and holding vendors to their quoted prices.
Comfort working with a production and quoting system, including AI tooling in the estimating workflow, rather than solely relying on spreadsheets.
Strong organizational skills to manage multiple bids with different deadlines.
Clear communication skills to collaborate with account management, project management, drafting, the shop floor, and vendors.
Bachelor's degree in engineering, construction management, industrial design, or a related field is preferred, or extensive hands-on fabrication and production experience.

Nice To Haves

Estimating experience across mixed trades within a single shop, rather than deep specialization in one trade.
Direct experience working on a shop floor.
Experience building or maintaining an estimating library and reconciling it against completed jobs.
Experience estimating installation and strike, including site conditions, access, and crew size.
Proficiency in marking up drawings using AutoCAD, Rhino, SketchUp, or comparable software.
Awareness of CNC and additive manufacturing sufficient to estimate machine time separately from associated labor.

Responsibilities

Review drawings, specifications, and scope to ensure they are sufficiently defined for accurate costing.
Break down scopes into buildable components, detailing trade labor costs with justifications for each number.
Determine the build approach, including sequencing, material selection, fabrication methods, and the use of vendors or subcontractors.
Calculate costs for materials, machine time, vendor scope, logistics, installation, and strike.
Assess labor hours against shop capacity, identifying and escalating potential bottlenecks and schedule risks to the Director of Production.
Collaborate with department managers to pressure-test build methods with the team before committing to a number on larger jobs.
Cost change orders with the same rigor as original estimates, ensuring timely turnaround.
Hand over estimates to the production team and review them together to ensure clarity on the intended build.
Build and maintain the estimating library and records of completed job costs, updating them with actual production results.
Reconcile estimated costs against actual costs for all priced jobs, analyze variances, and use this information to improve future estimates.