Junior Estimator / Civil Preconstruction Engineer
About The Position
Sunset Valley Construction is a sitework and underground utilities contractor focused on building and maintaining essential infrastructure. The company is projecting to double in size over the next four years and is expanding its estimating and preconstruction team. This role is designed for someone early in their construction career who has a solid foundation and wants to learn heavy civil estimating, takeoffs, and preconstruction from an experienced team. The Junior Estimator / Preconstruction Engineer works alongside the owner and the estimating/project management team to support projects before they reach the field. The role provides training in takeoffs, estimating, production rates, pricing, and estimate development. As skills develop, the employee will take on more complex estimates and preconstruction responsibilities. Possible growth paths include Estimator, Senior Estimator, Project Engineer, Assistant Project Manager, Project Manager, or Preconstruction Manager. This is a 40-hour-per-week, year-round, on-site role based in Ellington, Connecticut. It is primarily office-based, with occasional job site visits, pre-bid meetings, and local meetings with owners, vendors, and subcontractors. The employee will also spend time with field teams to better understand how heavy civil work is built.
Requirements
- At least 2 years as a Project Engineer or in a similar construction role, or a two-year or four-year degree in Civil Engineering, Construction Management, Finance, Business, or a related field.
- Ability to review plans, specifications, and contract documents and begin to understand how work progresses from drawings to completed sitework.
- Foundational familiarity with heavy equipment, site construction, excavation, grading, utilities, drainage, paving, or similar work.
- Comfort working with numbers, quantities, spreadsheets, and detailed information.
- Ability to keep bids, deadlines, quotes, and open items organized.
- Willingness to ask questions, receive feedback from experienced field and estimating personnel, and apply it.
- Interest in how construction work is built, beyond measuring quantities from plans.
- Comfort working primarily in an office and visiting the field as needed.
Nice To Haves
- Experience with a heavy civil, sitework, utility, paving, excavation, or general contractor.
- Previous experience performing construction takeoffs.
- Experience with Bluebeam, InSite, Cloudrig, ConstructConnect, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Project, or similar construction software.
- Experience as a Project Engineer, Assistant Project Manager, Field Engineer, or Project Coordinator.
- Time spent around heavy equipment, active construction sites, or hands-on field work.
Responsibilities
- Perform quantity takeoffs for earthwork, utilities, drainage, site concrete, paving, and other heavy civil/sitework scopes.
- Review plans, specifications, addenda, and bid documents, and flag missing or conflicting information.
- Compile quantities, labor, equipment, materials, subcontractor information, and vendor pricing for estimates.
- Help solicit, organize, and compare supplier and subcontractor quotes.
- Learn and assess production rates, crew makeup, equipment selection, site conditions, and project sequencing.
- Assist with bid forms, proposal packages, scope sheets, and estimate reviews.
- Attend occasional pre-bid meetings and job walks.
- Maintain organized estimating files, historical pricing, bid results, vendor information, and project data.
- Support handoffs to operations so project managers and field teams understand what was included in estimates.
- Take on preconstruction responsibilities as estimating workload allows, including submittals, buyouts, scheduling, procurement, project setup, and project coordination.
- Work with estimating and construction software to improve consistency.
- Spend time with field teams to develop an understanding of how heavy civil work is built.
Benefits
- Modern estimating and construction technology, including Cloudrig, Phantom Foxit, and InSite Elevation Pro.
- Hands-on training in heavy civil takeoffs, estimating, preconstruction, and project management.
- Direct exposure to projects ranging from approximately $100K to $10M.
- Two prepaid Southwest plane tickets anywhere in the USA once a year.
- Mentorship and unlimited hands-on and digital training, including leadership development.
- Personal use of company equipment when available and when it does not interfere with company operations.
- Family-first company with generous discretionary PTO.
- Health, dental, and vision insurance after 3 months, with 75% of employee and immediate-family premiums paid by SVC.
- 401(k) plan with a 3% company match after 3 months.
Stand Out From the Crowd
Upload your resume and get instant feedback on how well it matches this job.
What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
Education Level
Associate degree
