Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing scope usually runs 20 to 40 percent of total construction cost on a commercial project, and it’s the scope estimators get wrong most often. There are more individual components in MEP than in any other trade, and more places where one trade’s rough-in collides with another’s. Miss a quantity or underprice labor, and you either lose the bid or win a job that loses money.
SMA Estimating LLC prepares mechanical, electrical, plumbing, piping, fire protection, and low-voltage estimates for contractors bidding commercial, industrial, institutional, and multifamily work nationwide. Every estimate is built by an estimator with field experience in that specific trade, priced against current cost databases, and checked by a second, senior estimator before it goes out. That independent review step is where most estimating services cut corners. We don’t.
Upload your drawings and get a fixed-price quote.
What’s In Every MEP Estimate
You should see the deliverable before you commit to buying it. Every project ships as one package:
MEP Scopes We Estimate, by CSI MasterFormat Division
We organize every estimate to CSI MasterFormat, the standard numbering system used for specs, estimates, and project data across the industry. Your estimate arrives structured the same way your project manual is, so it drops straight into your existing bid workflow.
Division 15 — Mechanical
Fire Suppression
Full sprinkler and standpipe systems estimated per NFPA 13 hazard classification, with hydraulic calculation review and head counts.
- Wet and dry pipe sprinkler systems
- Pre-action and deluge systems
- Standpipes and hose valves
- Fire pumps and jockey pumps
- Clean agent and FM-200 suppression
- Kitchen hood suppression
- Backflow preventers and fire department connections
- Fire pump test headers and flow switches
Plumbing
Domestic, sanitary, storm, gas, and medical gas systems, with pipe material and joining method costed separately, a press-fit joint and a soldered joint are not the same labor unit.
- Domestic hot and cold water distribution
- Sanitary waste and vent, storm drainage
- Natural gas and propane piping, compressed air
- Medical gas systems per NFPA 99
- Grease and acid waste, interceptors
- Water heaters, boilers, pumps, fixtures
- Site connections to 5 feet outside the building
HVAC
Equipment, ductwork, and piping quantified individually rather than averaged, with SMACNA gauge, seal, and pressure class applied throughout.
- AHUs, RTUs, VAV/CAV boxes, fan coil units
- VRF/VRV and split systems
- Chillers, cooling towers, boilers, ERVs
- Sheet metal ductwork — round, rectangular, oval, spiral, flex
- Grilles, diffusers, dampers, sound attenuators, louvers
- Hydronic and refrigerant piping, insulation, TAB allowances
Temperature Controls
Controls scope is estimated alongside equipment so coordination gaps get caught early, not during construction.
- Building automation/BMS and DDC controllers
- Control valves, actuators, sensors, thermostats
- Control wiring and front-end graphics
- Commissioning support
Division 16 — Electrical
Power Distribution
Service entrance through branch circuits, with conductor size, insulation type, and raceway costed as separate line items.
- Switchgear, switchboards, panelboards
- Transformers, motor control centers, VFDs
- Feeders and branch circuits
- Cable tray, busway, wireways
- Grounding, bonding, lightning protection
Lighting and Equipment
Fixture schedules taken off by type, with controls and life-safety lighting priced separately from standard fixtures.
- Interior and exterior lighting fixtures
- Lighting controls and occupancy sensors
- Emergency and egress lighting
- Generators, ATS, UPS systems
- PV and energy storage interconnection
Communications
Low-voltage wiring and pathways, coordinated with IT and AV vendor scope.
- Structured cabling
- Telecom rooms, racks, patch panels
- Wireless access point rough-in
- Distributed antenna systems
Fire Alarm and Security
Life-safety and security systems are estimated per NFPA 72 and current security standards.
- Fire alarm devices, panels, circuits
- Access control and card readers
- Video surveillance, intrusion detection
- Mass notification and duress systems
Site Utilities and Process Piping
Scope beyond the building line, common on campus and industrial projects.
- Site electrical distribution
- Site utility piping beyond the 5-foot line
- Process interconnections, skids, instrumentation
Project Types We Cover Across the US Market
Residential MEP Estimating
Single-family custom homes, townhomes, production builds, and garden-style to mid-rise apartments. For repeated unit types, we model the unit once, so you’re not paying for 300 separate takeoffs on a 300-unit project with 12 unit types.
Commercial MEP Estimating
Office buildings and tenant improvements, retail and shopping centers, restaurants and quick-service, hotels and hospitality, mixed-use, banks, and car dealerships.
Institutional and Healthcare MEP Estimating
Hospitals, surgical centers, medical office buildings, clinics, dental offices, K-12 schools, universities, libraries, courthouses, and municipal facilities, including medical gas systems and essential electrical system separation per NFPA 99.
Industrial MEP Estimating
Manufacturing plants, warehouses, cold storage facilities, and food and beverage processing plants, with value engineering applied where it can meaningfully cut cost without cutting performance.
How an Estimate Gets Built
How We Build Labor Hours
Labor is where bids are actually won or lost — get the material pricing right and still guess at labor, and the estimate is wrong.
Electrical Labor: NECA Manual of Labor Units
Electrical labor pricing comes from the NECA Manual of Labor Units, an industry standard in use since 1923.
Two details other estimators frequently get wrong:
Sheet Metal Labor: SMACNA Duct Standards
Ductwork is measured against the SMACNA HVAC Duct Construction Standards, so pressure class and seal class drive the labor number, not linear footage alone.
Mechanical and Plumbing Labor: MCAA and PHCC Units
Piping and plumbing labor is priced using published MCAA and PHCC labor units, broken down by material, size, and joining method. A press-fit joint, a soldered joint, a grooved coupling, and a welded joint each carry a different labor hour.
Software and Drawing Formats We Work With
Estimating software: Bluebeam Revu, PlanSwift, Trimble, FastPIPE, FastDUCT, FastWRAP
Drawings: PDF, DWG, DXF, DWF, TIFF, JPG, PNG
Models: RVT, IFC, NWD, NWC
Documents: Specification PDFs, Word specs, addenda, equipment schedules, geotechnical and utility reports
Send whatever you have — we don’t require a specific format, and we’ll tell you upfront if something’s missing that would materially change the number.
Why Contractors Choose Us Over Other MEP Estimating Companies
Most MEP estimating services will quote a fast turnaround and a high bid-win percentage. Few will tell you who’s checking the number before it reaches you. Ours does two things most competitors skip:
- Independent senior review on every estimate, not just on request. A second estimator checks quantities and pricing against the original drawings before delivery.
- Documented assumptions, not black-box numbers. When we pick a NECA labor value, a pipe joining method, or classify an incomplete drawing set under AACE 56R-08, we write down which one and why, so you can trace every figure back to the drawing it came from.