LOCATION REQUIREMENT

This is a fully office-based role located in Mount Waverley, VIC. The successful candidate will be required to work from the office five days per week.

ABOUT CLINTON GRAND

Clinton Grand is a high-end residential division, delivering architecturally designed, custom-designed residences across Melbourne's eastern suburbs and other high-value residential areas. The brand is built on timeless design, refined detailing, design integrity and a personalised client experience.

Clinton Grand focuses on:

- Custom-designed homes for owner-occupiers
- Architect-led residential projects
- Prestige dual occupancy and premium townhouse builds
- High-specification finishes and bespoke detailing

Backed by WestUrban Group's established construction systems, procurement strength and operational infrastructure, Clinton Grand is scaling toward a sustainable portfolio of 40 premium homes per annum. Three homes are complete and a further five are expected to commence shortly.

POSITION PURPOSE

The Senior Estimator is responsible for the accurate and timely pricing of Clinton Grand projects, from early feasibility through to contract, and for the estimating systems, rates and supplier pricing that sit behind them.

Pricing turnaround is currently the constraint on converting enquiry to contract. Bespoke homes require individual take-off and pricing rather than standard costing, and the speed and quality of the quote directly affects whether a client proceeds. This position exists to fix that constraint and hold it fixed as volume grows.

The role is senior and largely autonomous. The successful applicant will price high-end custom work independently, own the tender strategy, and be confident presenting and defending numbers to the Operations Manager, the client and the client's architect

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Estimating and pricing

- Prepare full quantity take-offs and detailed estimates for custom, architect-led residential projects.
- Interpret architectural, structural, civil and services documentation, and identify gaps, conflicts and buildability issues before they reach pricing.
- Price from incomplete documentation where required, setting clear assumptions, exclusions, provisional sums and prime cost allowances.
- Establish and maintain preliminaries, margin, contingency and escalation allowances appropriate to each project.
- Prepare cost breakdowns and schedules in the format required for the building contract.
- Review and check the work of the Estimator before release.

Tender and bid management

- Own the estimating program for each opportunity: scope, timeline, information required and delivery date.
- Manage the tender process end to end, including requests for information to the client's architect and consultants.




- Prepare the pricing submission and supporting documentation to a premium presentation standard consistent with the brand.
- Present and explain pricing to the Operations Manager, and where required to the client and their architect.
- Maintain a tender register with status, value, outcome and win/loss analysis.

Procurement and subcontractor pricing

- Prepare and issue trade packages, obtain competitive subcontractor and supplier pricing, and level and compare submissions.
- Interrogate quotations for scope gaps, exclusions and double-ups rather than accepting them at face value.
- Build and maintain a subcontractor and supplier base capable of high-specification residential work, in conjunction with Group procurement.
- Negotiate rates and terms within delegated authority, leveraging Group buying power where available.
- Maintain trade scope templates so that packages are consistent from project to project.

Cost planning, feasibility and budgets

- Prepare early-stage feasibility and budget estimates to support client conversations before full documentation exists.
- Provide cost advice during design development so that design decisions are made with their cost consequences understood.
- Prepare and issue cost plans at agreed design milestones, tracking movement against the original budget.
- Support the client selections process with accurate allowances and upgrade pricing.

Buildability and value management

- Review design for buildability, constructability and cost efficiency, and raise alternatives that preserve design intent.
- Prepare value management options where a project exceeds budget, with the cost and design implications of each set out clearly.
- Work with the Design & Documentation Manager and Project Architect on detailing decisions that carry material cost consequences.
- Conduct a formal handover of each successful project to the Project Manager and Building Manager, covering the basis of the estimate, assumptions, exclusions, risks and allowances.
- Support the delivery team on variation pricing and cost queries during construction.
- Participate in post-completion cost reviews, and feed actual costs back into the rate library.

Systems, rates and data

- Own and maintain the estimating software, templates, trade breakdowns and rate library.
- Keep rates current against actual project costs, supplier pricing and market movement, including escalation.
- Maintain estimating records, version control and document management in line with the Group business management system.




- Recommend improvements to estimating systems and processes as volume grows.

Team and mentoring

- Provide day-to-day direction and technical mentoring to the Estimator.
- Allocate work, set priorities and review output for accuracy before it is issued.
- Contribute to the development of estimating capability as the team scales toward the growth target.

REQUIRED CAPABILITIES

- Minimum 5 years' estimating experience in residential construction, with at least 1 year at senior level.
- Demonstrated experience pricing custom, architect-led or high-specification residential projects. Volume or project-home estimating experience alone is not sufficient — the documentation, the specification level and the client expectations are materially different.
- Proven ability to price from incomplete documentation and to set defensible assumptions, exclusions and provisional sums.
- Robust working knowledge of the Australian residential construction market, current trade rates and supplier pricing.
- Experience preparing and levelling trade packages and negotiating with subcontractors and suppliers.
- Experience working directly with architects, engineers and consultants.
- Experience with domestic building contracts and their cost schedule requirements.
- Exposure to dual occupancy, townhouse or small multi-residential work.
- Experience mentoring or supervising junior estimating staff.
- Experience contributing to post-completion cost reviews and rate library maintenance.

Qualifications

Qualification in Building, Construction Management, Quantity Surveying or a related discipline, or equivalent demonstrated experience.

SKILLS

- Proficiency with residential estimating software and take-off tools, and a high level of competence in Excel.
- Confident reading and interpreting architectural, structural and services documentation.
- Strong numeracy, accuracy and attention to detail — errors at this stage are expensive and difficult to recover.
- Clear written communication, particularly in setting out assumptions, qualifications and exclusions.
- Able to present and defend pricing to internal management, clients and consultants.
- Well organised, able to run multiple concurrent estimates against competing deadlines.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

- Commercially sharp, with sound judgement on risk, contingency and where margin is genuinely at risk.
- Rigorous and methodical, without losing pace — turnaround matters as much as precision in this role.
- Prepared to challenge a design, a quotation or an assumption rather than pricing around a problem.
- Professional and articulate when dealing with clients and their consultants.
- Collaborative with the delivery team, and interested in what the estimate looks like once it is built.
- Self-directed and comfortable operating with minimal supervision in a growing division.

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📌 Senior Estimator (City of Monash)
🏢 Clinton Grand
📍 City of Monash