Electrical & Instrumentation Estimator

Gardner Electric is hiring an Electrical & Instrumentation Estimator for our Saint John office.

Our Saint John team delivers complete electrical scope — power distribution, high voltage systems and cabling, fire alarm, security, communications, and instrumentation — on industrial, commercial, and institutional projects across New Brunswick. In a given year you'll price everything from a process instrumentation package to a distribution upgrade to a full building fit-out.

We need an estimator who can take a bid from tender package to close and own it end to end. Not a takeoff clerk. Someone whose number we trust when we sign the contract.

This is a preconstruction role. You estimate, you close, you hand off. Operations runs the job. We are not looking for someone to absorb project management on top of a bid calendar — we want an estimator who gets to stay an estimator, and gets better at it every year.

WHAT YOU'LL BE WORKING ON

Scope analysis

• Review electrical and instrumentation scopes, drawings, specifications, and tender documents — and catch what isn't drawn
• Work with project managers, engineers, and site supervision to clarify scope before it becomes a change order
• Analyze contractual terms and flag the clauses that carry real cost

Estimating

• Detailed quantity take-offs for cable, tray, conduit, terminations, devices, and instrumentation
• Build labour, material, and equipment costs — including the productivity assumptions behind them, which you'll be asked to defend
• Solicit and level supplier and subcontractor pricing
• Preliminary construction schedules where time-related costs need to be priced
• Preconstruction budgets, cost plans, and conceptual estimates from historical data

Execution methodology

• Develop the installation approach behind the estimate, not just the number
• Work with PMs and field supervision to price the way the work will actually get installed

Risk and opportunity

• Identify scope gaps, execution risk, and site constraints — shutdown windows, occupied buildings, phased turnovers
• Develop mitigation through clarification, alternates, and contingency
• Find the value engineering opportunities that win the job

Close and handover

• Prepare the estimate summary and lead the internal bid review
• Lead or participate in the close and tender submission
• Post-tender submissions, scope clarification, and negotiation support
• Turn the job over to the project team with your assumptions documented, so they inherit your thinking and not just your number
• Maintain our labour rate, material pricing, and historical cost data so the next bid starts ahead of this one

WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR

One of the following:

• 5+ years estimating electrical or E&I scopes, or
• Red Seal Construction Electrician ticket with strong field and project experience, and the appetite to move into estimating, or
• Electrical engineering technology diploma with relevant industrial or construction experience

Plus:

• Ability to read and interpret drawings, specifications, and technical documents
• Solid understanding of electrical systems, construction methods, and how work actually gets installed
• Working knowledge of the Canadian Electrical Code
• Comfort with Excel, Outlook, Bluebeam, and MS Project
• Attention to detail, and the judgement to know which details move the number
• Ability to work to tight tender deadlines without losing accuracy

Considered an asset:

• Accubid Pro and LiveCount (Trimble) — we estimate in Accubid Pro and take off in LiveCount. If you know them, you'll be productive in week one. If you've estimated in another package (ConEst, McCormick, On-Screen Takeoff), we'll train you.
• Industrial or process experience — pulp and paper, food processing, water treatment, power generation
• Instrumentation experience: cable schedules, loop drawings, junction box and marshalling work
• Institutional experience in occupied, phased, or infection-control environments
• Procore or similar construction management platform
• Experience with bid depository tendering — filing sub-bids and working to depository closing deadlines
• Primavera P6, in addition to MS Project

If you're missing a few of these, apply anyway. We would rather talk to a strong estimator who has never touched Accubid — or a sharp electrician ready to come off the tools — than pass on the right person over software.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Full-time, permanent — 40 hours per week
• In person, based in our Saint John office
• Occasional site visits across southern New Brunswick

WHY GARDNER, AND WHY SAINT JOHN

Bids close in this office. You'll have direct access to ownership, a say in which jobs we chase, and a path into senior estimating and preconstruction leadership as we grow — not a seat three layers down from a head office in another province.

We're a New Brunswick contractor working on New Brunswick projects. The mills, the hospital, the port, the industrial parks — the work is here, it's steady, and it isn't going anywhere.

HOW TO APPLY

Send your resume to Sign in to view email with "Electrical Estimator — Saint John" in the subject line.

No cover letter required. If you'd rather have a confidential conversation before formally applying, say so in your email and we'll set up a call.

Gardner Electric is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates and will provide accommodation on request at any stage of the hiring process.