A cost estimate is…

In construction, a cost estimate, also known as , “quantity take-off” or “medium price estimates”, is a process to estimate the costs for construction, sourcing material and resources, as well as labor costs. Because it is an analysis and a prediction, cost estimates is part of project management or can be used as a basis for comparing prices offered by bidders.
Therefore, “cost estimate” or “quantity take-off” means the calculation of quantities and prices of construction materials, labor costs, as well as other miscellaneous costs necesssary in specific constructions, using academic principles and market data as well as various construction statistics. Because of this, the estimated costs are not the actual costs but may be a close approximation, depending on the experience of the person and the accuracy of the chosen principles. Those with a lot of experience may provide estimates that are close to the actual costs which may have errors of only 1 – 5% from actual costs.