estimating or presenting?

[grumpy]

Estimating and presenting are two completely different things. One takes a skill of knowing the construction process and pricing. The other takes a skill of knowing sales and customer relations. The two are often confused but never the same.

[Cole]

My favorite quote" If you cant relate to people, you can't sell to people. In Design/Build, successfull architects and designers are nothing but salespeople"

[Rich]

Well put grumpy. One of the things I run into in larger residential projects is that I never get to meet the owner - they use an owners representative or the architect to make all their decisions.
There is still presentation to the architect - but it's a little different than for an owner. So not only do you need to know how to sell to clients (that may not know a lot of what we do) you also need to be savvy enough to sell to architects (those who know more than an owner).
And then there is always the stigma that gets cast over all construction professionals (just a bunch of hammer carrying beer guzzling gorillas). But that's another thread in another forum :)