Purchasing and Estimating Manager

Role at a glance

Title: Estimating & Purchasing Manager

Employer: TradeWize (W-2 employee)

Reports to: Directly to the TradeWize CEO

Works closely with: CTO and platform team, trade vertical leads, builder clients, suppliers

Scope: All 17 trade verticals, single-family residential new construction

Type: Full-time

Location: Remote, Mississippi Gulf Coast current market, with travel to suppliers and job sites when needed

The role in one paragraph

This person owns every material number on every house. Using AI they estimate homes from plans, verify the material lists in the TradeWize platform, and get contracts to builders. They bring suppliers on board and keep pushing material cost down. When a job closes, they verify left over material and fix the PO so the next job is ordered right. Their biggest long-term job: build the process and tools that let TradeWize estimate all 17 trade verticals at once, at scale.

What this person owns

Six areas, all theirs to run.

1.    Estimating and quantities

o     Refine the system to take off material quantities from plans for every home, across all trades.

o     Own the accuracy of every quantity. If a number is wrong, it is theirs to fix.

o     Build and maintain standard material lists for each plan.

2.    Loading the platform

o     Verify SKUs and pricing that is loaded into the TradeWize platform is accurate

o     Keep the data clean so crews, schedulers and suppliers see the same numbers.

3.    Builder contracts

o     Estimates turn into priced contracts for builders. Monitor and improve the system

o     Ensure contracts get out fast, track them, and follow up until signed.

4.    Supplier onboarding

o     Improve the system to find vet and sign suppliers for each trade and market at scale

o     Negotiate pricing, delivery terms and rebates.

o     Get suppliers set up in the platform to receive POs. Improve system as needed

5.    Reducing material cost

o     Find cheaper equal products, cut waste, and buy in volume across verticals.

o     Track price changes and push back on increases.

6.    Estimating at scale (the system)

o     Design a repeatable, tech-driven process to estimate all 17 trade verticals at the same time from one set of plans.

o     Automate takeoffs, templates and pricing updates

After every job: review leftover and returned material, accept or decline system PO changes for each completed job.

The job cycle

job cycle · 6 steps, 1 feedback loop

This person runs every step, from plans to contract to post-job review. The PO update at the end feeds the next estimate, so accuracy improves with every house.

How success is measured

Targets get set with the CEO in the first 30 days.

Measure

What it means

Estimate accuracy

Ordered material vs. material actually used, per job and per trade

Estimate turnaround

Days from plans received to contract sent to the builder

Material cost per home

Cost per plan, tracked month over month

Savings delivered

Dollars saved from supplier pricing, substitutions and waste cuts

Leftover material

Value of unused or returned material per job

Suppliers onboarded

Active suppliers per trade and market, set up in the platform

PO updates closed

Share of completed jobs reviewed and POs updated

Verticals estimated in one pass

Progress toward all 17 trades estimated at once from one plan set

Who we're looking for

Must have

•     3+ years in estimating and purchasing for single-family residential new construction.

•     Hands-on takeoffs from plans across multiple trades (framing, roofing, siding, brick, drywall, and more).

•     Experience building and managing POs and material lists for production homes.

•     Recent experience using AI for estimates. prompting and building solutions to refine numbers

•     Owns the numbers: detail-driven, organized, and follows through.

Nice to have

•     Estimating or purchasing for a production or high-volume builder.

•     Takeoff tools using technology to generate accurate/ automated takeoffs

•     Experience building templates, automations or data systems (not just using them).

•     Existing supplier relationships on the Gulf Coast and in the Southeast.

First 90 days

1.    Days 1–30: Estimating and audit. Do takeoffs in the estimating system for new homes. Set KPI targets with the CEO.

2.    Days 31–60: Take over estimating. Own all estimates and builder contracts. Run the first post-job material reviews and update POs. Start onboarding priority suppliers.

3.    Days 61–90: Build the system. Deliver a written plan for estimating all 17 verticals at once, agreed with the CTO. Launch standard templates for the top plans. Report first cost savings.