Posted on
August 27, 2018 in
Every month or so for about the last year I’ve received an email purportedly marketing “estimators,” “estimating services,” or “material take-offs.”
Emails have been from:
- “Luke Shaw” of “International Estimating, LLC,” 14 East, 4th Street, Suite 405, New York City, NY 10012;
- “David Jackson” of “International Estimating, LLC,” 14 East, New York City, NY;
- “Jacky Lee” of “International Estimating, LLC,” 14 East, 4th Street, Suite 405, New York City, NY 10012;
- “David Jackson,” again, of “International Estimating, LLC,” 14 East, New York City, NY; and
- “Jack Haber” of “Intl MEP Estimating, LLC,” 2701 Ponce De Leon Blvd, Suite 201, Coral Gables, FL 33134.
International Estimating, LLC has a houzz.com page written in Indian English:
Dear Sir/Madam,
We are providing reliable and comprehensible Takeoffs/cost estimates to our clients through information & knowledge developed over one and a half decade in the business.
We claim 98% accuracy in all trades/scope take-offs because we are utilizing certified software and a team of experienced estimators and civil engineers is working on them.
We provide estimates with detailed line items and we follow CSI divisions for client’s convenience.
Currently we are offering lowest rates in the market.
Send over the plans so we can give you a quotation for price and turnaround time. Please let me know if you have any questions.Thanks
Kind Regards,
Mark Henry
Senior Business Development Manager
INTERNATIONAL ESTIMATING, LLC
14 East, 4th Street, Suite 405, New York City, NY 10012
Tel: (718)-450-9282
Email: mh@internationalestimating.com
Alt Email: markhennryie@gmail.com
Web: internationalestimating.comServices Provided
Cost Estimation, Quantities take-off & Material take-off
Areas Served
ALL STATE OF USA & CANADA
All of those emails contained the same return phone number: (718) 450-9282. (Please try it and tell me what you find; they seem to have me blocked.) Spokeo lists that as a T-Mobile landline in the Bronx.
“International Estimating, LLC” has a website that lists among its projects “Newwark Liberty International Airport, New Jeresy.”
I have also received emails from:
- “Eric Steven” of “Guarantee Estimation LLC”;
- “Jerry Shane” of “Guarantee Estimation LLC”
- “Tony Martin” of “Guarantee Estimation LLC,” 4908 Bell Ridge Lane Suite 106 Milton FL 32571.
The Steven and Martin emails contained the return phone number, (850) 400-6861. Spokeo says that’s a Sprint landline in Milton, Florida. “Guarantee Estimation” has an uninformative website and a houzz.com page written in Ukrainglish, with that Milton, Florida address but “areas served” in New York.
Another estimation spammer was “James Thomas” of “Bid Solution INC” (website) using the telephone number (510) 488-4552. Spokeo lists that as an Oakland, California number. ZoomInfo lists “Scott Brian” as “Marketing Manager at Bid Solution INC”.
What is going on here? I don’t think I’m their target market, since I don’t see these emails and say, “I GOTTA GET ME SOME OF THAT,” but I guess that when you are in the spam business the marginal cost of sending an email to another address is near zero.
I can’t even imagine what kind of person sees these emails and says IGGMSOT. So what’s the scam, and what’s the end-game?
Crickets.
Obviously, it’s inexplicable. Must not be happening to your readers.
I get similar spam (but different industries) at my work email; there must be some reason (some list you’re on somehow) that made these people think you might be interested.
Definitely spam; possibly not a scam.
We are trying to get a prelimary cost estimate to renovate a building. This service would be helpful to us as to many others looking to “cost out” a project but now I have trepidation about the service if they do not pass the smell test. I have asked a few probing questions about the business and my reticense to use a credit card for these services. Much seems legit but I continue to have a cautious suspicion.
I grew up at 250 West 94th Street, less than three blocks from their Number 1 project (but that is just an estimate).
Looks like Alex is running the scam to me.
The whole thing runs on bit currencies. It will go public soon.
When scammers run a campaign, they send large numbers of emails to unknown recipients. They normally do this by renting time on “bot-nets” from a “bot-herder”.
The more emails they send, the better their chances of sending one to a fish who will bite.
The bottom line is there must be people who bite, or they wouldn’t do it.
When people stop buying manure, others stop shoveling it.
Takeoff companies provide an estimate of the materials needed for a construction project – think how many stacks of 2x4s or yards of concrete or boxes of doorknobs do you need to build a house. The estimator gets a fee for figuring out how many of everything you need – and may steer you to “preferred” suppliers or simply spitball the estimate and leave you with a seriously overbid or underbid project.
As with most scammers, broken English and weird usage weeds out the literate from the potential marks, leaving those more credulous and/or vulnerable (who are also less likely to report being scammed.
Here’s a BBB complaint about one estimator:
US-Takeoff provided my company with completely insufficient material
take of for a large residence. The actual amount of lumber needed was
$30,000. Upon request to refund at least the money I paid they ignored
me and sited that their estimates are approximates, however on their
web-site they claimed extremely high accuracy. After repeatedly asking to
be removed from their mailing lists I still receive emails sometimes several
a day in which I am a BCC recipient. obviously in an attempt to herass
me.
My guess, anyway.
Well, for those interested, it’s October of 2020 and here I am getting these exact emails (maybe 2-3/month). I did bid on some work for a large municipality back in 2018, and noticed these emails arriving to my work address shortly thereafter. I figure our contact information was made public record since we were bidding on municipal work… I get the Indi-nglish emails from Ted Knight, Issac ‘something’, and just today, from Alex Fred at ProBids INC.
Email: adam.probids@gmail.com <— Haha seriously? A Gmail account?
Address: 120A Collen Drive Apt 220A Lombard, IL 60148 <— A residential apartment complex in Lombard
Not really a big deal, I sometimes pester them with dumb emails back and forth. Overall it's just annoying.
Phil
In our office we refer to “cost out” as price verification. I am assuming it is the same thing.
We have gone through this process to verify pricing from a vendor rather than gathering multiple bids on large projects over a million dollars. We have always hired an engineering firm in our area to provide this service. Engineers should also be able to provide you with various project planning and budgeting services. You could also opt to have an engineer design your entire build. The design build option may not save you a lot of money, but it should simplify the project every time.
I HAVE RECEIVED THESE ESTIMATING EMAILS FROM TWENTY DIFFERENT NAMED PERSONS THIS IS QUITE OBVIOUSLY A HUGE PHONE ROOM SCAM TROLLING FOR WHAT THEY WOULD PROBABLY REFER TO AS SUCKERS. BUT SOMETIMES ALSO KNOWN AS HONEST TRUSTING BUSINESS PEOPLE. IT A SHAME THE INTERNET HAS TO STILL BE RUN SO LAWLESSLY AND RECKLESSLY
THE PEOPLE THAT OPERATE IT.
I get 2-3 emails a week from NYC BIDS ESTIMATION,LLC. All from different senders. There is nothing I can say to stop them from emailing me. It’s annoying and a waste of energy. WHY????