Sarah Kim, CPE

Sarah Kim's career in construction cost estimation began at Turner Construction's preconstruction services division in Seattle, where she produced bid-quality material takeoffs for commercial projects ranging from $2M retail build-outs to $45M mixed-use developments. She became proficient in RS Means cost data, Craftsman Costbook benchmarks, and regional labor rate adjustments — skills that now directly inform how CalcSummit structures its cost calculators and regional pricing defaults.

After earning her Certified Professional Estimator (CPE) designation from the American Society of Professional Estimators (ASPE, member #20-4891), Sarah moved to a regional general contractor as a senior estimator. In that role she managed the full cost estimation lifecycle for residential and light-commercial projects: material takeoffs, subcontractor scope alignment, value engineering reviews, and final bid submissions. Over five years she personally completed takeoffs on more than 120 residential and light-commercial projects, accumulating field data on actual material consumption rates for roofing, paint, drywall, flooring, and tile — the same waste-factor defaults that appear in CalcSummit's calculators.

At CalcSummit, Sarah writes and verifies every calculator in the Cost silo and the interior finish calculators in the Area silo. Her review process involves sourcing current regional cost benchmarks from RS Means-informed databases, cross-verified against local supplier pricing in three regional markets: Pacific Southwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Midwest. She updates cost data quarterly, ensuring that significant lumber, drywall, or roofing material price movements are reflected within 90 days.

Sarah holds NAHB Professional Designation credentials alongside her CPE. She has served as a technical reviewer for Craftsman Book Company, checking cost estimation publications for formula accuracy before print. She is a contributing member of ASPE's Technical Standards Committee and regularly contributes to the ASPE Newsletter on construction cost benchmarking methodology.

Her work at CalcSummit reflects a core principle she applied in professional estimating: cost data is only useful when it is current, regionally accurate, and tied to a defined scope. Every cost calculator on the site carries her CPE credential as a guarantee that the underlying numbers meet that standard.