The world of construction offers anything but a stress-free environment. There comes a different kind of pressure when you’re raising cities from the ground. It’s not just about steel and concrete — no, it’s about the numbers. It is about estimation…and accuracy. And when you’re staring down the behemoth of a project like the seismic retrofit of the Golden Gate Bridge or the improving transit for the 2028 Summer Olympics, those numbers can easily get entangled in your day-to-day tasks.
Every little miscalculation or missed resource can send a shockwave, a ripple, that’s felt from the first bid to the last shovel in the dirt.
Drew Erickson knows this better than most. He’s a seasoned estimator who’s seen the underbelly of some of the nation’s biggest projects. For years, he’s leaned on HeavyBid to get his estimates in order, a software that’s become engrained in his daily routine. But as the projects became more complex and grew in size, so did the chaos of sourcing materials, suppliers, and the ever-changing prices and delivery schedules.
Enter Bulk Exchange, the premier bulk materials marketplace.
When HCSS integrated with Bulk Exchange in 2024, it gave estimators a whole new playing field — they now had a clear view of available materials, vendors, and dumpsites at any given moment during a project. Drew immediately understood the impact of the collaboration; he saw a path forward — a more efficient way of tackling much, much bigger projects.
“You want to win a job; you want to do it accurately, with the right price it's going to take to build it. This integration with HCSS has allowed it to expand these resources to a given market — interconnecting vendors and contractors. These connections are critical to the success of a big project.”
— Drew Erikson | President | Amaya Enterprises
New Projects, New Challenges
Drew played a key role in the seismic retrofit of the Golden Gate Bridge, a project as massive and looming as the bridge itself. It wasn’t just about the high-ticket items like asphalt and concrete —they were strengthening the link that joined San Francisco to the northern counties. However, due to financial constraints, the retrofit was split into phases to chip away at the most vulnerable spots first.
Phase 1: Retrofit the Marin (north) Approach Viaduct (1997-2001)
Phase 2: Retrofit the San Francisco (south) Approach Viaduct, San Francisco (south) Anchorage Housing, Fort Point Arch, and Pylons S1 and S2 (2001-2008)
Phase 3A: Retrofit of the North Anchorage Housing and Pylon N1 (2008 - 2014)
Phase 3B: Retrofit of the Main Suspension Span, Main Towers, South Tower Pier and Fender (2025 - 2029)
Drew worked on the third and final phase (phase 3B), focusing on the South Tower Pier. The Golden Gate Bridge is 1.7 miles long and serves 40 million vehicles a year, so estimating a project like this comes with its headaches—everything from sourcing specialized materials to dealing with tight deadlines and vendor schedules. Even with so many moving parts and tight margins for error, Drew’s experience kept things running smoothly and on track.
"I worked on the Golden Gate Bridge here in San Francisco, California; I was able to communicate a message to vendors in about 30 minutes….that half an hour of time was pretty efficient for what I needed to get done, and it was distributed to the known vendors within a 25-mile radius. The next day, one of Bulk Exchange's partner companies, Vulcan, reached back out with their quotes nearly immediately. The next morning, I had all the information.
Comparing that to another story that involved five engineers, a project manager, two weeks' worth of time off and on between phone calls and getting stuff done. The efficiency of the team was reduced to one person getting the same amount of information and the same pricing for similar types of projects, products like asphalt, concrete, dump sites, and those things that are needed on these heavy civil sites.”
HeavyBid and Bulk Exchange: The Winning Combination
For the Golden Gate Bridge project, Drew relied on the powerful integration between HCSS & Bulk Exchange to streamline his entire process. He put together a list of the aggregate products he needed, along with some recycling for concrete waste disposal. With a few clicks, he could expand the details and get a quick overview of everything he needed — plus, see how quickly vendors responded.
What really made things smooth was how Drew could pull the vendor prices directly into HCSS for an instant, accurate estimate. Once the product details were pulled from Bulk Exchange, he could easily integrate the prices into HCSS’s system, which meant he could create a solid and ( more importantly) accurate estimate. All this data came straight from trusted Bulk Exchange partners — ensuring everything was spot-on for the project’s needs.
In the days of old, there was a major disconnect between vendors and estimators, which created a lot of inefficiency and missed opportunities. Estimators often had to rely on outdated or incomplete pricing, making it harder to stay competitive. However, the integration between HCSS and Bulk Exchange changed that. Now, estimators and contractors can pull vendor prices directly into HeavyBid — making the entire process faster, more accurate, and more transparent.
Drew no longer had to dig through piles of quotes or wait for supplies to get back to him. He had real-time data, live, up-to-the-minute pricing, availability, and specifications — what more could a veteran estimator want?
“80% of a vendor's business will come from trusted clients, but there's another 20% out there that often goes unnoticed. Vendors may not always know how to connect with those potential customers before they make a purchase. This new market visibility opens doors for both industry veterans and those expanding into new areas. Even seasoned estimators might not be aware of all the resources available in a growing market, like dump sites or suppliers.”
A New Era of Estimating Efficiency
For Drew Erickson, integrating Bulk Exchange and HeavyBid was a game-changer in a high-stakes industry. HeavyBid streamlined his workflow, reduced errors, and kept him ahead of the competition. It didn’t just help him win bids — it gave him the confidence to go into any market and tackle any project.
Whether you’re a veteran estimator like Drew or a fresh graduate looking to make an impact — HeavyBid offers clear templates that guide you through every step, ensuring nothing is missed, and Bulk Exchange offers real-time pricing and vendor info to help ensure your estimates are up-to-date and accurate.
