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Earlier this year, the campus’s central maintenance and construction units stopped the practice of charging upfront for cost estimates on recharge work.

Now, Facilities Management has rolled out the first in what will be an assortment of online estimators — allowing departments to do their own estimates for free.

The first estimator, for painting, is up and running on Facilities Management’s website.

“The painting estimator is for paint jobs in administrative space only, but additional estimators will be developed for other job estimates over the coming year,” according to a news release from Facilities Management.

Previously, Facilities Management did all estimates in person.

Now, after calculating an estimate with the online tool, a department can decide either to move forward by submitting a work request, or opt to hold off on the project.

Facilities Management advised: This is solely an estimator tool. If a department proceeds with a , Facilities Management will send someone out to calculate an official estimate — and the department can then say “yes” or “no.”

Under the new system, the cost of preparing an estimate is billed only after project approval. If the project is not approved, there is no charge for the estimate.

Estimates can be saved and reused as templates for future jobs.

Facilities Management joined with Design and Construction Management in eliminating upfront costs for job estimates — thereby eliminating a barrier that kept many departments from consulting with the campus’s maintenance and construction units on project plans and budgets.