[cascom]

A friend of a friend runs a pipeline construction company (think the people that would actually build Keystone XL or the likes) and he has a team of estimators that run all the numbers on a given project and come up with a budget. He then double checks their numbers by chartering a helicopter and flying the route with an an old construction foreman, who basically eyeballs the thing and and does some mental math. Apparently it was uncanny how often the two estimates were within 10% of each other, but that the old guy eyeballing the thing had saved him on a number of occasions by recognizing issues/costs that the estimators had missed...