re: How can I get into commercial/civil/industrial construction estimating?

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You probably have a good shot. Estimating is pretty much just throwing darts at a dart board anyway

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And this is how the work starts to get sketchy. I've seen too many contractors underbid a contract, realize they fricked up, and start cutting corners at every chance. If you're bidding on any type of government funded project, with fairly strict big item quantities, you can put a company out of business.

And it's happens on private contracts too. I've heard Wal-Mart owner reps laugh at how many contractors they've put out of business. I saw a site development contractor at the Lafayette Costco go out of pocket for several trucks of lime, and had months of delays, trying to get the foundation subgrade stable enough to pos
pass a proof full, and begin their overexcavation. After 6 months, they still couldn't dry it out enough to stabilize. But that's what happens when you build in an old rice farm. If job conditions aren't as expected, a bad bid can really damage a company.