How do you actually build your estimates? Trying to understand the process

Hey all — not here to sell anything, promise.

I'm doing research on how small electrical contractors handle estimating, and I'm genuinely curious about your day-to-day process.

A few questions if you have a minute:

• Do you use any software, or still doing spreadsheets / pen-and-paper?
• How long does a typical residential estimate take you to put together?
• What's the most annoying part of the whole process?

Background: I've been talking to a bunch of contractors across different trades and I keep hearing that estimating is one of the biggest time sucks — especially when you're bidding a lot of jobs and half of them don't convert. Wanted to see if that matches your experience.

Not building anything yet — just trying to understand if the problem is as widespread as it seems before I do anything.

Thanks in advance.