I missed a single budget line item so now we have to go back and ask for another $40k. In my defense the first 100+ lines of the spreadsheet (that I don't maintain) were alphabetical so I missed that I had another item on row 135 that ended up being cut because I didn't address it. Nothing detrimental but I dislike making oversights like this.
My worst was probably back when I first took on a role similar to this. It was for a wifi installation several states away. They wanted a ballpark to see if it was even worth considering sending someone out for a site survey so I gave what I thought was a reasonable guesstimate with plenty of cushion. Turns out their buildings were accidentally built like freaking faraday cages with insulation in all the wall cavities held in on both sides by some sort of chicken-wire like mesh. The signal penetration was garbage so my $80,000 guess was off by oh $250,000 or so
My worst was probably back when I first took on a role similar to this. It was for a wifi installation several states away. They wanted a ballpark to see if it was even worth considering sending someone out for a site survey so I gave what I thought was a reasonable guesstimate with plenty of cushion. Turns out their buildings were accidentally built like freaking faraday cages with insulation in all the wall cavities held in on both sides by some sort of chicken-wire like mesh. The signal penetration was garbage so my $80,000 guess was off by oh $250,000 or so
