It was founded in 1956[1] by about 20 cost estimators in Los Angeles, California.
The society's web page states that there are thousands[clarification needed] of members in 65 chapters across the US.
[3] [4] The society does not publish the exact number of members, but an estimate from observation in 2012 is approximately 3000.
[5] ASPE is the publisher of Estimating Today, a periodical technical journal.
This program began in 1976, when 233 CPEs were awarded in 11 of the then 16 divisions of building construction defined by the Construction Specifications Institute in their MasterFormat system.