No it is not too early.

There should be two estimates, one calculated during the planning phase that helps with budgeting the project, another is calculated after project is complete that serves as part of the accountability to measure the project success. Getting those numbers require lots of hard work, and those numbers don't lie. It is part of the reason why private companies in US run better than any government agencies.

This is just pure project management that has nothing to do with politics, race, country or ideology.