Can I say:
What are we looking at? Minutes, hours, or days?
in order to get a rough estimate on how long something will take?
Or is "What are we looking at?" part of some other common construction?
Learn English – Idiom: “What are we looking at? Minutes, hours, or days?”
idioms
Best Answer
You might ask a doctor how long someone has to live:
What are we looking at here: weeks or months or years?
but you could also say
What are we talking about here: weeks or months or years?
(Here is not necessary, but emphasizes the topic currently under discussion.)
Both questions can be used without a reference to time periods in other contexts: What are we looking at? A silver beetle? or What are we talking about: the magazine or the rock group?