Page 14 - Estimator's Piping Man-Hour Manual 5E

a. Business trends and outlooks
b. Construction volume
c. The employment situation

Let us say that you find these items to be very good or excellent. This may sound good, but
actually it means your productivity range will be very low. This is because when business is
good, the type of supervision and craftsmen that you will have to draw from will be very
poor. This will tend to create bad labor relations between your company and supervision and
thus produce unfavorable job conditions. On the other hand if you find the general economy
to be of a fairly good average, the productivity efficiency will tend to rise. Under normal
conditions there are enough good supervisors and craftsmen to go around and everyone is
satisfied, thus creating good job conditions.

Example: To show how to arrive at a final productivity efficiency percentage, let us say we
find this element to be of a high average in the area of the project. Since it is of a high
average, but by no means excellent, we estimate our productivity percentage at 75%.
2. PROJECT SUPERVISION

What is the caliber of your supervision? What experience have they had? What can you
afford to pay them? What have you to draw from? Areas to be looked at under this element
are:
a. Experience
b. Supply
c. Pay

Like general economy this too must be carefully analyzed. If business is excellent, the
chances are that you will have a poor lot to draw from. If business is normal, you will have a
fair chance of obtaining good supervision. The contractor who tries to cut overhead by using
cheap supervision usually winds up doing a very poor job. This usually results in a dissatis­
fied client, a loss of profit, and a loss of future work. However, the estimator has no control
over this. It must be left to management. All the estimator can do is estimate his projects
accordingly.

Example: After careful analysis of the three items listed under this element, we find that
our supervision will be normal for this type of work and we arrive at an estimated productiv­
ity rate of 70%.
3. LABOR RELATIONS

Have you a good labor relations man in your organization? Are the craftsmen in the area
experienced and satisfied? Are there adequate first-class craftsmen in the area? Like project
supervision things that should be analyzed under this element are:
a. Experience
b. Supply
c. Pay

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