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Finalizing productivity adjustments

Undoing productivity adjustments

Adjusting labor and equipment productivity

If your construction project will be affected by adverse conditions (such as a challenging environment) or exceptionally favorable conditions (such as a particularly experienced crew), you can adjust your estimate to incorporate the different productivity of the equipment and labor that you’ll use. You can adjust the productivity in several different ways.

You can:

  • Change labor and equipment quantities or costs directly.

    Providing the existing productivity factor or price factor is not 1, Estimating back-calculates the productivity or price factor.

    When you enter amounts that change productivity, Estimating displays an adjusted productivity factor in the spreadsheet. It leaves the base productivity unchanged.

    When you enter a different price, Estimating calculates and displays a new price factor.

  • Apply a customized factor table to adjust defined ranges of labor and equipment by the amount or a percentage defined in the factor table. You can apply factor tables in the Estimate Information window and the Reprice from Factor Table window.

    If you want to retain manually adjusted factors when you apply a factor table, select the Do not reprice prices and factors marked as manually adjusted option in the Estimating Options window.

    Note: If you do not select this option, Estimating replaces all productivity factors and prices with new values derived from the factor table when you reprice an estimate.

  • Manually adjust the amounts for individual labor and equipment items.

    You can edit the Base Amount, Base Productivity, Price Factor, and Productivity Factor.

    Note: You may need to edit your current layout to display these columns.

  • If you change an amount that affects labor or equipment productivity, or if you change a productivity factor directly, Estimating inserts a comment for the cell. Cells that have comments are marked by a red triangle in the upper right corner.

    Tip: To view a comment, simply hover over the marked cell. Comments include the original value and, if appropriate, the percent change.

Adjusting a factor manually

You can adjust a productivity or price factor manually by:

  • Typing a new value in the productivity factor or price factor cell on the spreadsheet.

  • Using the shortcut menu to adjust the value (right-click the cell, click Adjust, and then adjust the value).

  • During assembly takeoff, using the [Adjust Productivity] button to adjust an assembly pass that includes labor or equipment.

    After entering your productivity adjustment in the Adjust Assembly Productivity window, assembly components that include labor or equipment are marked with a red triangle, indicating that the quantify has been adjusted.

Note: The adjustment applies to all the labor and equipment in the assembly.

Tip: If you change an amount that affects labor or equipment productivity, or if you change a productivity factor directly, Estimating inserts a comment for the cell. Cells that have comments are marked by a red triangle in the upper right corner.

Tip: To view a comment, simply hover over the marked cell. Comments include the original value and, if appropriate, the percent change.

Finalizing and marking custom factors

After adjusting a factor manually, Estimating inserts a red triangle in the top right corner of the factor cell.

When you are satisfied that the factor value is correct, you finalize the adjustment by right-clicking the cell, and then selecting Finalize Adjustment from the shortcut menu.

When you finalize an adjustment, if you selected the Skip marked, manually adjusted factors when repricing from factor table option, the program replaces the red triangle with a green triangle, indicating that the factor is manually adjusted. You can also mark unadjusted factors as custom so that they will not be overwritten when you reprice an estimate using a factor table.

To mark factors as custom factors that should not be overwritten when you reprice the estimate, right-click the cell, and then select Mark Manual Factor from the shortcut menu.

To clear a manual factor mark (enabling Estimating to overwrite a factor when you reprice the estimate), right-click the marked cell, and then select Unmark Manual Factor from the shortcut menu.

Examples of productivity adjustments

Example 1:

You employ a very experienced crew to install kitchen cabinets for a new townhouse complex. You expect to gain a labor efficiency of 15% over your regular carpenters.

  1. Take off the assemblies required for the construction and installation of the cabinets.
  2. On the spreadsheet:

    1. For the labor components of the cabinet construction, in the L Prod Factor column, adjust the labor productivity factor by 15%. For example, if the factor was 1, change it to 1.15.

      Right-click the cell, and then in the Adjust window:

      1. For the Adjustment Type, select Multiply.
      2. In the Amount box, type 1.15.
      3. Click [OK].

    2. Click [Yes] at the message asking if you want to update productivities for duplicate items.

    If you selected the Do not reprice prices and factors marked as manually adjusted option, the adjusted cells will have a green triangle in the top right corner, indicating that they are manually adjusted.

Example 2:

You are building a spectacular new home against a mountainside, with difficult terrain and in confined space. Maneuvering equipment will be challenging, and you expect you'll need to use your equipment 30% more than usual.

In the Assembly Takeoff window, take off the assemblies you need for the project.

For the assemblies that include equipment and labor:

  1. Click [Adjust Productivity].
  2. In the Adjust Productivity Assembly window:

    1. Select Enter an Adjustment Percentage.

    2. In the Adjustment box, enter -22%. (This is the decrease in productivity that will result in a 30% increase in equipment use.)

    Red triangles appear for the rows that include labor or equipment.

  3. Click [OK].
  4. On the estimate spreadsheet, confirm that the adjustment results in the expected increases in equipment and labor costs.

  5. When you are satisfied with the adjustments, either:

    • Finalize each adjustment separately. Right-click each adjusted cell, in turn, and then select Finalize Adjustment from the shortcut menu, or
    • Finalize all the adjustments in the equipment column at once. Select the affected productivity columns, right-click, and then select Finalize Adjustment from the shortcut menu.