|
|
When it comes to bidding jobs the most crucial part is bidding labor. It is also the most inaccurate part of a bid for most contractors. The only way to make it more accurate is to perform a time and motion study. To put it simply, time and motion is how long it takes your crews to complete the tasks involved in installing a project. Some of us guess, some of us use other people's information, and some of us just use multipliers (very risky!) Some of us use a dart board.
To do a time and motion study takes a little effort, time and patience. It will usually take 2 to 3 months to gather and analyze the data. Big companies like UPS or Ford spending millions on time and motion studies. Other smaller companies might hire consultants to do this type of an analysis. In this article I will be looking at an irrigation bid, but the principles can easily be adapted to landscaping as well. Below are the basic steps:
1. Pick a sampling of representative jobs that you will be installing in the near future
2. Pick the crews that you will be using for the study
3. Identify the tasks that will be analyzed
4. Create worksheets to gather the data
5. Gather the data
6. Analyze and calculate your labor times
7. Use the new numbers to bid some jobs
8. Do a job cost analysis after the job to determine how the new labor bid numbers are working out
9. Make adjustments
10. Finalize the numbers and start bidding jobs with the new system
If you are in this business for the long run, few things will help determine your long term success as much as a proper time and motion study. It is worth the time, money and effort you will have to put into it.
Let's go through the steps one by one.
|
Useful Resources for Bidding Jobs:
|
|