SEMINAR

PIPING

Presented
by
John S. McGeoch

-o-

AMERICANASSOCIATION OF COST ENGINEERS

FIFTH ANNUALMEETING
JUNE 21-23, 1961
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

W. M. Anderson Company
PhiAadelphia, Pa.
May 1, 1961
 John S. McGeoch
W. M. Anderson Company
Philadelphia, Pa.
May 1, 1961

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF COST ENGINEERS

Fifth Annual Meeting
June 21-23, 1961 - Boston, Massachusetts
SEMINAR

PIPING

When called upon to discuss a subject as large in scope as

the piping industry, it becomes a problem to cover as much as
possible and as completely as possible in a short time. After due
deliberation I have decided to follow this procedure:
1. The piping estimator and his qualifications
2. The estimate with respect to take-off, write-up, labor units
30 Purchasing, methods and procedures
4.. Construction methods and cost control
5. Shop facilities
The statements contained in this discussion will revolve around
a mechanical contractor engaged in competitive construction of office
buildings, hospitals, manufacturing buildings, and any type of
commercial building where an average contract would be approximately
one-half to three-quarter million dollar projects for the mechanical
work.
This type of contract is used in this discussion to strike
a happy medium between those who are present that engage in larger
construction and those who are present that may engage in smaller
construction, thereby creating interest to all of you.

Parre 1 of 10
 The Estimator
L An estimator should be an engineer with a practical background,
or a practical man with an engineering background, as knowledge of
both practice and engineering is required to make accurate estimates.
An engineer without practical experience could prove a
liability to his employer when taking off rough material from the
estimating drawings. By the same token a practical man without
engineering experience could also prove a liability to his employer
when it came to analyzing quotations, interpreting the specifications,
etc. Therefore, the best possible way for any employer to obtain
an estimator with the aforementioned qualifications is to follow
this procedure:
1. The General Superintendent of the company should, while
visiting the various projects, discuss the situation
with his Job Superintendent or Foreman, and should pick
an apprentice who is aggressive, intelligent, neat in
appearance, and willing to follow through to the field
of estimating.
2. The employer, through the General Superintendent, should
make it a point to see that this apprentice should gain
as much experience in different types of construction
as is possible during the five years of his apprenticeship,
3. After having completed his apprenticeship he should then
be put on projects in the capacity of a supervisor, At
the same time the employer should pay his tuition to a
local evening school, college, or technical institute,
L not necessarily for a full engineering course but to take
courses in Heating and Air Conditioning, Plumbing, or any
course that would parallel the employer's type of business.
Page 2 of 10
 4. When the necessary courses are completed,the prospective
L estimator should be brought into the office where he
would work in the capacity of an assistant to a seasoned,
qualified estimator. This estimator would train him in
office procedure, take-off and write-up procedure,
customer relations, and any other facet of the business
in which he has not been trained during his time in the
field or his time spent in school.
5. Upon the completion of this training period he could then
be permitted to make estimates of smaller projects.

The Estimate
It is not deemed necessary to dwell too long on the procedure
of the preliminary work involved in making a piping estimate, such
'L
as sending requests for quotations to subcontractors, manufacturers,
or vendors, etc., or the write up of equipment from the specifications
as this is a relatively standard procedure of most companies.
It is however felt that as much time as possible be spent in
discussing the method of take-off and write-up of that which could
be considered the biggest intangible item of an estimate, the rough
material take-off,
A piping take-off should be made with the greatest degree of
accuracy as is possible. The piping should be taken off by system
and by size down to the smallest size in detail. There are some
estimators who just take off large sizes of piping and average out
the smaller sizes. There are other estimators who take off the
L lineal feet of pipe, multiply the total footage (by size) by the
weight per foot of pipe, then apply a factor which will give them

Page 3 of 10
 a labor dollar value, then percentage this amount to arrive at a
L fitting value, There are also estimators who will take off the
I
! quantities of pipe and fittings and value the labor by the lineal
\ feet per day a man or men can install,
! This method seems to be the most widely used and is the closest
to being accurate. However, it leaves too much to the human element,
the personal feeling of the estimator at the time of the estimate.
Therefore a system of units should be established to eliminate as
much as possible the human element. Before the discussion of such
units it is necessary to discuss further the take-off procedure.
As mentioned before, all piping should be taken off in detail by size
and by system. A good procedure to follow is to start at the source,
Let us use for this example -- an estimate is being made of a
Hospital consisting of a Boiler House, detached from the main building
'L
which is six stories high. The source of all piping will be in the
Boiler House. Therefore all pipe shall be taken off within the
confines of the Boiler House by system and by size such as High
Pressure steam, Medium Pressure steam, Low Pressure steam, Boiler
feed piping, etc., and it should be written up in the same manner*
Then the connecting underground piping should be taken off and
written up in the same manner. The basement piping should be taken
off, and the risers, and the runouts to equipment up to and including
the final connections to the equipment. Assuming that the take-off
has been made in this manner, then the labor value for the equipment
only includes handling and erecting. Units should be applied to
each and every foot of pipe, valve, fitting, flange, etc,
These units should include a value for the amount of time re-
quired to install a particular fitting. For example, in establishing

Page 4 of 10
 a unit for a weld ell, the time for handling, measuring, cutting,
L
champhering, setting up and welding of the weld ell should be
incorporated in the unit. This unit, it must be remembered, is a
rule, a guide, and should be worked out by each company as production
and procedure can vary between companies. In valuing for labor in
this manner, it helps to eliminate the human element. The more
fittings required in the piping the more it costs per foot to install.
The actual result of this method proves that it is possible for a
given number of lineal feet of pipe to vary in cost relative to the
number of fittings installed in the line.

Purchasing
The purchase of equipment and materials after a contract is
obtained is handled in different *ays. Some of the smaller companies
L
turn this duty over to the estimator or engineer. This can prove
very inefficient as the amount of time spent by him in purchasing,
submitting shop drawings, writing letters of transmittal, etc., could
be put to better use in making estimates of future work.
Larger companies that maintain a purchasing agent or purchasing
department operate much more efficiently by following this procedure:
1. The estimator, at the time of bidding, assembles the
various quotations and endeavors to obtain the lowest
price in the short time generally allotted to the bidding
period.
2, Assuming he is the successful bidder, he sends all
quotations and proposals to the purchasing agent for
L purchase at the best possible price.

Page 5 of 10
 3. The purchasing agent, after obtaining the lowest price,
\
makes all submittals of shop drawings to the owner,
architect, or engineer.
4. The purchasing agent, upon receipt of approved shop
drawings, consults with the general superintendent to
schedule delivery of the equipment.
Objections to central purchasing have been voiced by some
contractors inasmuch as they feel it represents higher overhead,
as today's competition is such that additional overhead cannot be
justified, This objection is unfounded. If a study were made of
the amount of time spent by each and every estimator or engineer
in purchasing, submitting shop drawings, writing letters of transmittal,
writing orders, etc., instead of estimating, you would find it would
contribute largely to the purchasing agent salary.
L
Another advantage of central purchasing is the reflection on
prices of equipment due to quantity buying, with one person making
all purchases for all of the company's projects.

Construction Methods and Cost Control

Construction methods and cost control are a part of the mechanical
contracting industry that is continually changing in our search for
greater efficiency.
We of the W. M. Anderson Company have found the following
procedure to be the most efficient thus far.
As soon as possible after the awarding of a contract, the plans
and specifications are turned over to the drafting section and the
L draftsmen proceed to make working drawings from the contract drawings,
(This statement is not designed to be derogatory to the design

Page 6 of 10
 engineer, for we are fully aware that he is presented with the same
L namely, lack of time to develop
problems as the mechanical contractor,
complete drawings, competition in fees, etc.) The first drawings to
be completed are sleeve and insert drawings as they are required in
the early stages of construction. Upon completion of the sleeve and
insert drawings an overlay is made indicating all of the piping with
all required elevations of the different services, This represents
elimination of the job superintendent's time in field co-ordination
with other crafts, as it has been previously worked out by the
draftsman and gives him more time for other duties. During the
making of the piping drawing, the draftsman makes a list of material
required to install the pipe indicated on the drawing, This list is
printed on the side of the drawing, also a shop order containing the
same list is issued to the pipe shop and a copy sent to the field.
L
The job superintendent can request that particular order by its
number when the construction reaches a point where that portion of
the work indicated on the drawing will be installed. This procedure
is followed for job fabricated piping only.
Larger size piping, piping and equipment rooms, boiler rooms,
or any complex pipe area are drawn to the larger scale, and dimensioned,
with each piece numbered. Shop sketches of the numbered pieces are
sent to the fabrication shop for fabrication. It is then sent to
the field at the request of the job superintendent.
Dy following this procedure we eliminate numerous hours of
material take-off by field forces, cut field welding and set-up time,
all resulting in a smaller field force. To illustrate -- the heating
L system of a Philadelphia Housing Authority Project consisting of
three eleven-story buildings , one fifteen-story building, a commissary
 building, and a maintenance shop (all of which were being built
L
simultaneously) was installed with an average crew of fifteen steam-
fitters.
Cost control is another item on which it is impossible to
place enough emphasis. However it can become very costly and
extremely complex, and such a burden cannot be imposed on competitive
construction contractors. It can, however, be accomplished if the
following procedure is followed.
Cost sheets can be printed that are itemized in the same
manner as the estimate was made; by system and location such as
mains, risers, brances, etc. A man is assigned to visit the various
jobs to distribute and collect the forms which have been filled out
daily by the job superintendent. The number of men working on each
item of work is filled out daily. The daily sheets are then totaled
L
monthly and turned over to the estimator for review. The estimator
then consults with the general superintendent as to the per cent each
item indicated on the form is physically complete. This percentage
is then checked against the estimate. To illustrate -- if the steam
mains are 25% complete on a certain project and there are 200 man
days expended, and the estimate contains a total of 600 man days for
that item, it indicates this part of the construction must be watched
closely and steps taken to increase performance.

Shop Facilities
The extent of shop facilities is generally governed by the
magnitude of the contractor's works However, it is not a hard and
L fast rule that large companies should have a large shop and small
companies should have a small shop. There are some very large concerns

Page 8 of 10
that do not maintain shop facilities to any great extent, and there
are smaller companies that maintain a well equipped shop. The rule
should be that -- the shop facilities be as large and as complete
as possible in order to efficiently supply all projects without the
fixed overhead reaching a point where the efficiency gained in the
field is offset by the cost of operating the shop.
We of the W. M. Anderson Company feel that an almost perfect
balance is maintained with our shop facilities relative to our field
work. Our shop facilities consist of the following:
1. A receiving building, where equipment is stored prior
to installation on the various projects. I't is felt
that by having delivery to our storage building before
the construction is ready, we can schedule our work
more closely and maintain a better control over our
field forces. Too many times deliveries and job
progress conflict.
2, A storage building for cast iron drainage pipe and
fittings in the amount of about two carloads, in sizes
that are most used in our type of construction; as well
as the necessary jointing materials, lead, oakum, etc.
3, A pipe shed where we stock steel pipe in sizes from l/2"
nominal to 20" nominal in the amount of about six carloadse
4. A main storage building with a complete line of fittings
and valves both screwed and welded up to and including
20" nominal pipe size.
5. A copper tubing storage area where we store tubing and
fittings up to 6 size.

Page 9 of 10
 6. A fabrication shop for screwed pipe with machinery
capable of cutting, threading, and make-up of pipe
up to 12" nominal size.
7. A fabrication area for welded pipe with automatic
positioners, rollers, and mechanical draftsmen to
handle fabricated piping up to 24" nominal pipe size.
With the aforementioned facilities we are able to operate almost
independently of an outside supply house, We feel that with our
storage facilities and the purchase of material in extremely large
quantities, the base price of our supplies is low enough to justify
the salaries paid to the shop personnel. In addition, our field
labor efficiency is stepped up considerably by having a complete
supply house at its disposal. Furthermore, such storage facilities
enable our purchasing department to buy on a declining market, which
has a direct effect on our estimates.

Page 10 of 10