Estimator’s Electrical
Man-Hour Manual
by
Joun S. Pace
AND
Jm G. Nation
GULF PUBLISHING COMPANY
Houston, Texas—
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‘To all Electrical Estimators who have spent
‘many hours burning midnight oil and seratch-
ing heads trying to estimate reasonable labor
“units, we dedicate this manual.PREFACE
It is the purpose of this manual to set forth a standardized method and
procedure of estimating electrical installation labor in manhours.
For a few electrical estimators, this manual will hold very little, but for
the majority of estimators engaged in this field there is a fortune in good
electrical labor estimating on the following pages.
‘Too many times we have heard highly technical and complex explanations
of electrical operations and installations. While these are in all probability
true, still they tend to confuse and scare the ordinary electrical estimator.
In many cases this causes the estimator to add to his estimate to be sure
that he has covered all the items. As a result, we have seen as much as a
$1,000, 000 spread in electrical estimates. This is ridiculous inasmuch
as it takes just so much of various types of materials to complete aproject,
fand labor and material is worth just so much money in a given area or
Jocation. There is jus: so much conduit, wire, motors, equipment, etc. , in 2
project no matter how complicated it may seem to be, and it is worth just
50 much money. Don't let it scare you or price you out of the picture.
In this age of rockets and sputniks, electricity is in its infancy; however,
there is no reason why the present knowledge we now have cannot be
standardized as far as labor operations are concerned.
In this manual, you will find no technical explanation as to what electricity
is, why we have It or how it is used. ‘The manual is strictly forthe estima-
tion of direct labor in manhours. Neither will you find reference to the cost
of materials, fabrication shop set-up, small tools, equipment, overhead or
profit. If a material take-off is available, this price can be obtained from
Yendor's who will furnish the materials. Fabricating shop set-up,equipment
Usage, small tools and overhead can readily be obtained by agood estimator
who can visualize and consider the project schedule, size and location.
Profit or fee is management's responsibility and should be left solely to
management. These are items that can and must be considered for the
individual project.
‘The method used in obtaining the following manhour tables is that of many
hundreds of time-and-method studies coupled with actual labor cost of
various operations, both in the shop and field, on many projects located
throughout the country, ranging in cost from $10, 000 to $2, 000,000. From
careful analysis of these many reports we found that we had an average
productivity rate of seventy (70) percent, The manhours compiled through
‘out this manual are based on this percentage.
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