Estimate Laboring

In construction estimating, laboring is the process of calculating the labor hours required to install takeoff material.

Labor Factoring

Labor factoring is the adjustment of base labor hours to account for adverse or beneficial working conditions.

Labor factors are most often used to increase labor, but decrease is also possible, especially efficiency gains due to repetitive work.

TODO

Discuss purpose and practice of labor factoring, briefly mention impracticality.

Resources

@article{Hanna2018FactorsAL,
  author  = {Hanna, Awad S.},
  title   = {Factors Affecting Labor Productivity For Electrical Contractors},
  subtitle = {A Factor Approach To Productivity Impact},
  publisher = {Electrii International},
  month  = {September},
  year    = {2018},
  pages   = {83}
}

@article{Hanna2002BenchmarkingPI,
	author = {Hanna, Awad S. and Peterson, Pehr and Lee, Min-Jae},
	journal = {Journal of Construction Engineering and Management},
	month = {7},
	number = {4},
	pages = {331--337},
	title = {Benchmarking productivity Indicators for Electrical/Mechanical Projects},
	volume = {128},
	year = {2002},
	doi = {10.1061/(asce)0733-9364(2002)128:4(331},
	url = {https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)0733-9364(2002)128:4(331)},
}

Software Integration

%% TODO: move to more appropriate article. %%

calculate labor hours utilizing a comprehensive set of factors not practical with traditional methods. The use of this framework will provide:

more accurate projections for project schedule,
more insightful analysis of historical labor data, and
a more rewarding estimating workflow.

For myself, and I suspect for many other estimators, laboring is the most interesting and rewarding part of the job. Discussions of human factors are far more engaging than those of statistical analysis.

%% TODO: discuss the necessity of comprehensive labor consumption insights and visualizations which are not currently feasible as an expectation of owners and contractors.

Estimators know that doubling crew won't double production, but we must be able to offer evidence as such. %%

Tables of labor factors given certain conditions can be converted to functions using regressions.

Going Further

Base labor units suggest a highly functional nature, most sensitive to weight. Greater understanding of this relationship would make practical the prediction of labor of unstudied items.

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