Labor Unit Costs

How do I calculate labor unit costs?

The Starter Files that come with Goldenseal construction estimating softwareinclude several labor Cost Items that handle different levels of experience. You can change any of the labor unit costs to "calibrate" Goldenseal to your own conditions.

Viewing Labor Cost Items

To see labor unit costs, follow these steps:

1. Choose Cost Items from the Costs menu.
2. Choose Find from the Edit menu.
3. Enter Labor into the Cost Area popup field.
4. Click the Find button.
5. Goldenseal will find all labor cost items. Click on the "book" at upper left to browse through them.

Direct Calculation

To calculate your cost of labor directly, follow these steps:

1. Take the wage rate of an "average" employee with the given experience level.
2. Add burden, which is the total of all employer taxes and insurance that you pay in addition to the gross wage.
3. Type the net amount into the Purchase Price field.

Experience Calculation

If you have labor costs for past estimates, you can "tweak" Goldenseal labor rates so they give you the correct numbers for your own wage rates and labor productivity. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Choose Estimates from the Income menu.
2. Click the template button (to the right of the New button) and choose the item closest to the past job.
3. Enter dimensions, and other details for the project.
4. When you are finished, compare the Goldenseal price with your actual cost.
5. If Goldenseal is too low, increase the cost of labor until it is correct. If Goldenseal is too high, reduce the cost of labor.
6. After you change the labor rate, click the Update Prices button on the estimate to check it.

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