Build a Crew by Man-Hours

When you create a crew that is defined by man-hours, you create a list assembly cost item. Set the Units of the list assembly to some unit of time, such as hours, days, or weeks, and set the Quantity of the list assembly to 1 (one). Next, add labor cost items you want to include in the crew as members of the list assembly.

For each member of the list assembly, determine the appropriate Quantity to one crew time unit. For example, if a Foreman devotes 50% of his time to the crew, the foreman’s Quantity should be set to 0.5. If more than one of the same labor cost item is used, such as several manual laborers, there are three ways to enter these items.

Case 1: Add one labor cost item for each laborer.
Case 2: Multiply the Quantity of a single labor cost item by the number of laborers.
Case 3: Create a single cost item that represents the costs of all the laborers.

For example, assume three manual laborers are needed full time for each crew hour. In Case 1, you would add three laborer cost items to the assembly, each with a Quantity of 1. In Case 2, you would add one laborer cost item and assign it a Quantity of 3. In Case 3, you would create a new cost item, called Three Manual Laborers, set its unit cost to three times the rate of a single laborer, and assign it a Quantity of 1.

Next, you would enter the appropriate LaborHours. LaborHours is the number of people per crew hour. In Case 1 and Case 2, LaborHours should be set to 1. Each hour of the member represents one person. For Case 3, LaborHours should be set to 3 since there are three laborers for each hour estimated in the quantity.

See how each of the three cases look below for a crew called Truck Crew that consists of the following:

Half time of a foreman
Three manual laborers
One truck driver
One truck

Note that all three methods result in the same Extended Cost (XtdCost) and Man-Hours. However, Case 2 distorts the LaborHours which can distort estimates of task duration, and Case 3 requires a modification of UnitCost.

Case 1, therefore, is the recommended method for creating crews in the Estimating module because it is the clearest and is easiest to update.

Note: If you use this method to build your crews, you can select these crews in a visual assembly on the Crew tab of the visual assembly and then assign a Production Rate to the crew.

Case 1


Description	Type	Qty	Units	Unit Cost	XtdCost	Labor Hours	Person Hours
Truck Crew	List	1.00	HR	63.25	63.25	5	4.5
Truck Driver	Labor	1.00	HR	21.50	21.50	1	1.0
Foreman	Labor	0.50	HR	23.50	11.75	1	0.5
Laborer	Labor	1.00	HR	10.00	10.00	1	1.0
Laborer	Labor	1.00	HR	10.00	10.00	1	1.0
Laborer	Labor	1.00	HR	10.00	10.00	1	1.0

Case 2


Description	Type	Qty	Units	Unit Cost	XtdCost	Labor Hours	Person Hours
Truck Crew	List	1.00	HR	63.25	63.25	3	4.5
Truck Driver	Labor	1.00	HR	21.50	21.50	1	1.0
Foreman	Labor	0.50	HR	23.50	11.75	1	0.5
Laborer	Labor	3.00	HR	10.00	30.00	1	3.0

Case 3


Description	Type	Qty	Units	Unit Cost	XtdCost	Labor Hours	Person Hours
Truck Crew	List	1.00	HR	63.25	63.25	5	4.5
Truck Driver	Labor	1.00	HR	21.50	21.50	1	1.0
Foreman	Labor	0.50	HR	23.50	11.75	1	0.5
Laborer (3)	Labor	1.00	HR	30.00	30.00	3	3.0

Build a Crew by Man-Hours

Case 1

Case 2

Case 3

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