Unit Price Report

The Unit Price Report is also referred to as the Productivity Report. This report analyzes labor with respect to material. The report is used to compare the estimated cost to the actual cost to install the unit. Average material costs, labor costs and assembly costs are listed and compared. An example of this is door installation. Assume there is a material cost code representing a number of doors and a labor cost code representing the labor to install the doors. The report will show the cost per hour for installation, the material cost per door, the number of hours per door (or doors per hour) and the total assembly cost per door (installation and material costs).

Although this report is intended to analyze labor (or equipment) cost codes with respect to an associated material code, the system may be setup to allow most of the necessary information to be recorded on the labor code alone. In Setup Accounting Options on the Job Cost-1 Tab, there is a check box for Track Installed Material. If this box is checked, the system will allow the number of material units installed to be recorded through Field Report Entry on labor and equipment cost codes. The only other setup requirement is that the unit name for the labor or equipment code be changed from HOURS to the material unit name (e.g. TONS, CU.YD, SQ.FT, etc.). The labor/equipment hours will still be recorded, but the estimated and actual quantities reported will be material units not labor hours.

This setup may be desirable since labor often does not have an associated material unit for which costs are tracked, or the material unit of purchase may differ from the installed unit. For example: when excavating or hauling, it is very desirable to know the equipment hours required per ton of earth moved. But, certainly, the earth that is being moved is not always purchased; therefore, no material cost code would have necessarily been set up. When painting, it is probably more useful to know the labor hours required per square foot of wall painted than it is to know the labor hours required per gallon of paint purchased. Therefore, the labor should be tracked in terms of ‘square feet’ while the material purchased would be tracked in terms of ‘gallons.’

The bottom line is that when the system is setup to allow tracking of the material units installed on labor and equipment codes, and the name of the labor/equipment code has been changed to something other than ‘HOURS,’ all quantity information for the productivity analysis will be taken from the labor (or equipment) cost record.

A scan for an associated material code will still be performed and, if found, cost and material percent complete information will be used. However, estimated and installed quantities will always come from the labor record. When this is the case, the estimated labor ‘hours’ are lost (it has been replaced with estimated material units) along with all other calculated figures that depend on estimated labor hours (’Est. Hours/Unit’ and ‘Est. Dollars/Unit’).

Material and labor costs are recorded independently of one another and by different methods; therefore, the figures on this report may not always be based on accurate information. At the time the report is run, there may be material that has arrived on the job but is not yet installed. For example: 20 doors may be charged to the job, but installation hours show only 10 of them. Or, the doors may be installed and the labor charged to the job, but the invoices for the doors have not been received or entered into the system. The job status and situation for each cost item being reviewed should be considered when using this report.

The purpose of the Unit Price Report is to analyze the unit costs for labor, material and the assembly of both for each phase of a job. This information is invaluable for estimating future jobs of a similar nature. In theory, this is a simple matter. For example: if workers had spent 10 hours to install 8 doors that cost $35 each, and assuming that the total labor cost was $152.00, the following would be true:

Labor Cost Per Hour:	$15.20/hour	$152.00 / 10 hours
Labor Cost Per Door:	$19.00/door	$152.00 / 8 doors
Material Cost Per Door:	$35.00/door	total cost = $280.00
Assemble Cost Per Door:	$54.00/door	$19 labor + $35 material

This all works well as long as the material units are the actual number of units installed. However, difficulties arise when the actual material units installed are not known. This situation could occur when the material code on the job is tracking the units purchased rather than the units installed. In the above example, it may be that twenty doors were purchased at an early point in the progress of the job and that they have been fully accounted for in the costing system. This may be only half of the total planned purchase, making the material costs 50% complete.

This problem is solved by simply calculating the installed material units based on the labor percent complete. In this case, since the labor is 25% complete, 25% of the total units should be installed, or 10 doors. Because of this, the unit price report will only show 10 doors under ‘Actual Quantity-to-Date’ even though the ‘Cost Analysis Report’ will be showing 20 doors.

This basic problem of calculating the ‘Material Units Installed’ is further complicated when the material unit is not something that can be easily counted or measured (e.g. board feet of framing, cubic yards of earth moved, square feet of walls painted or lineal feet of electrical cable). Often, regardless of the estimator’s finest efforts, the original estimate of the total material units required is subject to error, and the actual may vary significantly from the estimate by the time the job is complete. This must be taken into account when calculating the current material units installed. Take the following example:

		Estimated	Actual	% Comp.	Projected
Code: 16110	Labor:	200 HR	90 HR	50%	180 HR
Electric Cable	Material:	2,500 LF	2,400 LF	80%	3,000 LF

The ‘Installed Material Units’ calculated from the above actual values would be 1,500 LF. This is arrived at by first calculating the total units required for completion which equals the ‘actual units’ divided by the ‘% complete’ (2,400 LF / 0.8). The result is 3,000 LF which differs from the estimate by 500 LF. Since labor is 50% complete, it is assumed that 50% of the cable is also installed which would be 50% of the total projected units (3000 LF x 0.5 = 1,500 LF). Done in one step this would be: 2,400 LF x (0.5 / 0.8).

In summary, the formula for arriving at the ‘Material Units Installed’ is the actual material units multiplied by the ratio of labor % complete to material % complete.

		Labor % Complete
Material Units Installed =	Actual Material Units X-	------------------------------
		Material % Complete

Only one other factor complicates the issue. That is, what if the labor and material percent complete are very close to the same value? This would normally mean that the material code is actually tracking the material units installed and not the material units purchased. In this case the actual material units should probably be used without any modification. The only question is, how should ‘very close’ be defined? In the accounting system, the tailored value of the ‘Material % Variance’ (entered through Job Cost Tailoring) is used to do this. No adjustment of the actual material units will be made if the ratio of the labor and material percent complete is within the following range:

A normal value for the material % variance would be 10% or ‘0.1’. This would mean that if the ratio of labor % complete to material % complete is greater than .9 but less than 1.1, the actual material units would be used as the material units installed. If the ratio fell outside this range, the material units installed would be calculated based on the formula outlined above.

A limit screen is used to select the information to be included on the report. After selecting Unit Price Report from the Job Costing Report Menu, the following screen will come into view.

The tabs are for sorting by Report Title, by User ID, and by Modify Date. These will be useful when the list of reports has grown.

To modify the information used in generating the report, press the Add button or highlight the desired report title and press the Change button. For more information, see Add or Change a Unit Price Report.

Press the Delete button and the following screen comes into view. Press the Yes button and the highlighted record will be deleted. If the No button is pressed, the program returns to the previous screen.

To print a report, press the Print button. For more information, see Printing Reports.

Note: If the message "Nothing to Print" comes into view when the Print button is pressed, there are two main causes:
A. There is no information within the selected limits. Remove all limits, then reinsert the limits one at a time. If the report still will not print, insert a new report title.
B. No report title is selected. The report title is used to store the selected limits. A report title must be selected in order for the report to print.

To Add or Change a report, press the appropriate button and the following screen will come into view. This screen displays the possible limits that may be set. No limits should be set if a complete listing of every transaction in the Posted Transaction File is desired. Several limits may be set to narrow the list down to a very small range of transactions.

Following is a description of each of the limits. Check the appropriate boxes and enter the desired limits. When all desired limits have been set, press the OK button to save the settings. Press the Cancel button to return to the browse screen without saving the settings.

Use this section to limit the report by Job. Use the Range setting to set a range of Job ID numbers. Use the List setting to specify a list of Jobs to be included.

Select the All radio button to ignore Job reporting limits. Select Range to enter a range of Jobs in the From and To fields. Select List to report on a list of selected Jobs.

Selects the first job in a range or a single job. Enter the number or press the lookup button and the Job setup screen comes into view.

Selects the last job in a range or a single job. Enter the number or press the lookup button and the Job setup screen comes into view. Highlight the desired record and press the Select button.

If the List radio button is selected, this button will be available. The following screen will come into view when the Edit Job List button is pressed.

Use the arrows to move Jobs from the Available list to the Included list. All Jobs in the Included Records section will be included on the report. Use the tabs to sort each section by Job Number or by Job Name.

Use these buttons to save the current list of included records for future use, or to retrieve a previously saved list. See Saved Report Limit Lists for more details.

This section allows for the selection of specific Cost Codes for which the report should be printed. The six cost type categories are listed in the next section. Each checked category will be included in the report.

Select the All radio button to ignore Cost Code reporting limits. Select Range to enter a range of Cost Codes in the From and To fields. Select List to report on a list of selected Cost Codes.

Selects the first cost code in a range of codes or a single code. Enter the number or press the lookup button and the Cost Code screen comes into view. Highlight the desired code and press the Select button.

Selects the last cost code in a range of codes or a single code. Enter the number or press the lookup button and the Cost Code screen comes into view. Highlight the desired code and press the Select button.

Click the Edit Customer List button to add or remove Customers from the list of Customers to be included in the report. The following screen will come into view.

All Available Cost Codes that are not included in the list are displayed in these columns.

All Included Cost Codes are listed in these columns. Use the arrows to move selected records or all records between the Available and Included areas

If the Select Fiscal Periods box is not checked, all fiscal periods will be printed.

Activates the ranges defined on the next lines. This option may be used to limit fiscal periods to a particular period or a range of periods. To limit fiscal periods to a particular range of periods, enter the first and last period number of the desired range. To limit transactions to a single fiscal period, enter that period number in both the From and To fields. Pressing the lookup button on the From and To fields will cause the Fiscal Period Maintenance screen to come into view. Highlight the correct period and press the Select button.

Selects the first period in a range of fiscal periods or a single fiscal period. Enter the fiscal period or press the lookup button and the Fiscal Period Maintenance screen comes into view. Highlight the desired period and press the Select button.

Selects the last period in a range of fiscal periods or a single fiscal period. Enter the fiscal period or press the lookup button and the Fiscal Period Maintenance screen comes into view. Highlight the desired period and press the Select button.

The report may used to compare labor to materials or equipment to materials. Select the desired report type.

This option allows the user to limit the report by Project Manager. Press the down arrow to choose from a list of Project Managers.

This option allows the user to limit the report by Superintendent. Press the down arrow to choose from a list of Superintendents.

If this box is checked, then the pulldown lists for Project Manager and Superintendent will include Inactive employees.

Select the Job Category of the jobs for which the report should be printed. This option allows the user to see only jobs of a certain category.

Select the Job Billing Type of the jobs for which the report should be printed. This option allows the user to see only jobs of a certain billing type.

The function of this report is to analyze labor with respect to material costs. The response to this field is critical if group codes are used in the coding scheme.

This box should be checked if group codes are being used to subdivide cost categories into separate cost accounts (e.g. each unit of a 4-plex might be assigned a different group code in order to track costs by unit and by building). In this case, the group codes should NOT be ignored. This box should not be checked if labor and material cost codes with dissimilar group codes should still be associated.

The purpose of the Unit Price Report is to analyze labor costs with respect to material use. In order to do this, the system must be able to associate the appropriate labor and material codes. There is no problem unless group codes are used. Consider the following group of cost codes:

11025LA	22055LA
11025LB	22055MB
11025LC	22155LA
11025MA	22155MB
1025MB	122255LA
11025MC	22255MB

The first column of codes is being used on a project that is divided into three sub-projects. On the job cost analysis reports, each sub-project may be grouped together on the listing and a subtotal would be printed at the end of each grouping. The second column of codes is being used to group all labor of a certain category (e.g. concrete related labor) and all material of the same category.

When printing a Productivity Report, group codes should be included when used as shown in column one, but ignored when used in column two. For column one, this would result in 11025LA being associated with 11025MA, 11025LB being associated with 11025MB and 11025LC being associated with 11025MC. For column two, this would result in 22055LA being associated 22055MB, 22155LA being associated with 22155MB and 22255LA being associated with 22255MB.

If group codes were included for the codes in column two, none of the items would appear on the PRODUCTIVITY REPORT !! If group codes were not included for the codes in column one, the only codes that would be paired are 11025LC and 11025 MA. This is because a labor code will associate itself only with the next code if it is a material code unless grouping is requested.

The reports are printed by job. If desired, each job may be started on a new page. Check this box to print each job on a separate page.

If this box is checked, the system will use the figures from the last field reports. If this box is not checked, the system assumes that the last field report entries are not current and should not be used.

Activates the ranges defined on the next lines if the box is checked. This option may be used to limit transactions to a particular date or range of dates. To limit transactions to a particular range of dates, enter the first and last dates of the desired range. To limit transactions to a single date, enter that date for both the From and To fields.

Selects the first date in a range of dates or a single date. Enter the date or press the lookup button and a Calendar will come into view. Highlight the correct date and press the OK button.

Selects the last date in a range of dates or a single date. Enter the date or press the lookup button and a Calendar will come into view. Highlight the correct date and press the OK button.

Use these settings to limit the report to jobs with a job date that falls within a specified range of dates.

Select the type of date upon which the limit will be based. Select "No Job Date Limit" if no date limit is desired; otherwise, select the type of date to be used for the limit. All the dates listed are accessible through the Job Setup program.

If a date type is selected, the date ranges defined on the next lines are enabled. To limit the jobs to a range of dates, enter the first and last dates of the desired range. To limit jobs to a single date, enter that date in both the From and To fields.

Selects the first date in a range of dates or a single date. Enter the date or press the lookup button and a Calendar will come into view. Highlight the correct date and press the OK button.

Selects the last date in a range of dates or a single date. Enter the date or press the lookup button and a Calendar will come into view. Highlight the correct date and press the OK button.

Click this button to save the current settings and print the report immediately, without having to return to the Report Title browse window.

The Labor Unit Price Report is also known as the Productivity Report. This report is used to compare estimated labor (or equipment) and material costs on a unit basis. A more detailed explanation is given below.

The report heading includes the report name, company name, date, page number, job number and limits selected for printing.

This is the cost code for which material and labor are being calculated and compared.

This is the units on which the material is based. The labor (or equipment) unit is not shown and is assumed to be hours.

Two totals are listed for each cost phase. The first is the total estimated or budgeted labor units (Note: this field will be blank if the labor code is tracking installed material units). The second is the actual hours or the total number of hours applied to the cost phase to-date.

Two totals are listed for each cost phase. The first is the total estimated or budgeted material units (doors, tons, sq.ft, etc.). This value may come from the labor (or equipment) code depending on the system setup. The second is the actual material units or the total number of material units installed to-date. This figure may be calculated based on field report entry recorded on the labor cost record (see introduction to this report). For a complete discussion of how the material units installed are calculated, please refer to the section titled "Calculation of Material Units Installed’ at the beginning of this report.

The percent complete for labor and percent complete for materials are listed in this column. Note: the material percent complete will be the percent complete of ‘purchased’ material, not ‘installed’ material. The ratio between the labor percent complete and material percent complete is the value by which actual purchased material costs are adjusted in order to determine the cost of materials installed.

This column shows the estimated and actual comparison of hours per unit. The productivity analysis is the number of hours it takes to put one unit in place. It is calculated by dividing the hours worked by the number of units in place. The estimate is taken from the quantity budgets for labor and material for the cost code. The actual analysis figure is calculated by using the actual hours worked versus the material units in place.

This column shows the anticipated wage rate to be paid on the cost code versus the actual rate paid.

This column shows the estimated and actual cost for labor only for installation of a single unit. This figure is calculated by dividing the total cost of labor by the number of units in place. The estimate is calculated by dividing the labor dollar budget by the material quantity budget.

This column shows the estimated and actual cost for a single material unit. The actual figure is calculated by dividing the total material cost by the number of units purchased. The estimate is calculated by dividing the material dollar budget by the material quantity budget.

This column shows the estimated and actual cost for the complete assembly and installation of a material unit. This cost includes the material and labor cost for each unit. The cost is calculated by adding the material cost and labor cost for all units in place and dividing that cost by the number of units in place. This figure would also be the same as the ‘Unit Price Labor’ plus the ‘Unit Price Material.’ The estimate is calculated by adding the total dollar budgets for material and labor and dividing by the number of units to be installed.

The report heading includes the report name, company name, date, page number, job number and limits selected for printing.

This is the cost code for which material and labor are being calculated and compared.

This is the units on which the material is based. The labor (or equipment) unit is not shown and is assumed to be hours.

Two totals are listed for each cost phase. The first is the total estimated or budgeted labor units (note that this field will be blank if the labor code is tracking installed material units). The second is the actual hours or the total number of hours applied to the cost phase to-date.

Two totals are listed for each cost phase. The first is the total estimated or budgeted material units (doors, tons, sq.ft, etc.). This value may come from the labor (or equipment) code depending on the system setup. The second is the actual material units or the total number of material units installed to-date. This figure may be calculated based on field report entries recorded on the labor cost record (see introduction to this report). For a complete discussion of how the material units installed are calculated, please refer to the section titled "Calculation of Material Units Installed’ at the beginning of this report.

The percent complete for equipment and percent complete for materials are listed in this column. Note: the material percent complete will be the percent complete of ‘purchased’ material, not ‘installed’ material. The ratio between the equipment percent complete and material percent complete is the value by which actual purchased material costs are adjusted in order to determine the cost of materials installed.

This column shows the anticipated wage rate to be paid on the cost code versus the actual rate paid.

1.	Report Description: Labor Unit Price Report
	Report Sample: Labor Unit Price Report
2.	Report Description: Equipment Unit Price Report
	Report Sample: Equipment Unit Price Report