Why Buy
If you staff construction projects with any skilled trades, you need this cost reference.
- Underpaying your skilled trades is a huge mistake that results in high turnover, lack of continuity, training gaps, and attitude problems.
- Overpaying your skilled trades lowers your profits.
- Bidding on a job without having correct labor rates can cost you the contract if high or cost you all profitability if lower than actual. You need to get it right.
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Plus
The 2012 RS Means Labor Rates for the Construction Industry provides complete information for estimating construction labor costs.
Instant answers to hourly wage questions for over 300 major cities and 46 construction trades. Exact rates for estimates, comparisons, and negotiations.
The 2012 RS Means Labor Rates for the Construction Industry provides a quick, convenient way to obtain 2012 union wage rates for every major metropolitan area in the United States and Canada. The wage rates listed are the actual negotiated union rates, or a reliable estimate for each, of the 46 construction trades.
This versatile manual is ideally suited for making comparisons between cities and combinations of cities, and for rapidly determining wage scales above or below national averages. Through the use of a special index, factors are provided to convert the national average labor figures in 2012 RS Means Building Construction Cost Data to local labor costs by individual trades.
Historical wage rates are included for each city, while a five-year national average for establishing labor cost trends is shown in a separate chart.
You'll find this comprehensive guide to be your best authority for hourly labor wage rates and related information.
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Publ Info
Author: RS Means
Format: Softcover
Copyright: 2012
Pages: 350 |
Contents
Included in this edition:
- Detailed wage rates by trade for over 300 U.S. and Canadian cities.
- Forty-six construction trades listed by local union number in each city.
- Scope of work activities defined for each of 35 major construction trades.
- Base hourly wage rates plus fringe benefit package costs gathered from reliable sources.
- Effective dates for newly negotiated union contracts for 2011 and for certain trades beyond 2011.
- Factors for comparing each trade rate by city and state to the national average.
- Reference Section, including overtime, overhead, and insurance considerations.
- Historical wage rates for comparison purposes.
- Workers' Compensation rates for the United States and Canada.
- Alphabetically arranged city charts with countries noted.
- More precise local labor rates with standard crews contained in RS Means Building Construction Cost Data 2011.
- Labor rate trends and settlements to eliminate guesswork.
- Comprehensive "How to Use this Book" section.
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Estimating Tips
Before you start estimating, you need to understand some core principles. The business landscape is littered with the “bodies” of people who didn’t understand these principles. They did many things right, but the final result of their labor did not promote the business goals of their organization. Here are six tips to help you produce a more accurate estimate.
- Define the scope. Your estimate needs to be for a specific scope of work. Be sure your estimate articulates and defines this clearly so eveyrone understands exactly what's being estimated.
- Use a good cost data source. Well, here you are looking at the RS Means. You've got this one nailed.
- Don't include general "fudge factors." Include specific ones. For example, calculate the exact cost of a bad weather day. Then estimate how many such days are likely to occur. That's your bad weather cost estimate, not some arbitrary number like 10%.
- List constraints. These include time constraints, access issues, and anything else that might cause delays, produce extra work, or require additional resources. In a separate section of your estimate, include a cost breakdown of these. You won't need this information for the purposes of submitting a bid, but you will need it for purposes of risk assessment, project management, and T&C negotiations.
- Include testing and adjustment in your estimate. Cost over-runs are often due to failure to properly test as the work progresses.
- Don't forget daily mobilization and start-up costs.
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About RS Means
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A trusted name in construction costs for more than 70 years, RS Means offers cost data you can depend on. It's widely considered the gold standard in estimating, and with good reason. RS Means is passionate about providing accurate cost data, and that means your estimates and bids can also be accurate.
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