In Part 2 of his estimating series, George Weissgerber outlines how to build a unit price system.
Understanding how to accurately estimate by the stick is the starting point to any effective estimating system.
Understanding how to accurately estimate by the stick is the starting point to any effective estimating system.
Here's a simple spreadsheet that you can use to adjust your per-square-foot estimates to account for the size of the project.
![To use your own data to find hrs/BF or hrs/SF, divide average hours used for each framing task by total SF or BF of materials used. (BF = thickness x width [in inches] x length [in feet] ÷ 12). This table shows figures for tasks associated with framing and sheathing a typical exterior wall.](https://cdnassets.hw.net/dims4/GG/1cf49c4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/479x319+374+0/resize/416x277!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdnassets.hw.net%2F2b%2F55%2F4ed77a2c43568db3d9f525920f65%2Flabor-hours-tcm96-2096398.jpg)
While unit prices for labor are available from a number of sources, the best source is a company's own job history. This article uses an example of framing an exterior wall to show how to use that data to calculate unit costs for labor based on material quantities.
