CONSTRUCTION LABOR PRODUCTIVITY.
Labor productivity measures units of work completed per labor hour against the units estimated. Tracking it by cost code, not just by crew, is what catches a job going sideways at week four instead of at closeout. A crew can look busy every single day and still be losing money if the production rate falls below what the estimate assumed. Busy isn't the same as productive. Productivity tracking closes that distance by comparing actual units per hour to the estimated rate, cost code by cost code, while the job is still running.
The reason this stays hidden is that nothing in a normal accounting system reports it. The P&L knows what labor cost, the timecards know how many hours went in, and neither one knows how much pipe went in the trench for those hours. Production rate is the number that ties the two together, and it only exists if somebody writes down the units. Once it exists, a crew running under the estimated rate becomes a conversation in week two rather than a loss you discover after the last pay app.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Labor productivity is units of work completed per labor hour, measured against the units the estimate assumed for that same hour.
The core calculation is units completed divided by labor hours, which gives you the production rate for that cost code. That rate then gets compared against the rate the estimate assumed for the same work. Everything else on this page is about collecting those two numbers reliably and looking at them while the job can still be corrected.
WHY THE MARGIN DISAPPEARS.
Busy isn't the same as productive
A crew can be on site every day, working hard, with nobody standing around, and still be losing money on the job. Effort is visible from the truck and production rate isn't. If the estimate assumed a rate the crew isn't hitting, the job bleeds margin every hour they're out there and it looks like a normal week the entire time.
It gets measured by crew and not by cost code
A crew can be efficient on one task and slow on another. Rolling everything into one crew level number averages the good work and the bad work together, which produces a figure that hides the problem. Tracking by cost code isolates which scope is underperforming so the conversation is about a specific activity and not about whether the guys are working hard.
It gets reviewed monthly, or at closeout
A monthly WIP meeting is too late to correct a crew or a schedule problem before it consumes the job's margin. By then four weeks of a bad rate are already in the cost. Production rates need a weekly look while the job is active, because that's the only point where the remaining hours can still be changed.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Units completed divided by labor hours equals the production rate. If the estimate assumed 40 linear feet of pipe installed per crew-hour and the actual rate is running 28, that difference compounds across every remaining day on the job, and it's invisible unless someone is tracking it weekly instead of finding out at closeout. That's the whole calculation, and it's the number a normal accounting system never produces.
HOW IT GETS TRACKED.
Every labor intensive line in the estimate gets a unit rate assumption behind it rather than a lump sum labor budget. That assumption is the benchmark the field gets measured against. Without it there's nothing to compare the actual rate to and productivity tracking has no meaning.
Hours come off field time entries and units come off the daily logs, both coded to the same structure as the estimate. This is the part that requires a habit rather than software. A foreman writing down units installed takes two minutes a day and it's the input the whole system runs on.
Each code gets a rate comparison every week the job is running. Compare the work itself, because the report only describes it. A number nobody looks at weekly is the same as a number nobody collected.
Any cost code running under 90 percent of the estimated rate triggers a site visit or a schedule and crew conversation before the shortfall grows. The threshold keeps the review from becoming a debate about every small variance. It puts attention on the codes that are going to cost real money if nothing changes.
The production history from finished jobs feeds the next bid, so a trade or a crew's real rate informs the estimate instead of a textbook rate. This is where productivity tracking pays for itself twice. Once on the job you corrected, and again on every job you bid after it.
FLAT MONTHLY FEE. NO SURPRISES.
Three tiers, priced by your trailing twelve month revenue. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No hourly billing, no payroll, and no add-ons.
Pricing
| Last 12 months revenue | Monthly fee |
|---|---|
| Up to $1M | $1,900 to $2,900 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 to $3,900 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 to $5,700 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 to $7,100 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 to $8,500 |
| $12.5M to $15.5M | $7,400 to $11,000 |
| $15.5M to $18.5M | $9,400 to $13,500 |
| $18.5M+ | Quoted individually |
Range reflects the three tiers below. Which one you're in depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items.
You stop guessing.
You get the CFO work. Job costing built against the way you estimate, a 13 week cash forecast, monthly WIP, and a meeting every month that ends in decisions rather than a report.
Your bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
You stop touching the books.
Everything in Core, and we run the bookkeeping and the controllership as well. Nobody in your office is answering coding questions or chasing a reconciliation at month end.
We do the books. No payroll.
Every job shows its margin while it's still running.
Everything in Executive, plus the job costing and WIP platform set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed for you every month. You never have to learn it.
We do the job costing.
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