OVERTIME COST IN JOB COSTING.
Overtime is the most expensive labor decision in construction, and the one made most often without a clear picture of the true cost. The premium on the base wage is 50 percent, time and a half, but in most cases the burden is calculated on the full overtime rate rather than on the base. True overtime cost per hour can run 1.6 to 1.8 times the regular fully loaded hour depending on your burden structure.
The decision gets made on the schedule, not on the money. A job slips two weeks, the foreman asks for Saturdays, and the yes takes about ten seconds because nobody in that conversation can say what a Saturday costs. Then the job closes light and the labor overrun gets blamed on production. Overtime coded as regular labor is invisible by design, so the same call gets made again on the next job. Code it on its own and the second call comes with a figure attached to it.
WHAT IT MEANS.
Overtime cost in job costing is the premium wage plus the burden charged on that premium, coded to the job that consumed the hours instead of buried inside one labor total.
Overtime gets authorized for three different reasons, and the three carry very different money. A GC directing acceleration is billable work. Schedule recovery on your own production problem comes straight out of margin. Weather sits between the two and depends on what the contract says. If all three post to the same labor code, the billable hours never get billed.
WHERE THE PREMIUM DISAPPEARS.
You're using overtime to fix schedule problems without seeing the true cost
When a project falls behind, the instinct is to authorize overtime. The foreman says the crew needs it, the GC wants the milestone, and the hours get approved that afternoon. Most contractors have no clear picture of what that decision cost the job, because the system doesn't separate the overtime premium and the burden riding on it from regular labor.
Overtime burden is higher than you think
The premium on the overtime base wage is 50 percent, time and a half, and most contractors stop the math right there. In most cases the burden cost on overtime hours is calculated on the full overtime rate and not on the base wage, so the burden climbs with the premium. True overtime cost per hour can run 1.6 to 1.8 times the regular fully loaded hour depending on your burden structure.
You're not seeing overtime cost by job
If overtime cost isn't coded separately in job costing, you can't see which jobs are consuming it, whether a GC change order authorized it, or whether job conditions make it a recoverable claim. The hours sit inside total labor, so the only signal you get is a labor overrun at closeout. By then the documentation that would have supported a claim doesn't exist.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE IN DOLLARS.
Time and a half puts the wage at 1.5 times base, and that's where most estimates stop. The burden riding on those hours is usually calculated on the full overtime rate, which is why a loaded overtime hour comes in at 1.6 to 1.8 times a regular loaded hour. The distance between the 1.5 everybody assumes and the 1.6 to 1.8 they're paying is the part no bid carries.
HOW THE HOURS GET CODED AND PRICED.
SPM sets up overtime as a separate labor cost code in ControlQore, distinct from regular labor, so every job's overtime cost is visible on its own. You can compare it against what the estimate carried and against what somebody authorized. A cost in its own column is a cost somebody can question before the job closes out.
SPM builds true overtime cost rates into the ControlQore labor rate structure, accounting for the premium wage rate and the burden charged on that premium rate. The rate you approve overtime against is the loaded rate, not the base wage times 1.5. That's the difference between an approval and a guess.
SPM tracks overtime cost by authorization source, whether GC directed, schedule recovery, or weather related, so the documentation supporting a change order claim exists at the time the hours are worked. Contemporaneous records are what a GC accepts and what a reviewer won't argue with. Records rebuilt six months later are what claims die on.
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.
| 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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