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 be 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 falls two weeks behind, 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.
Rather talk it through first? Book a 20 minute call. Nothing gets sold on this call.
Want it set up for you? Onboarding only, from $4,500 one time. Books migrated and job costing built, then your own team keeps it up.
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 lumped into one labor total.
Overtime gets authorized for three different reasons, and the three represent very different money. A GC directing acceleration is billable work. Schedule recovery on your own production problem comes straight out of margin. Weather falls 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 charged 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 rises with the premium. True overtime cost per hour can be 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 are 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 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 includes.
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 included 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. The one-time onboarding fee is right here in the table.
Built for subs doing $1M to $12M. Above $12.5M we quote.
| Last 12 months revenue | Core | Strategic | Platinum | One-time onboarding |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $1M | $1,900 | $3,100 | $3,300 | $2,500 |
| $1M to $3.5M | $2,600 | $4,100 | $5,300 | $4,500 |
| $3.5M to $6.5M | $3,800 | $5,900 | $8,300 | $6,000 |
| $6.5M to $9.5M | $5,100 | $7,600 | $11,800 | $7,500 |
| $9.5M to $12.5M | $6,100 | $8,900 | $14,900 | $9,000 |
| Above $12.5M | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted | Quoted |
The onboarding fee covers migrating your books back to the start of your last taxable year and getting you fully operational in 60 days. It's billed once, with your first invoice. It's the same for all three tiers, and it moves with your revenue band. Your first month is prorated, and your monthly engagement starts on the first of the first full month.
Just want the setup? Onboarding only is the same onboarding work with no monthly service after it, one time, at the onboarding fee plus $2,000. Start a monthly engagement later and $2,000 counts toward it. It starts at $4,500, and the price for every band is on the pricing page.
The three tier columns are the whole price. Which one fits depends on how much of the work you want off your desk. No payroll. No hidden line items. The onboarding fee is right here in the table.
- Online software only: QuickBooks, Sage, Viewpoint and similar. No VPN or hosted desktop.
- Not in any tier: payroll, pay applications, collections on receivables.
- Pricing valid through 2027.
CFO work. Your own bookkeeper keeps doing the books.
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 and never in a report.
Your bookkeeper still does the books.
Core, plus bookkeeping and bank reconciliations, plus job costing and WIP software set up and managed for you. Use your own online accounting software or we supply it, one price.
Every job shows its margin while it is still open.
Everything in Core, plus the bookkeeping and bank reconciliations done for you, and the job costing and WIP software set up, loaded with your cost codes, and managed every month. Use your own online software, or move to ours and we cover it.
A bookkeeper we choose does the books and reconciliations. No payroll.
Strategic, plus a controller who handles payables and receivables the way an in-house controller would. You approve every payment.
You approve, and the money side gets handled.
Everything in Strategic, plus a controller we choose who handles your bills and receivables for you the way an in-house controller would. They call vendors, pay the bills and keep the accounting current. We plan the cash flow first, and you approve every payment because it is your money.
A controller we choose does the payables and receivables. No payroll, no pay applications, no collections.
FREQUENTLY ASKED.
