# How do you track materials and labor per job?



## kbsparky (Sep 20, 2007)

You can spend dollars to track pennies, and then you'll know your real job costs.

Or you can fire the bean-counter and look at your month-end and quarterly reports to determine whether you're profitable or not.


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## Auselect (Dec 2, 2011)

kbsparky said:


> You can spend dollars to track pennies, and then you'll know your real job costs.
> 
> Or you can fire the bean-counter and look at your month-end and quarterly reports to determine whether you're profitable or not.


Yeah, that's what I'm doing but how do you know if how much your making on each job to see if you need to change the way you quote....that ultimately the goal.
I get the dollar/penny situation, that's why I was looking for something easy...


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Weigh your van before and after each little service call. Make sure to fill the gas tank both times...............


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## stuiec (Sep 25, 2010)

macmikeman said:


> Weigh your van before and after each little service call. Make sure to fill the gas tank both times...............


 
_After_ poop break......:yes:


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## aftershockews (Dec 22, 2012)

Auselect said:


> Have a small business, on a couple of my larger jobs that take more then a few days and a few trips with other jobs going on in between, I noticed that its real easy to lose track of what a job is actually costing me compared to what I quoted.
> 
> Does anyone have a way to track material that is easy?
> 
> ...


Do your employees write down what material they use even on bid jobs?


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## Jbird66 (Oct 26, 2010)

Auselect said:


> Have a small business, on a couple of my larger jobs that take more then a few days and a few trips with other jobs going on in between, I noticed that its real easy to lose track of what a job is actually costing me compared to what I quoted.
> 
> Does anyone have a way to track material that is easy?
> 
> ...


This is a tough one. Are you talking about the trips you make out to the van and grab a hundred dollars of stuff here and there tracking it back to charge to the job? Really a problem on T&M Stuff


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## Speedy Petey (Jan 10, 2007)

A physical walk-thru and material list is about the only effective way IMO. How else would you know exactly what was used on a job?


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

Well there are actually plenty of barcode solutions to the problem, but it takes a whole lot of effort to paste the little stickers on every little item. The hardware stores all do it. They charge a whole lot more for the item than they pay for it, and that helps pay the guy who puts the stickers on all the little items. 

Find a reputable Filemaker developer in your area if you really are serious about doing inventory control and tracking. 

You would have to institute a system and follow it to the T or it will be useless and a waste of money. Takes a stern boss to get that up and going, but it is possible. Ask a NAPA store manager if inventory control is possible.


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

stuiec said:


> After poop break......:yes:


Im not affected by that


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## Auselect (Dec 2, 2011)

aftershockews said:


> Do your employees write down what material they use even on bid jobs?


No yet, that's what I'm looking for...how to find out what is used


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## Auselect (Dec 2, 2011)

Jbird66 said:


> This is a tough one. Are you talking about the trips you make out to the van and grab a hundred dollars of stuff here and there tracking it back to charge to the job? Really a problem on T&M Stuff


Damn no, not T&M, I would charge them for the toilet paper I used if I took a crap on a T&M if I could get paid for it.... I just talking bid jobs and getting an accurate P&L per job, no per month


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

I don't keep track of material needed per job.. it is all lumped into expenses for the year....

Doing the estimate tells me how much in material I need.. I don't see the sense of micro-managing a job after your are paid and job is completed..

More important to me is gross sales at the end of the year and total amount of money spent on materials for the year...


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## CADPoint (Jul 5, 2007)

If your doing larger jobs where is the estimate of the bid in this?

When did you release the bid count(s) to the supply house and I believe your asking where is that material verses the count of all that?

This one little aspect of things, were is the bid verses releasing material has just stretched my imagination for the last two months...


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## hardworkingstiff (Jan 22, 2007)

I've always thought the effort to keep track of it cost more than the information obtained was worth.


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## Auselect (Dec 2, 2011)

B4T said:


> I don't keep track of material needed per job.. it is all lumped into expenses for the year....
> 
> Doing the estimate tells me how much in material I need.. I don't see the sense of micro-managing a job after your are paid and job is completed..
> 
> More important to me is gross sales at the end of the year and total amount of money spent on materials for the year...


Gross is just as important to me, but if you can't tell job to job whether you are making a decent profit or not and improve is not micro managing IMO, especially not having to wait till the end of year to find out.
I know it's how many corporations are ran and it works quite well, if i can find an easy way to keep track and record that's close to fool proof and doesn't rely on employees keeping record on everything, I'm sure I can be more profitable and make adjustments in my business to where needed.
I want to grow and I want to set up protocols now that will help, while I am small.....just wondering if anyone else uses some system that works well that I can try


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

B4T said:


> I don't keep track of material needed per job.. it is all lumped into expenses for the year....
> 
> Doing the estimate tells me how much in material I need.. I don't see the sense of micro-managing a job after your are paid and job is completed..
> 
> More important to me is gross sales at the end of the year and total amount of money spent on materials for the year...


Real companies keep everything for each job separate. It tells you how close your bids where to reality. It also makes big difference when dealing with different tax rates, customers that are tax exempt etc.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

aftershockews said:


> Do your employees write down what material they use even on bid jobs?


My coworkers would not have to, the material was bought for that job using that jobs tracking number.

Every service call, every quote job, every stop by and do a favor for a VIP gets a job number that the labor hours and stock purchases get logged against.


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## aftershockews (Dec 22, 2012)

BBQ said:


> My coworkers would not have to, the material was bought for that job using that jobs tracking number.
> 
> Every service call, every quote job, every stop by and do a favor for a VIP gets a job number that the labor hours and stock purchases get logged against.


So an employee grabs something off of the work truck on a trouble call or even something unexpected on a bid job. Without the employee noting this on his/her paper work, how do you know what was used in this situation?


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

macmikeman said:


> Well there are actually plenty of barcode solutions to the problem, but it takes a whole lot of effort to paste the little stickers on every little item. The hardware stores all do it. They charge a whole lot more for the item than they pay for it, and that helps pay the guy who puts the stickers on all the little items.
> 
> Find a reputable Filemaker developer in your area if you really are serious about doing inventory control and tracking.
> 
> You would have to institute a system and follow it to the T or it will be useless and a waste of money. Takes a stern boss to get that up and going, but it is possible. Ask a NAPA store manager if inventory control is possible.


 
McMike said it all, discipline.


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## Sparky J (May 17, 2011)

If your talking about removing materials off of the truck(s) for work why not build a material list for each truck then check and replenish as needed. It would require setup and there would be a learning curve, it would be something to keep up on or it would be all in vain. It would also depend upon how many vehicles and what type of work you do. If its mainly construction you could go one better and have the job material list delivery to the shop or job and verified correct at time of delivery.


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

BBQ said:


> Real companies keep everything for each job separate. It tells you how close your bids where to reality. It also makes big difference when dealing with different tax rates, customers that are tax exempt etc.


You compare the company you work for that is a multi-million $$$ operation to a one man shop like me.. :no::no:

News for you... I am a* real *company.. I get the flexibility to pick and choose what business practices I feel like doing....

Each job I do is a separate item.. some times I make more than I figured.. sometimes I make less... all I need to know... :thumbsup:


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

aftershockews said:


> So an employee grabs something off of the work truck on a trouble call or even something unexpected on a bid job. Without the employee noting this on his/her paper work, how do you know what was used in this situation?


Most times it will not be tracked. We don't generally get that anal about it. I think if you get too carried away kbsparky's point becomes true.



kbsparky said:


> You can spend dollars to track pennies, and then you'll know your real job costs.


So if one of the service guys uses, a box, 30' 12/2 MC and a duplex receptacle out of his truck for a construction job it will go undocumented.

OTH if he uses a 1000' roll of 12/2 it will need to be documented. What is the price point we start carrying about? We don't have a set one we wing it. The service guys are pretty adapt a keeping their trucks stocked by loading up stuff left over from construction jobs or buying two of something when you need one etc.

We do have a job number specifically for 'truck stock' but we try very hard not to use it. We also try very hard not to do 'will calls' they will always cost more than ordering through inside sales. 







B4T said:


> You compare the company you work for that is a multi-million $$$ operation to a one man shop like me.. :no::no:


And how do you know the OP is a one man show?





> News for you... I am a* real *company..


I know, I was just breaking your stones. 




> I get the flexibility to pick and choose what business practices I feel like doing....


There is certainly good things to be said for that.

If I was running my own one man business I imagine it would be run pretty loosely. Thats just me, I am kind of lazy with paper work.



> Each job I do is a separate item.. some times I make more than I figured.. sometimes I make less... all I need to know... :thumbsup:


How do you know how each job did? 



B4T said:


> I don't keep track of material needed per job.. it is all lumped into expenses for the year....



When I go to do a bid and it happens to be like a job we have done before I can jump on my laptop, look up the job number of the previous job(s) then I can use that job number in the accounting software to look up exactly how many hours it took (or at least how many we paid guys for) what stock we used and what we paid for it (all the supply house invoices will be there) lifts, other rentals, permit costs etc.

If you can't see the value of this for producing a quick and accurate bid that is cool but to me it is great help.


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## LegacyofTroy (Feb 14, 2011)

My hands get all materials from me(shop), generally our shop stays pretty stocked with our service call needs ....rather it be a ballast ,conduit, cut in box ,wire, connectors , whatever, it gets doc'd on the way out, and restocked at end of day... Very few trips to stores or supply houses .......I spend a little extra time ordering , but it's a bigger profit at end if month,....the difference is between chicken or steak for dinner


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## Peewee0413 (Oct 18, 2012)

Auselect said:


> Have a small business, on a couple of my larger jobs that take more then a few days and a few trips with other jobs going on in between, I noticed that its real easy to lose track of what a job is actually costing me compared to what I quoted.
> 
> Does anyone have a way to track material that is easy?
> 
> ...


I worked on a job where the daily installations went on the same sheet as our weekly time sheet. We had to turn our time sheets in every night. The money scared owner did his daily checks for sure. Also a good way to track progress of a long job.


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## MarkyMark (Jan 31, 2009)

Unless you are talking about bid jobs, where you want to get feed back on your bidding accuracy, there is really no reason to do so.


On bid jobs you can put job names on your material orders and key the job in as a sub category of material expense on Quickbooks for each job if you have Quickbooks Contractor, or make up a different job material expense account for each job if you have Quickbooks Pro.


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## gerrywilson (May 16, 2013)

Use time tracking website or software to track labor's time and to know what they are doing.


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## Going_Commando (Oct 1, 2011)

Plus it has another sheet that is just quantity + material boxes. Took me all of 10 minutes to make in MS Word (didn't even bother with excel), and works.


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## gerrywilson (May 16, 2013)

Labor time tracking software can be made specifically for a company, according to company needs.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

How come every single time I go to India , just about every single person I meet is named Gerry Wilson?


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## magneticpersona (Apr 28, 2012)

There are a few ways to do this:

-get your employee to write down whatever they use
-have your wholesaler put an order number on each bill coresponding to the job, and add them up at the end of the job
-make a list before hand and use that as your guide and add to it if more is needed.


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## GEMBD (Oct 7, 2014)

im trying a new system for this also. decided to keep all info for each job in a sectioned folder, with the estimate always first,next a time sheet that has columns for EMPLOYEE NAME-HRS WORKED-DESCRIPTION (Of what they completed that day) that way i have how long it took and the basic material used. next is change order forms, carbon copy so one stays there, and last is where i collect any receipts, change orders, partial payment receipt... hope this may give you an idea for yourself


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

macmikeman said:


> Weigh your van before and after each little service call. Make sure to fill the gas tank both times...............





macmikeman said:


> How come every single time I go to India , just about every single person I meet is named Gerry Wilson?


You know, sometimes it is fun as hell to go back and see what I have posted a year or more ago that I have completely forgot. :laughing: I should get a trophy for some of this stuff.............


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## GEMBD (Oct 7, 2014)

Ha i didn't even look at the dates


-Louisiana


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## 3DDesign (Oct 25, 2014)

QuickBooks Pro and learn to use it.


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