Cost tracking, productivity and profitability
What a job cost is made of, how strips per sheet, hems and piece length drive a flashing job, and how to compare actual hours and material with a baseline. Covers earned value, percent complete, margin versus markup and the checks that make the numbers trustworthy.
4 lessons · about 53 min · 12 diagrams · 0 videos
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Lesson 1 · 13 min · 11 slides · 10 questions
Cost tracking, productivity and profitability: principles and terminology
What a job cost is made of, direct and indirect cost, time tickets, what productivity measures, why productive is not the same as profitable, and what AFS does and does not record about a job.
You will be able to: Define a job cost, separate direct from indirect cost, state what productivity is and is not, tell productive from profitable, and state the safety boundary that no cost target moves.
Not startedStart →Lesson 2 · 13 min · 12 slides · 9 questions
Cost tracking, productivity and profitability: cost drivers, units and standards
How AFS's estimating counts a flashing job, why strips per sheet fall in steps, how hems and piece length change yield and waste, and what makes a standard and a progress measure usable.
You will be able to: Name what drives the cost of a bent-metal flashing job, find the strips per sheet for a flat width, read waste from a cut plan, and state what a usable standard and a usable progress measure look like.
Not startedStart →Lesson 3 · 14 min · 12 slides · 10 questions
Cost tracking, productivity and profitability: methods and worked application
The weekly loop, a job cost sheet, three worked examples in sheets and hours, forecasting a finish, why percent complete can mislead, a learning-curve model, and the difference between margin and markup.
You will be able to: Run the weekly job-cost loop, compute a material quantity variance, a labor time variance and an earned value checkpoint with its forecast range, read a percent complete critically, and convert margin and markup.
Not startedStart →Lesson 4 · 13 min · 12 slides · 9 questions
Cost tracking, productivity and profitability: defects, verification and case study
Late postings and catch-all codes, estimate and actual on different bases, indexes that can be wrong, managing to the variance, a weekly set of checks, a case study of an optimistic labor-hour assumption, and what a job-cost packet holds.
You will be able to: Diagnose a cost-tracking defect, verify the data before trusting an index, learn from a documented estimate that assumed too much improvement, and document the evidence for review.
Not startedStart →
Practical task
Produce a documented job-cost packet for one FlashDraft template shape of your choice that has published dimensions: work out its flat width, strips per sheet and sheets for a stated quantity, then compare a set of classroom actuals with your own standard, and decide what to check first.
Hand in
- A decision rationale: the template shape chosen, its flat width, strips per sheet, sheet utilisation and planned sheets for your stated quantity, with the formula shown
- An assumptions sheet with units: the standard hours per piece you set, each labelled as your own assumption, and every actual labelled as classroom data
- A calculations page: material quantity variance in sheets, labor time variance in hours, CPI, SPI, a range of estimates at completion and a TCPI, with the sign of each variance explained
- A defect analysis: which tracking defect from the lesson could explain the variances, the weekly check that would confirm or rule it out, and what you would do first
- A one-paragraph safety statement saying which fall-protection and inspection steps stay in place whatever the numbers show
Rubric
| Criterion | Meets the standard when |
|---|---|
| Units and formulas | Every number carries its unit (in, sheets, hours), and each formula is written out before it is used. |
| Yield | Strips per sheet uses the whole number of widths that fit in 48 in, and the width states whether the hem allowance is counted. |
| Variances | Material and labor variances have the correct sign and the unfavorable direction is named, as actual minus standard. |
| Earned value | CPI and SPI are computed from earned value, estimates at completion are shown as a range, and the packet says an index starts a question, not a verdict. |
| Defect analysis | A named tracking defect is tied to a weekly check that could confirm it, and classroom or assumed numbers are labelled as such. |
| Safety | The packet states that no schedule or cost target moves a fall-protection, guarding or inspection step. |