Estimation of hour

[Liefooghe]

I'm looking for a program or excel sheet which can tell me how much hours it will take to install a pipingsystem.

Taking care of welding, fittings, screwing, flanges, valves, supporting...

Shop and field work seperated if possible.

With kind regards,

Liefooghe Jan

 

[Montemayor]

Lantyr:

Before you obtain the spreadsheet numbers and estimates you solicit, it should be noted that this information is useless if not analyzed or scrutinized by an experienced person. Otherwise, how can you place faith in the estimates? My point here is that if you, yourself, have no experience in installing, welding, screwing or fitting a piping system, how can you decide to use other's estimates? In my experience, an engineer that works in this area has either the experience or the "feel" for the numbers because he/she are fully capable of generating credible and accurate estimates themselves.

Estimating man-hours required to do work is something that all engineers involved in the fieldwork itself are capable of doing. It's common knowledge and hands-on ability that form the practical and credible estimate. Every estimate has a basis and purpose known to the originator/author. The basis is composed of much basic data: site, specific conditions, location, labor, union/non-union, type of materials, weather, season, etc. I assume you are an engineer and are able to "digest" all these variables. Otherwise, the estimates will seem to be all over the place and not make any sense.

Art Montemayor
Spring, TX

 

[PEDARRIN2]

You are right on with that.

When I was a rookie at estimating for a contractor and could never seem to get good estimates (ones that got jobs).

It was not until I hooked up with somebody who actually knew how long it took to sweat a joint to understand how it works.

Anybody can put numbers together, but unless they know how realistic they are, they are just numbers on a piece of paper or computer spreadsheet.

 

[1969grad]

As a starting point get a copy of Page's Piping Manhour Manual and build your own spreadsheet. You will have to add the labor rates which include overheads and any efficiency for your area. Also, you will have to add equipment costs such as welders, cherry pickers, etc.

Don't forget supervision.

Suggest you get the help of a skilled estimator to be sure you include all the indirect costs.

This is not a simple task so expect to spend a lot of time developing the spreadsheet which is why no one will give you one for free.

Another source is Richardson's Estimating Manual.

 

[Liefooghe]

I will keep that in mind.