Equipment Cost per Hour

Accurate hourly equipment rates can make all the difference in whether a heavy highway contractor makes or loses money on a job. If a D-9 has an actual cost rate of $300 because of major repair costs, and your estimator used $250 per hour in his bid, the job is losing you money before it even starts. Accurate hourly costs are needed to make buy-sell-rent decisions for each piece of equipment. ComputerEase handles equipment as its own profit and loss statement. The equipment cost system tracks each element of hourly cost. Fuel, major repairs, maintenance costs, depreciation, and other costs are tracked through the accounting system. Payroll, accounts payable, and inventory post to the equipment module with one entry.

Unit Costing for Heavy Highway Contractors

Using unit costs is the best method of measuring job performance for an equipment-oriented contractor. Since most Heavy Highway contractors estimate by the unit, job cost should track the actual unit cost against the estimate. Having unit costs gives the project manager better tools to work with. Throughout the job, the project manager can compare the actual rate of unit production with the estimated rate. Projecting revised estimates is a lot easier when the actual rate of unit productivity is known. For example, if 50% of the units are complete and 40% of the costs are incurred, the project manager knows he is ahead of schedule. Scheduling is more accurate when past performance is used to forecast future performance. The Job Cost Management Center has all the tools a heavy highway contractor needs to manage a job.

Major Equipment Repair History

Major repair costs can be the largest component of the hourly cost for a piece of equipment. Tracking repair costs is very important to the equipment-oriented contractor. The buy-sell-rent decision is difficult to make if major repair costs aren’t known. The ComputerEase equipment cost module is fully integrated with accounting. This means all costs are posted to the equipment’s major repair file. The mechanics payroll is automatically posted to the equipment detail records with one entry. Parts and supplies are posted from accounts payable and inventory systems. You’re able to keep track of equipment costs accurately with no extra work. You can even print work orders from the accounting system to help control the shop’s workload. See the Equipment Management system for more.

Scheduled Equipment Maintenance

Preventive maintenance can save thousands of dollars of major repairs on heavy equipment, and ComputerEase makes it simple to prepare maintenance schedules. As equipment hours are posted, the system is updated and notifies the mechanic of upcoming maintenance. For example, if oil and lube is due every 200 hours, the system uses a message system to alert mechanics that the equipment has operated for 200 hours and needs oil and lube. Not only are mechanics notified when to perform maintenance, they also receive a work order with the required parts and a description of the work that needs to be done. The shop inventory ensures that parts aren’t out of stock when work is due. See the Equipment Management system for more.

Unit Billing for Heavy Highway Contractors

ComputerEase has a full-featured, easy-to-use unit billing system. Most contractors use an AIA or some other form of contract lump sum billing. Since heavy-highway contractors estimate by the unit, billing is done by the unit as well. This gives the contractor a clear picture of unit profits. The project manager simply enters the units completed for the week and posts them to the billing system. When it is time to do invoicing, a pencil copy is produced to be emailed to the customer. Any changes are made and the invoice is automatically printed with the system. Job costs and accounts receivable are automatically updated. Accurate and timely invoices make a contractor look more professional to their customers. The Accounts Receivable Management Center has all the tools necessary for a heavy highway contractor to manage billing.

Payroll for Heavy Highway Contractors

ComputerEase makes preparing payroll for a heavy highway contractor easy. You can enter payroll information for operators at the same time as you enter equipment usage. This saves duplicate key entries from another subsystem . It also makes it easy for payroll operators to get their time entered on one screen. Units completed can be entered on the same screen. Imagine, in one operation, entering operator's time for paychecks, equipment time to the job, and the units completed to update billing, all at the same time.

The payroll system in ComputerEase is a full-featured construction payroll system that handles difficult tasks like multi-state, multi-local, different worker classes, prevailing wages, EEOC compliance, and even union calculations. The Payroll Management Center gives the heavy highway contractor a central location to work on all their payroll needs.