It is critical for business owners in the construction industry to know where they stand financially at any time during a project. They need this awareness to be able to assess and foresee the prospective profitability of the project and the business.
Fortunately, company owners can rely on management tools like job costing to estimate the impact of business actions on future performance. The job costing process keeps track of the costs of delivering service so that a company can determine or meet its gross profit margin goals. It entails identifying and adding up expenses for items that fall into three main categories: labour, materials, and overhead.
Job order costs can help businesses determine whether or not a job is profitable. It also aids the firm in estimating the cost of supplies, labour, and overhead that will be incurred throughout a project. The information process produces information that can allow for more precise client billing and generate better estimates for similar projects in the future. Efficient job costing enables businesses to provide competitive and profitable estimates.
Over time, a job order costing system develops into a valuable database of job details and expenses. The data may be utilised as empirical data to assist the firm in evaluating its efficiency and cutting expenses by modifying operations, methods, or workforce.
Calculating Job Order Costs
Job costing aims to provide the management with both micro and macro-level cost information. It should cover every expenditure, from payroll through site excavation, foundation pouring, and other activities until the project is complete.
The first stage of job costing is determining the job and assessing the factors affecting and outcomes resulting from the project. This is crucial since it allows the management to estimate the tasks the workers will be doing.
The next step is figuring out the cost of doing the job. Expenses are usually classified into one of three categories:
Material costs
These are the prices paid for components or ingredients that are required throughout the production process. Based on their traceability to the product, these costs are categorised as direct or indirect costs.
If the raw material used to create the product is one of the necessities and is directly utilised in the product, they are direct expenses. Wood, concrete, steel, electric wire, and other materials utilised in the creation of your project are examples of direct materials or pieces. Fasteners, fittings, safety equipment like gloves and helmets, glue, tape, and lubricants are examples of indirect materials that are frequently acquired in large quantities and may be used for several jobs.
Labour Costs
Most construction companies’ main expense is labour; therefore, keeping track of spending for crew members and subcontractors is critical. Worker’s compensation, overtime hours, and any other related expenditures are included in labour costs.
Overhead Expenses
These costs of running the business are not linked to delivering a construction service but are nevertheless allocated to the projects to develop a more realistic costs report. This includes expenses such as utilities, cost of subcontractors, cleaning supplies, machinery depreciation, insurance, and property taxes. Overheads are totalled and included in the final cost sheet, which is then charged to the completed project. In some companies, these costs are difficult to measure accurately, so they set a certain percentage for overhead.
These expenses should be sorted into direct and indirect expenses. Classifying them gives the management more perspective and enables them to adjust their spending accordingly. Adding all these costs arrives at an estimate of the entire cost of executing the job for the client.
Construction job costing provides a clear image of where money is going. The tool can make it easier to compare estimates with the actual project costs, allowing the company to determine if expenses are in accordance with the budget.
Job costing also aids the businesses in maintaining a healthy cash flow and profit margin by closely monitoring every expense. With it, managers can readily detect cost overruns or possible material mismanagement that can have an impact on the bottom line. They can also resolve certain concerns mid-project if a specific activity or area is taking longer than expected or costing more than anticipated. Job costing reports may also be used to look for trends to analyse how initiatives stack up against one another.
Automated Job Costing with Construction Management Software
Various industries have been using job costing because of its ability to measure the real cost of products and services. Decades before, the process used to be time-consuming and involved a lot of physical labour. Fortunately, businesses can now employ, optimise, and automate job costing with construction management software for builders and contractors.
Using construction management software like Bizprac, job managers may rapidly and precisely assign expenses to certain activities. They may check macro-level views of work costs, dive down into particular regions, and see when and where money was spent. Additionally, the software’s previous data can help in future bidding on comparable tasks.
Bizprac also delivers both convenience and functionality in one program. For example, the user can simply enter the purchase order number, and all the data will be taken directly from that source document. The organisation can also make vendor payments individually or in a batch.
Employees may now use a smartphone to log data on each work, client, product, or service. This allows them to update figures in the office or on the field. The inputted information will be instantly sent into the system in real-time.
Bizprac is an Australian-owned and operated construction management system designed specifically to support the Australian construction industry. It is a fully integrated and constantly developing software system that offers comprehensive features like estimating, job costing, accounting, single-touch payroll, purchasing, builder retentions, etc. Bizprac is designed to ensure users make the maximum profit on each project. It is also backed by an industry-leading Australian-based support team that knows the industry inside and out.
Request a free trial today or contact us at sales@bizprac.com to get in touch with one of our team members.
