We are attempting to refine our parts tracking. I would be interested in hearing from others how you (or the companies you work for) track the use of cables and parts on projects. For instance, do you track the footage of cable used on jobs? Do you track each $4 part (a Leviton QuickPort adpater for example) used on a job? A .50 Augut connector?

In a nutshell, what do you track and what don't you bother to track (a $.50 part or a $4.00 part) and what processes have helped you streamline it and not waste too much time on it.

Thank you for any input and shared experiences.

I make an initial parts list for the estimate, make sure I have a little above that on hand, and don't worry about it otherwise. What is the benefit of the information?

The only time it matters is on a time+materials job. But, beyond charging for parts used, I don't care about the quantity. To me, an unexpected run to the store costs more.

Larry
www.fineelectricco.com

One benefit is job costing, profit analysis and ultimately profitability. You can see if you are bidding materials correctly, if you are making the profit you think you are, etc. This increases your ability to bid jobs accurately and profitably. A 1000' spool of 2 Rg-6, 2 Cat 5 and 2 fiber runs ~ $800.00. If you underestimate the amount of cable needed by even a few hundred feet, it adds up quickly in lost profits.

The same is true for time, which is easier (but also laborious) to track. If you work on a bid basis and start doing job costing and tracking all your time (NOT only on the jobsite but ALSO working at the office on the project) you can see how much you actually worked on the project versus what you bid on it. The results for those that do this are often shocking the first few times you do it, when you find out that you actually spent twice as much time working on the job as you thought you did.

This message was edited by QQQ on 05/25/03 23:02.

In all our proposals, we charge a percentage of the total figure for miscellaneous parts (Quick ports, wall warts, connectors, wallplates, low voltage rings, etc.). Using this method has never failed us, and we are always covered, and then some.

Wire is always tracked per footage on the job. On our pull schedule, there is a place to write down footage in many collumns. And all the wire we use is marked per foot.

Example:

Wire type--Starting marker----Ending marker-------Total

--Cat-5---------109 ft-----------229 ft----------120 ft

Always works well for us.

JJP

If you don't mind me asking, what is the percentage? Is the percentage fixed or does it vary based on the size of the project?

The software we use allows you to specify the percentage of the overall figure.

We typically use 5% to 10% depending on the scale of the job. Of course there will always be the few projects that require "creative" percentages to balance the scales.

JJP

This message was edited by John Pechulis on 05/27/03 01:05.

This is a huge discussion at my company. Should or shouldn't you inventory cable and small connectors...

Personally, why return 50 feet of High resoution RGBHV cable to the warehouse? You never spec 50 feet of Hi res wire in a job. I think bidding jobs for an amount of cable to the nearest 100 feet is pretty tough to do as is counting up all the connectors you will need. I think charging a base fee for an install is probably a solution and don't worry about the cable shortages. It's minimal in the overall picture. My biggest pet peeve is bidding a job and inventory shows that we have 300 feet of cable...only to find out when the job is pulled from the warehouse that it's in 6-50' lengths. What a waste of time...

But, if you have some hardnosed inventory dudes, there are cable meters that can measure how much is left on a spool of cable...

IMO the time it takes to track small parts is not worth the return. I typically use a 15% upcharge to cover "shop" materials (a throwback to car audio days)in addition to labor charges.

It's easy enough to use cable with foot markings. Mark the beginning marks on each spool as you start a job. (or write them on the job log.)

It depends on the "granularity" you need, but most small items (we don't track screws) are individually packed and we can throw the empty packs into a box as we use them. Later, we'll sumarize them on an invoice.

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I wrote some bid software (don't ask for it, you'd need to be "hare core" to put up with it) that allows me to prepare my bid on a line by line, room by room basis. A "sort" function goes through all the rooms and builds a bill of materials.

The bill of materials is useful when you order and load up for the installation.

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If you go to the trouble of barcoding your inventory, it's a piece of cake.

I have a clipboard hanging on the trailer will all the misc parts and cables listed and all they have to do is put a check next to each item as they take it off. As far as bulk wire pull boxes i made a little label with the date and blank next to it so when they start a job and pull the box off the trailer they can put date and amount of cable in box then repeat when job is finished. this only takes a few moments and can male a great difference in cable tracking. Parts I dont worry about are the free ones or next to free which is nothing and next to nothing. Failing to track your inventory is just bad business. It's times like these you find your self running off to a home depot because of bad tracking you came up a few wall plates short or seeing if they have acceptable 14 gauge 4 conductor to finsh a run to some speakes. Part of being prepared and running smoothly is to take all the knowns out of the equation so that all you are left with are the unforseens and the unknowns. As for charging we do lump all the small parts into a install fee and we only track them for our personal references and ordering. I don't turn around and resubmit an invoice to a slient with 4 more wall plates on it or anything I just like to track what was actually used so i can better keep track of what we have on hand. More for my convience then it is about charging the customer correctly.

I've used the inventory control and purchasing in Quickbooks to track wire by the foot... something I started mainly because of the audit I faced from the revenue service. If you'd like a run down of how to do it it is actually very easy. you can e-mail me rolandm@cuttingedgedesign.tv. We track connectors that cost a couple of bucks but draw trhe line at things like Augat ends. We also do our Leviton by type of connector, not necessarily color. Tracking inventory does help me; my guys hate counting it but I hate losing it.

On our daily field report the guys have a checklist... one item is the question "what parts are we low on" "out of". This information cues me to order more. I can e-mail you our field report which is on Excel if you'd like to look at that as well.