At the heart of every Job Order Contracting program is a unit
price book, the document
that will be used to price every Job Order. The quality and content of the unit
price book is critical to the success of any program. Loose, general or
incomplete task descriptions, inaccurate pricing, and missing tasks all put a
strain on the relationship with the contractor as the parties work through the
tough pricing issues. On the other hand, a clear and comprehensive unit price
book allows the parties to focus on completing projects. That is how Job Order
Contracting is supposed to work.
When selecting a unit price book, keep in mind that a
Job Order Contract is not an estimate, it
is a contract, and must be written like a contract. For this reason,
off-the-shelf estimating books do not work well for Job Order Contracting. They
are written for estimating construction costs and as a result have vague task
descriptions, a limited number of tasks and few demolition prices. This is fine for doing construction estimates but
does not work for Job Order
Contracting.
Unlike estimating guides, a
Job Order Contracting unit price book must be
specific because together with the specifications, it describes the work the
contractor is obligated to perform. A comprehensive and detailed price book will
save you countless hours and dollars with your Job Order Contracting system.
Here are a few of the things you want to look for in a unit price book:
Comprehensive: The unit price book must contain nearly all the tasks that you plan to
accomplish with your Job Order Contracting system. Tasks that are not included
in your price book can be added during the course of the contract but they must
be negotiated. Some of the advantages of Job Order Contracting are lost when tasks are not in the
unit price book.
Detailed: The task descriptions should spell out
exactly what is included in the task and when and where the task should be used. It should also include information indicating if it is
appropriate to use the task with other related tasks. These descriptions are
critical for the proper use of the unit price book. General or vague task
descriptions will result in the misuse of the unit price book, higher project costs
and unworkable bid factors.
Accurate: The tasks in the unit price book should be priced using local
labor, material and equipment costs. Unit price
books using national averages are not appropriate for Job Order Contracting even
when using local indices. The pricing in these books is consistently unbalanced. Local pricing is the best way to get a balanced book
with correct pricing for your area and will result in lower project costs.
The Gordian Group publishes
the most comprehensive price book in the industry.
We use only local pricing, and customize the tasks for every owner. We will also add specific tasks that the
owner needs based on its standard specifications. Our books
are more like catalogs with detailed descriptions for each task.
That is why we call it a
Construction Task Catalog®. If you are doing Job Order
Contracting you will want to do it with one of our
Construction Task Catalogs®.