Labor units

Definition

The estimating standard that assigns an install time to every device, fitting and foot of wire.

Why It Matters

An electrical bid is built by counting material off the drawings, multiplying by labor units, then adjusting for site conditions. The adjustment is where a shop wins or loses, because the same takeoff at a different factor is a different bid. Ask which reference the estimator works from and whether finished jobs are compared back against the estimate that won them. A shop that never closes that loop is bidding from memory, and its margin depends on who estimated the job more than on what the job was.