Subcontractor Unit Costs

NOTE-- MacNail estimating was retired in 2000, and replaced with Goldenseal construction estimating software. There are still die-hard MacNail users, so we keep the manuals online for them! Goldenseal also includes accounting, scheduling and contract writing features. It lets you set up unit cost assemblies for subcontracted work, or you can enter price quotes as subcontractor bids.

Subcontractor Unit Costs

If a subcontractor gives you a price quote based on square feet or some other measurement, use the same procedure that you'd use to calculate unit prices from a 'rule of thumb'.

If you sometimes subcontract a particular task and sometimes do it with your own crew, you may want to have two separate Specifications line items for the two cases.

EXAMPLE: In the illustration above, 1/2" wallboard may be either subcontracted, or done on a Labor and Materials basis. The MacNail construction estimating software uses different unit prices for each method.