Earned hours against actual hours: the productivity factor in one weekly table
The drywall coordinator receives weekly timesheets for a seniors' residence. Boarding has consumed more hours than its completed quantities earn at the estimate's rate, while taping looks better. Management asks for the likely finishing hours, not another unexplained percentage.
Earned hours are the estimated labour allowance attached to the quantity actually completed. For this table, define the productivity factor as earned hours divided by actual person-hours: above one means more estimated allowance earned per hour spent. Write that definition on the sheet because another company may label the reciprocal differently. The measure compares performance with this estimate; it does not establish a universal trade rate or prove why a crew is behind.
Make the table and forecast checkable
- Match scope and cost codes. Identify the measured task, accepted quantity, estimate allowance and actual hours included. Reconcile shared labour, preparation and rework consistently. A factor is misleading when the estimate excludes support that the actual-hours column includes.
- Calculate the earned allowance. Multiply accepted completed units by the estimate's person-hours per unit. Retain both inputs beside the result. If the scope or estimating basis changes, show the authorized revised basis separately instead of silently rewriting historical comparisons.
- Use one ratio definition. Divide earned hours by matching actual hours for this factor. Label units and period, and retain the totals. If actual hours are zero or missing, show the calculation as unavailable and resolve the record; do not insert a convenient factor of one.
- Read the trend with the foreman. Compare like periods and investigate changed access, stocking, sequence, work mix or recording boundaries. Check small samples before extrapolating. A ratio below one describes a difference from the allowance, not an accusation or a diagnosis.
- Forecast the remaining package. Calculate its estimated earned allowance, then divide by a supported continuing factor for this defined method. State that this assumes comparable remaining work and conditions. Add actual hours to date for a total forecast and keep unrelated scope separately assessed.
- Record a decision and revisit it. Give any practical change an owner and review point. Compare its later quantity and hours on the same basis before changing the forecast factor. Record a range or unresolved assumption where evidence does not support one precise finish number.
Common mistakes
- Mixing opposite ratio definitions.
- Using delivered quantities as accepted completed work.
- Projecting an unmatched work mix with one factor.
- Treating an intended improvement as an achieved rate.
Action list
Beside the weekly labour forecast
- Keep matched scope and records.
- Show quantity times estimated hours per unit.
- Define earned divided by actual explicitly.
- Investigate trends with the foreman.
- State remaining-work assumptions.
- Review changes against later evidence.
Check your understanding
A report says the factor is 1.1 but does not define its numerator. Can you conclude the crew is ahead?
