Production-based estimating converts square footage into measurable labor hours — making your pricing explainable, repeatable, and defensible.
| Item | Hours | Cost Rate | Unit Rate | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chemical Strip (Paper Removal) | 9.60 | $1.34 | $1.49/SF | $712.85 |
| Wash Off Heavy Paste | 1.92 | $0.35 | $0.39/SF | $185.34 |
| Total | 11.52 | — | — | $898.19 |
This is an example for illustration purposes only. The pricing shown above is not “your price.” It demonstrates how production-based estimating converts square footage into measurable labor hours.
Your actual pricing should always be configured using FALIB® reporting first, where your fully burdened hourly rate and break-even position are established before estimating begins.
At larger job levels — especially when estimating from drawings or blueprints — production speeds matter. Most commercial clients (and many residential clients) will not accept “time and material” proposals with a flat hourly rate. Your competitors likely rely on historical production tracking to calculate labor hours with accuracy because they’ve done it before.
Wallpaper removal is one item. Washing paste is a separate item. They are not grouped — they operate at different production speeds. Wall repairs are another item. Spot patching has its own productivity factor. Full skim coating is a separate scope. Sanding, priming/sealing, and finish coats are all individual items and should be structured independently.
Best practice: separate each item, use your historical production rates, and apply your own hourly rate established through FALIB®. Then, through the Estimational Stack™, you generate break-even cost per item, unit rate, and sell rate — with labor hours defined per task.
Having a structured system that works from financial base to production rate allows you to estimate jobs of any complexity with clarity and control.
February 8th 2022, by SERVVIAN.