Unit price quantities the GC won't approve
Agree on the measuring method and the quantity in writing before you bill.
On unit price work, the GC pays for what you installed, and that number is a count that two people can see differently. Your foreman says 800 feet, the GC's inspector says 740, and the pay app stalls while you argue. Meanwhile the crew keeps working, so the dispute grows with every week. The fastest way to lose this fight is to bring a number without proof, because the GC's inspector always has a clipboard.
Three moves, in order
What CFOS does about it
CFOS supports unit price pay apps with G702 and G703 forms, so quantities and unit prices live next to the schedule of values and retainage. Dailies include the foreman's crew, equipment and photos, which gives you a dated record of what was installed each day. Job cost is compared by cost code against the budget from your estimate and updated every hour, so you can check whether the quantity you're billing makes sense against your hours and material. Revisions are kept on pay apps, which helps when a quantity is agreed after the first submittal. The PM also gets pay app due date reminders, so the quantity conversation starts early.
Who owns this: Project manager, with the foreman.
At $6M, one quantity dispute repeated on a dozen pay apps grows.
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Step 06: Project management
Billing dates, change orders, and notices, written as standards that work without anyone following up on them.
Other problems step 06 solves
Other things that go wrong
What owners ask
Unit price billing quantities dispute?
Agree on the measuring method and the quantity in writing before you bill. On unit price work, the GC pays for what you installed, and that number is a count that two people can see differently. Your foreman says 800 feet, the GC's inspector says 740, and the pay app stalls while you argue. Meanwhile the crew keeps working, so the dispute grows with every week. The fastest way to lose this fight is to bring a number without proof, because the GC's inspector always has a clipboard.
Which part of the system fixes this?
The step is number 06, project management. Billing dates, change orders, and notices, written as standards that work without anyone following up on them. It's drawn from chapter 6 of CONTROL: C.F.O.S. Construction Financial Operating System.
Is this normal for my trade?
Across the 48 trades that publish a figure, net profit at $1M to $5M averages 7% before taxes. If you're well under that and this page describes your month, the two are usually the same story. The published average tells you where the pack is, and your own job costing tells you where you are, which is the number that pays payroll.
Where do I start?
Find the measurement method in the contract for each pay item, whether it's by station, by plan quantity, by delivered ticket or by measured in place, and write it on the job folder.
Who decides the quantity on a unit price contract?
The contract does, usually through a measurement clause that says who measures and how. On many public jobs the owner's inspector has the final call. Read it before you start, since it decides whose number wins.
What proof helps the most in a quantity dispute?
Dated photos with a location, signed daily reports, delivery tickets and the inspector's own notes. Anything written down at the time of the work has more weight than a number you put together later. Keep it all in the job folder so it's there when you need it.
Should I keep working while a quantity is in dispute?
Usually yes, so the GC can't claim you caused a delay, but email that you're proceeding under protest of the quantity. Keep your own count current each day so the difference doesn't grow. Check your notice requirements, since some contracts have short deadlines.
Can I fix this without touching anything else?
You can try, and it doesn't hold. Step 06 depends on step 04, estimating system. Install it ahead of that and it produces numbers the field won't trust, which is worse than the problem you started with.
Wrote CONTROL, the 8 step system behind these figures. More about the author.