You priced a bathroom at £3,550 of labour, you charge £30 an hour, and the job's running over five days. Halfway through you want to know: how much of that £3,550 have the hours already used?
That's Charged so far. It sits on the job, under What this job cost you.
Link the job to its estimate
A big job is often a run of day-jobs in the diary, and the estimate sits on a job of its own. So each day needs to know which estimate it belongs to.
On the job, pick the estimate under Which estimate is this job part of? and tap Link. Do it on each day of the work. The estimate's own job counts without being linked.
Tell it two things, once
- Your hourly rate. If your price list has a "Labour" item charged per hour, Mucka uses that, with any uplift you've set for that customer or area. If it hasn't, type your rate and tap Add to price list — quotes and invoices can then use it too. Charging differently on this job? Change sets a rate for this estimate only.
- How much of the estimate is labour, ex VAT. The hours are measured against this, not the materials. If the labour lines came from your price list, Mucka suggests the figure for you to check.
What it shows
- Time so far — the hours logged against every job on that estimate, including any still waiting for your approval, because the warning is only any use early.
- At your rate — those hours at your hourly rate.
- Labour priced — the figure you gave it, with a bar showing how much is used and how many hours are left at that rate. It goes amber at 80% and red once it's over.
If you use Timesheets, the hours come from there. If you don't, Mucka uses each job's own start and finish times.
A heads-up at 80%
When the hours on an estimate reach 80% of the labour you priced, a card turns up in your actions the next morning: which estimate, how far through it you are, and a short email to the customer, ready to send. It tells them you're getting close to the time you allowed and it may come in a bit higher, and it doesn't put any figures in front of them.
Read it, change the wording if you like, and tap Email the customer. Nothing goes until you do. Dismiss it and that estimate won't ask again. If there's no email on file for them, the card says so and you can give them a ring instead.
There's no card once every job on the estimate is finished, or if you haven't told it the labour figure yourself.
Worth knowing
- It's the rate you charge, not what you pay. What the wages cost you is in What this job cost you above it. The two are never mixed.
- Days logged as days aren't counted. A day rate is a day, not a number of hours, so Mucka says how many there are rather than guessing.
- Only you and anyone allowed to see job costings see it. Your engineers and subcontractors never see your charge rate.