Construction crew
A crew groups workers by the activity at hand: a typical masonry crew pairs a skilled worker (mason) with one or more helpers or laborers; a rebar crew adds steel fixers; a mechanical or electrical crew, plumbers or electricians with their helpers. Each classification has its own wage, so the cost of the crew is the sum of the actual daily wages of its members.
In unit price analysis, labor is not costed per individual worker but per crew: you define its makeup, calculate its daily cost, and divide it by the productivity rate —how many units the crew produces in a day— to get the labor cost per unit of the item. A larger crew costs more per day but can produce more units, so what matters is the cost per unit, not the cost per day.
The wage that goes into the calculation is not the base pay but the fully burdened wage rate (labor burden), which loads statutory benefits, social security and payroll taxes, and non-worked days on top of the base pay. On public works, crews and their productivity rates must be documented in every unit price analysis under the applicable public-tender regulations, and they are a point the awarding agency reviews when comparing bids.
Formula
Example
Masonry crew = 1 skilled worker (600/day) + 1 helper (450/day) = 1,050/day. If it lays 8 m² of brick wall in a day, the labor cost is 1,050 ÷ 8 = 131.25 per m².
| Item | Unit | Quantity | Unit price | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Materials | ||||
| Red clay brick | pza | 42.00 | $6.80 | $285.60 |
| Cement-sand mortar 1:4 | m³ | 0.030 | $2,150 | $64.50 |
| Labor | ||||
| Mason | jor | 0.180 | $520 | $93.60 |
| Laborer | jor | 0.180 | $380 | $68.40 |
| Equipment | ||||
| Small tools 3% | % | — | — | $4.86 |
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the cost of a crew?
You add up the burdened daily wage of each member according to their classification (skilled worker, helper, laborer). That daily cost is then divided by the crew's productivity rate to get the labor cost per unit of work.
What is the difference between a crew and a productivity rate?
The crew is the group of workers and its cost per day; the productivity rate is how many units that group produces in a day. In the unit price analysis they combine: the crew cost divided by the productivity rate gives the labor cost per unit.
Which wage is used to cost a crew?
Not the nominal base wage, but the fully burdened wage rate, which includes statutory benefits, social security and payroll taxes, and non-worked days, so it reflects the real cost of each worker per effective day.