,Scltedule Prictn{ vertu! *Estimatln{ tf Our Losses"

By Lester G. Sterett Secretary, Millwork In*itute of California

In a mid-western community some years ago, the story is told of a traveling salesman who called upon a farmer so-liciting him to subscribe to the up-to-date'farm journal which he represented. "This magazine," he said, "contains all the latest information on how to'manage a farm economically and how to cultivate the soil so that it will produce maximum crops. You should be farming by more-improved methods so that you and your family might enjoy a_greater profit from your labors." The farmer replibd: 'f do.n't need your magazine; I cannot use all I know ibout rarmrng now."

Ev_e_ry millman understands his business quite thorough- ly. He understands how to detail into the factory and" is usually expert in all the details of preparing material and manufacturing millwork items. There is very little disag'reement -among them as to the cost of stiiking finish, mortising doors, nailing-up frames or any of the other detailed operatiohs of the business. Ilowever, when these facts are applied by the various mills in arriving at a selllng pnce, the resultant figures are notoriously wide apart.

In the pricing of casewolk as an example, one man builds up from his detailed costs a price per linbal foot for various llPes; another figures a cost per thousand board feet of lu_mber used; another figures ihe material separately and adds the labor operations-. All these methods are based on similar b-ase figures and any one of them is theoretically correct; but the results obtained produce a wide variation in the figures which are quoted. -

In the development of Standard Millwork Schedules, ryhic-h recently were published by the Millwork Institute of California after some three and -one-half vears of constant and painstaking work, the problem of the Schedules Committees has been to work out a schedule which would standardize the method of applying the factors afiecting the selling price. In doing this thJcommittees have mad"e use of the best methods previously employed by the different firms.

T4. geaeral scheme adopted is separate pricing of material and labor, This is jult what every milt-an- has endeavored to do one way or another, in-principle at least. This general plan has been followed throughout the Schedules and the operations included in each itEm are explained in each section of the book. The Finish Section, which contains material prices, includes, however, such labor ope_rations as cost of sticking, Surfacing, cutting to length and takes care of the wastes and handling atlendant-to these ope-rations. Therefore, when these material prices a-re used for the price of material for frames, for insiance, there remains only to be added the labor necessarv for machine and bench work in the frame department. - In other words, the material price is up to the frame department; and the Frame Section of the Schedules includei the machine and bench labor necessary in that department.

As an example, in the Fram'e Section, we have a base labor price which covers the mai4 part of the frame consisting of machine and bench labof necessary to machine and nail up two side jambs, the head and sill. In a frame further detailed, we add the operations which make the frame worth more, namely, attiching blind stops, outside casings, detail sills, plaster moulds, e1c.

In compiling the labor figures, the hours required for ea.9!r op_e_rqlion have been taken from the records of many mills. Uniform rates per hour have been used for machinl time and for bench time and these amounts have been multiplied by four to produci the list price in the_ Schedules. Whether or not the rates per houi used are the same as used in every plant is of minor importance if the proper ratio is maintained. That is, if it requires four tihes as mucJr labor to produce the base frame for a sash as it does to apply a blind stop, or three times as much as it does to apply the outside casing, then one discount from all prices in that segtion will give a balanced selling price.

The Standard Millwork Schedules can be easili ihecked as the TIME for each operation can be substitut-ed for the LIST PRICE and the actual numbers of HOURS OF LABOR SOLD can be figured before the job is started in the facto_ry. -This _not only permits checking the accuracy of the Schedules, but also establishes a method of produciion control not heretofore developed. Ho;v would ycju as a mill operator like to always know, before you put- an order in the _factory, just exactly how many hours of labor yo'n have allowed in the selling price, for your men to produce the order? A full use of the Schedules permits qhis infor-. mation to become known, therefore it mav be obsirved that the Schedules are something more than lust pages of dollars-and-cents figures.

The ir-rdustry- has done altogether too much figuring af cost. The Institute has no discount to recommena wLich I will produce such a figure. We do suggest, however, a' discount of_65per cent off as a figure whic-h wil,l give a fair return o.n the investment.

-The adoption and use of the Schedules by all the mills of the State cannot help but benefit the industry. When our associations function locally, the Sche(lules-will give them a basis to work from; and when she is wide o[en, they will level out our prices to at least some bottom discount below which mills will hesitate to go. This will ke.ep jobs from going at a figure actually bilow cost to a mill whose present method of figuring happens to give them a low bid on that particular job, wfrictr ij tow beciuse their. peculiar method. of figuring seems favoreble to the requirements of that job only.

The method of figuring used in the Schedules has been 1n operation in a number of firms since its adoption in the Schedules. It has therefore already had the benefit of practical application. Rapidity of eslimating, sequence of listing, flexibility in pricing ditailed items, f-*t".y control and cost checking-all these elements are .woven into the (Continued on Page 70.)