Field-verified production rates: the only number that matters in your cost database

Published unit prices are a starting point. The number that wins or loses your proposal is what your crew actually puts in place. Here's how to build that loop.

Pick up any cost reference book and look up "place 5000 psi concrete, slab on grade." You'll find a number, maybe $185–$220 per cubic yard installed, with a labour productivity of around 0.45 manhours per cubic yard.

That number is an average. Average of what? Average of every job in every region with every crew composition in every weather window. It is correct exactly nowhere.

Your proposal is not on every job. Your proposal is on this job, with your crew, in your region. The published rate is a starting point. The number that actually decides whether you make money is the rate your crew actually puts in place.

A field-verified rate is built from your own jobs. Three numbers feed it:

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