Set Up Labor and Workweek

Part of setting up your Buildwise account is setting some labor defaults that will help with estimate calculations and determine your pay periods. You can come back and edit this information at any time. 

In this article, we’ll go over how to locate and fill out your labor preferences.

• Locate Labor Preferences
• Hours Per Day
• Average Estimated Labor
• Start Date of Work Week
• Pay Period Frequency
• Save Preferences

Locate Labor Preferences

Click Settings at the bottom of the left sidebar. If the left sidebar is collapsed, click the gear icon. 

The Settings page displays. Scroll to the Preferences section. 

Hours Per Day

The Hours Per Day is the number of billable hours your employees work onsite each day. 

Hours Per Day is used to calculate the number of Total Project Days left within a cost group and/or the project as a whole. 

Remaining (Days) = ([Estimate Hours + Change Order Hours] - Hours Act.) / Hours Per Day

To calculate the number of Person Days you have left on a project, divide the Remaining (Days) value by the number of people working on the project. 

Enter the average Hours Per Day that each team member will typically work per day.

Average Estimated Labor 

The Average Estimated Labor Rate field sets a default labor rate used when creating estimates and change orders. The purpose of this setting is that as you build estimates and change orders, and you select "labor" as the cost of goods, this rate will populate in the "unit cost" column. This saves you time as you won't have to enter this in for every line in your estimates or change orders.

If you use different rates depending on the skill level of the team member, enter the most common one you use. You can over type this rate when building estimates and change orders for the other team member inputs.

Crew Rates

Some clients like to estimate using a "crew rate" which is 2-3 team members.

In Buildwise, we do not support this model as it will not properly allow you to track labor hours in our reports as the hours you enter would be for the crew, and not the individuals. However, when the entire crew tracks their time, you will have 2 or 3 times the number of hours therefore indicating you are over budget.

Need help with determining your Labor Burden?

• Refer to the article Team Member Pay and Charge Rates.
• Contact us for one-on-one support in our Help Center chat feature.

Start Date of Work Week

The Start Date of Work Week field is the date your pay period begins. Pay periods are determined using this Date and the Pay Period Frequency you select.

Initial setup

When setting up preferences, you can select today or any date after today for the start of the pay period (typically Monday). If you select a date after today, then the days between today and the day before the pay period starts become its own pay period. 

• For example, if today is Friday, 10/21/23, and I set the first start of the work week as Monday, 10/30/2023, then the first pay period will be 10/21/23 - 10/29/23 to cover those in-between days. The rest of the pay periods will begin on the selected start of the work week (10/30/23) and continue following the selected Pay Period Frequency. 

Enter a date in MM/DD/YY format or click the calendar icon to select a date. 

Edit Start Date of Work Week

You can edit the Start of Work Week at any time. If you change a start of work date to a future date, the days between will be added to the first new pay period. 

• For example, if a pay period was supposed to end on Sunday, 2/4/24, and you make the new start of work date Friday, 2/9/24, then 2/24-2/8/24 will be added into the first new pay period.

Pay Period Frequency

The Pay Period Frequency is the fixed time frame for which employees are paid. It starts on the Start of Work Week date selected and continues for the length of time selected here. 

Initial setup

Select Weekly or Bi-Weekly (every two weeks). 

Edit Pay Period

You can edit the frequency of your pay periods at any time. When you make changes, the changes take effect on the next pay period.

• For example, if you have been using Buildwise for at least one pay period and change the pay period start date, the days between the end of the current pay period and the start of the new pay period are added to the next pay period.

Save Preferences

When you have entered all Preferences, scroll down below the Finance section and click Save.