Check person-hours, crew-hours and travel in HVAC estimate drafts

Write the unit beside every allowance

Gather the approved estimating assumptions for one defined scope: crew size, estimated on-site duration, travel assumption, included setup, exclusions and the approved internal cost basis. Keep elapsed crew time separate from person-hours. AI can organize the assumptions and identify inconsistent units, but the estimator owns the quantities and the financial owner approves the costing basis.

This worksheet does not set employee pay, calculate payroll, interpret overtime rules or decide how long technical work should take. Do not replace an unknown duration with a model’s estimate. If the scope or staffing assumption is unresolved, flag the total as preliminary rather than producing a firm labor price.

Reconcile a fictional allowance

Assume an approved example uses two people for three on-site hours each. That is six person-hours. At a fictional internal allowance of $65 per person-hour, the on-site amount is $390. If each person also has half an hour of included travel, travel adds one person-hour and $65, making the limited allowance $455. These supplied figures are not wage rates, industry norms or a complete selling price.

A common error is applying $65 to three elapsed hours and forgetting the second person. Another is adding travel twice because it appears in both a crew duration and a separate line. Display the included activities beside each calculation so a reviewer can find overlaps. Taxes, overhead and any other excluded categories stay explicitly outside the example.

Release the assumptions with the approved estimate

Use a calculator or spreadsheet to verify the arithmetic independently. Have estimating confirm scope, staffing and time units, and have the appropriate cost owner confirm what the internal allowance includes. A correct multiplication cannot validate an unsupported staffing or productivity assumption.

Keep the approved worksheet version with the quote so later estimate-versus-actual review can compare like units. If the scope changes, prepare a new reviewed assumption sheet rather than silently revising the historical baseline. The assistant should not alter timesheets, rates, staffing assignments or customer pricing. Test with fictional mixed-unit and duplicate-travel examples, measuring detected errors and reviewer correction effort instead of claiming automatic margin improvement.

Release checklist

• Label crew-hours and person-hours explicitly.
• List included travel and setup once.
• Use only the supplied approved costing basis.
• Review assumptions as well as arithmetic before release.

Source context and limits

Jobber documents timesheet records. This proposed estimating-unit check and fictional allowance are independent of payroll processing, employee compensation and actual job-duration validation.