Kit Creation
What are Kits?
Kits are packed together groups of items required for a specific job or part of a job. Some estimating systems refer to kits as ‘assemblies’, but the terms are synonymous. By associating the amount of an item or service (such as labor) required for a base amount of a task (e.g. 4 tons of gravel and 5 hours of labor to complete 100 square feet of Paver Base Preparation), you can quickly calculate the amount of materials and/or labor required for the desired amount of the job you wish to add to an estimate.
Why Use Kits?
Kits are used to streamline the creation of estimates by creating packages of Labor, Materials, Plants, Equipment, Subcontractors or Miscellaneous items that can all be added to an estimate at one time. At its most basic, a kit is a grouping of material and labor related to each other via a series of ratios or conversion factors. It is easy to see how the proper use of kits increases the speed, efficiency and consistency of building an estimate. Instead of adding each item individually to an estimate, you may simply select the required kit and tell Manage360 how much of that kit you will need for the job and the Kit will do the rest.
For example, the Paver Walkway Kit displayed under the Sample Kits section of this document ties together the amounts of paving stone, crusher run, clean fill disposal, and various labor types required to complete one (1) square foot of paving. This can then be multiplied by the number of square feet needed for the job to give the total amount of labor and material involved.
This document will cover the process of establishing your kits and then entering them into Manage360, as well as providing a few sample kits and a process on how to create and maintain your kits as your Costbook changes over time.
Before any Kits can be added to Manage360, both the decision of which Kits and what specific items will be included in each Kit need to be determined.
Internal Process
The responsibility for the Kit creation and the ongoing maintenance of the Kits is not typically done by a single person. Doing it in that way is not recommended. It is much better to create them in a collaborative environment which will result in greater accountability within the company. By doing it on your own, you could potentially fool yourself into believing that the values are correct which could have detrimental results. For example, a salesperson may keep the production lower in order to ensure the sales of the job, while a production person may have a bias toward the production side.
Typically, there should be representation from both the Sales and Production sides of the company. This could include the following roles: the production or operations manager, foreman or supervisor and salesperson or estimator. The more people that can be involved (that have knowledge of production process and rates) the better. This will ensure that the Kits are as accurate as possible.
Depending on individual company processes the kits may look significantly different between each company.
Kit Breakdown
Initially, there should be a discussion or meeting to determine which Kits are to be created into Manage360. In this meeting, you will create a subset of repeatable tasks related to the type of work that is done on a regular basis. This should be done prior to determining the specific details of each Kit. For example, splitting the installation of a paver patio into repeatable tasks, or doing the same for the installation of a retaining wall.
Secondly, it should be determined how the kits will be broken down into specific equipment, material and labor and establish the company production rates. Please be aware that production rates from company to company differ as there are several ways to approach and complete the work. For example, there could be separate Kits for the paver base preparation and for the paver installation or these tasks could be combined as a single Kit.